Lake Superior Mining News

By Gabriel Caplett

In February 2006, a small crowd of mostly children and elderly members from the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, (KI) or Big Trout Lake, First Nation peacefully blockaded a winter access road used by the Platinex mining company and decommissioned the company’s exploration camp, dismantling buildings and packing their drilling equipment.  In response to the blockade the drilling crew fled the area by plane. Despite offers to return the equipment to the company, Platinex did not contact KI for its equipment. Following this action, the KI chief sat at the site and protected the territory for about a month until it became apparent that Platinex wasn’t returning anytime soon.

Platinex has been attempting to explore platinum deposits on land claimed by KI.

KI has expressed concerns regarding mining operations since it submitted a Treaty Land Entitlement Claim to the provincial government in 2000. KI is a signatory to the James Bay Treaty with the Canadian government and maintains that the government inadequately assessed their original land claim, stripping the First Nation of approximately 200 square kilometers of treaty land.

While initially not opposed to Platinex’s activities, in 2001 KI Chief Donny Morris informed Platinex that, due to KI’s land claim application, the First Nation insisted upon a moratorium on mining activity until the negotiation and consultation process with the company and provincial government was completed. In 2005, after Platinex had neglected its legal obligation to consult and accommodate the First Nation, leaders from Ontario’s “Far North”, including KI, Muskrat Dam, Wapekeka, and Wawakapewin announced a moratorium on mining exploration that affirmed their “God given Right to continue our own way of life.”  Muskrat Chief Vernon Morris said, “The communities have provided a clear direction to governments and mining companies like De Beers, Kennecott, Platinex, and Superior Diamonds on this troublesome issue.”

Ultimately, Platinex sought an injunction against KI’s blockade and sued the First Nation for $10 billion in damages. KI estimated it would have taken them 200 years to pay such a fine.

In May 2006, the KI questioned the constitutionality of Ontario’s Mining Act in a Thunder Bay court case. Previous Canadian Supreme Court rulings require the government to consult and accommodate with First Nations prior to any resource development activity. KI spokesperson John Cutfeet expressed that “both Premier McGuinty and Prime Minister Harper talk about enforcing the rule of law as First Peoples stand up for their land rights, rights that are entrenched in the Constitution, the highest law of the land….both governments, however, fail to enforce this Constitutional Law. Either they are selective in which laws they enforce, or they are intentionally ignoring Constitutional Law. In any case, it is not a flattering position for any government.”

Platinex lost the case, in July, and the Ontario Superior Court of Justice deemed the KI’s winter blockade an “understandable” action. In August, Ontario’s Security Commission received a request to investigate whether the company ignored the province’s financial security legislation and policies by misleading investors in not fully disclosing its exploration activities. In it’s July ruling, the Superior Court, in Thunder Bay, noted that Platinex should have been aware of KI’s opposition to exploration activities since 2001, saying, “It is inconceivable that Platinex did not know that KI was strongly opposing any further drilling on the property. Platinex decided to gamble that KI would not try to stop them and essentially decided to try to steamroll over the KI community by moving in a drilling crew without notice.” In October, 2005, Platinex told investors, through the Toronto Stock exchange that KI had verbally consented” to exploration activities.

Despite court rulings and high court precedence, the Ontario government granted Platinex approval to begin drilling on KI’s traditional lands in October, 2007. KI, essentially bankrupted with legal fees, were told that, if they stopped Platinex’s exploration activities, they would be found in contempt of court.

In April and May of 2008, KI member Laura Calm Wind spoke in front of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and called for immediate UN intervention on behalf of the KI6. She argued that Canada, considered a champion of international human rights, violated the KI’s human rights and treaty rights by imprisoning their leaders for peacefully preventing Platinex from exploring on the KI’s territory. Calm Wind said that “the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples recognizes the Indigenous rights of KI peoples, but Canada has rejected this declaration in order to suppress and deny our human rights….other legislation, such as the Indian Act and Ontario’s Mining Act, are also neglectful of Aboriginal rights….when we stand for our rights, our land and our future generations, we are treated like criminals.”

When council leaders again peacefully prevented Platinex from accessing its exploration sites, again, six KI members (known as the “KI6”) were arrested and jailed. Chief Donny Morris said, “Platinex seeks to jail our leaders and supporters and bankrupt our community….I’m prepared to go to jail for my belief in my land.” The KI6 served over two months of a six month sentence before the Ontario Court of Appeals  reduced their sentence to time served and ordered Platinex and the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines to cover the defendant’s legal costs.

Leaders of the Shabot Obaadjiwan and Ardoch Algonquin First Nations, in southern Ontario, have faced similar problems while opposing uranium exploration on their traditional territories. They have joined with private property owners, faith, environmental and social justice groups to call for a meaningful reform of Ontario’s outdated Mining Act. The Act, passed in 1873, allows individuals and companies to secretly stake claims, drill and operate a mine without landowner permission, on public and private land, as well as territory claimed by indigenous First Nations. Mining Watch Canada says the “Act fails to recognize Aboriginal and Treaty rights and violates the established constitutional right of Indigenous peoples to consultation  and accommodation prior to all government decisions that might affect their interests.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 at 11:36 pm and is filed under civil disobedience, human rights, indigenous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.