Archbishop issues stern rebuke on jailing of natives

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Archbishop issues stern rebuke on jailing of natives

MICHAEL VALPY

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

March 25, 2008 at 4:33 AM EDT

Canada's Anglican primate has called the jailing of six Northern
Ontario native community members a throwback to colonialism, a
dangerous violation of the rights of native people and an act of the
Ontario government putting itself above the law.

Archbishop Fred Hiltz's unusually forceful language appears in a
letter to Premier Dalton McGuinty, in which the Anglican leader
implies that members of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation are
being punished solely for defending the sacred trust of their
traditional lands.

He also links the jailing of KI Chief Donny Morris, the deputy chief
and four councillors to the abuses of the residential school system,
and says it has caused a "serious impasse" between Canada's native
peoples and the Ontario government.

On March 17, Mr. Justice Patrick Smith of the Ontario Superior Court
ordered the KI six jailed for six months for being in contempt of
court by refusing to allow mining company Platinex to test drill for
minerals on land the band claims as its own.

Image: Archbishop Fred Hiltz's letter to Premier Dalton McGuinty
implies that members of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation are
being punished solely for defending the sacred trust of their
traditional lands. (John Woods/The Canadian Press)

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The sentence was the culmination of a decade-long legal battle
between the band and the mining company, which claims the right under
Ontario's Mining Act to explore for minerals anywhere on Crown land
regardless of whether the land is claimed by aboriginal peoples.

Each is suing the other for $10-million. Legal fees have drained the
band's budget; last October, it was forced to abandon the litigation
process. But the chief and his council have vowed to continue
protesting against the mining company's exploration, leading to the
contempt of court conviction. Judge Smith had ruled that the company
could execute a limited hunt for mineral deposits.

Archbishop Hiltz told the Premier that he stood behind Grand Chief
Stan Beardy of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation - an organization
representing 49 native communities in northwestern Ontario - and his
declaration that the province was acting above the law by not
adhering to court rulings that it consult and accommodate native
peoples prior to resource development.

The jailing, the primate said, arises "out of the continual
imposition of the power and values of colonizers."

Ven. Paul Feheley, the primate's principal secretary, said that the
jailing order struck Archbishop Hiltz as "seemingly a backward step."
Archdeacon Feheley said that the primate, since his election as the
church's national leader nine months ago, has been increasingly
conscious of "the tremendous injustices done to native people and the
need for people to wake up about the issue."

Aboriginal Affairs Minister Michael Bryant offered a plan, which he
called a template for other bands, that would require Platinex to
consult with KI First Nation at every step of mining development and
ensure the band benefited from any discoveries. The band rejected the
plan because of its assumption that exploration would go ahead.