March 26th KI-Ardoch Joint Statement

March 26, 2008

The Honourable Dalton McGuinty
Premier of Ontario
Legislative Building
Queen's Park
Toronto ON
M7A 1A1 Fax: (416) 325-3745

Dear Premier McGuinty:

On February 15, Ardoch Algonquin First Nation (AAFN) Spokesperson Robert Lovelace was sentenced in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Kingston to 6 months in jail, plus crippling fines, for peacefully upholding Algonquin law forbidding uranium mining within the Ardoch homeland.

On March 17, a Superior Court judge in Thunder Bay sentenced six leaders of the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) to six months after being found in contempt of court in dispute which is virtually identical to that of the Ardoch Algonquins. The KI Six - Chief Donny Morris, Deputy Chief Jack McKay, Spokesman Sam McKay, Councillors Cecilia Begg and Darryl Sainnawap and community member Bruce Sakakeep.

The jailing of respected, law-abiding community leaders has had a devastating impact on our communities, particularly on the families of those incarcerated. The indifference shown by your government towards the rights of First Nation communities and the imposition of long jail terms and crippling fines in the name of “the rule of law” has further eroded respect for both the legal system and the government of Ontario in the eyes of First Nations people in this province.

The cases of the KI Six and Robert Lovelace are strikingly similar. In both cases your government gave approvals to mining companies to conduct aggressive mineral exploration on land claimed by First Nations as their own. In both cases this approval was given without any consultation with the affected community. In both cases the First Nation community was forced to take action to end the illegal exploration when your government refused to act. In both cases the mining company sought and obtained court injunctions to end the peaceful protests of the First Nations. In both cases the lawyers representing Ontario supported the mining industry’s legal maneuvers at every stage.

Since the jailing of the KI Six, your Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, Michael Bryant, has publicly stated that he has “bent over backwards” to try to resolve the disputes which led to the incarceration of seven First Nations from our two communities. We want to set the record straight.

In the case of Ardoch, there has been no response from either yourself or Minister Bryant to our several proposals for peacefully resolving the dispute. Minister Bryant’s staff also have not responded to several calls and emails seeking a response to our proposals. In the case of KI, although Mr. Bryant has visited the community, he has never responded to our proposals. Instead, he simply tabled his own proposed “agreements” which had been drafted by his staff without any consultation with the people of KI.

Bob Lovelace has now been in jail for 41 days while the KI Six are now in their second week of incarceration. They are prisoners of conscience, jailed by the government of Ontario to send a message that the interests of the mining industry will trump Aboriginal rights and the environment of Ontario.

Our two communities remain committed to resolving these disputes peacefully, through negotiations. We call on you to support the unconditional release of our leaders and negotiators. We also call on you to accept the proposal made to you by Ardoch on January 11, 2008 and by KI on January 17, 2008 to establish a joint panel which will investigate the causes of these disputes and make recommendations for avoiding similar disputes in the future.


Sincerely,




Jacob Ostaman Chief Paula Sherman
For Chief Donny Morris, LI For AAFN


Cc: Hon. M. Bryant
Ontario FN Chiefs