NAN Chiefs, National Chief Meet to Discuss KI

Close readers of the recent Ontario budget will have noticed the $30 Million over four years allocated to the bilateral talks ( the so-called Northern Table) between Ontario and NAN. If we are going to have peace in the north the McGuinty government needs to deliver on its promise of land use planning in the far north, changes to the Mining Act and some form of resource revenue sharing with NAN.

Next week the NAN Chiefs will decide the fate and form of the talks.

The talks will go on. What choice do the Chiefs have? They have the gun of poverty pointing at their heads.

The National Chief just back from blasting the feds at the Treaty implementation conference in Saskatoon will share his thoughts ON KI with the Chiefs.

Phil is taking some heat for the MOU he signed with the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada.

Some see mining as the last best hope for First Nations.
Some see communities making deals out of their poverty rather than their strength.
Some see a ruthless industry driven by greed that has ransacked the globe raping and pillaging.

A mine comes, a mine goes. A town booms, a town collapses.Some get rich, most don't.There are a lot of broken bodies and broken homes.Booze, dope, a lot of toys for the boys.
If your lucky, they try to clean up the mess after its over.If your not, you get a toxic legacy for thousands of years.Think Elliot Lake or Sudbury.


Is mining green? Hell no.
Does the mining industry really care about aboriginal and treaty rights?Hell No.

This too will pass. And KI will still be KI.And the mining companies will have changed their names and have left.

This is just business.Nothing personal.Anything for a buck.