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Jail didn't work
now what? OUR OPINION
Posted -48 sec ago
Back in March, we said in this space that throwing aboriginal leaders
in jail for protesting mining exploration on their traditional lands
wouldn't work.
It hasn't. The native leaders spent weeks in jail and were eventually
freed by the Ontario Court of Appeal, drilling on the lands in question
has not resumed, and on the same day the appeal court's decision was
released, members of the Six Nations band near Brantford -- backed for
the first time by leaders of the Confederacy (the traditional band
council) -- swarmed construction projects on claimed land near the
Grand River, bringing private construction to a halt.
All that has changed as a result of jail terms, is a demonstration of
the ineffectiveness of the courts to solve issues that arise when
natives' desire to protect their traditional lands collides with
private interests to develop or exploit those lands.
Earlier this year, six members of the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI)
First Nation near Thunder Bay and two members of the Ardoch Algonquin
First Nation in eastern Ontario were jailed for 10 and 14 weeks
respectively -- they were given six months terms -- when they protested
private companies' activities on their traditional lands (though not
reserve lands). The companies involved -- junior mining company
Platinex Inc. in KI's case and Frontenac Ventures in Ardoch Algonquin's
dispute -- felt they had the law on their side. Maybe so, but battering
aboriginals with jail terms in an attempt to address what governments
won't is a recipe for failure.
In fact, that's pretty much what the appeals court said. The panel of
three judges decried the decision to "bring down the hammer" on native
bands that had already been subject to huge bills by the legal process.
The panel said jailing native leaders emphasized the "estrangement of
aboriginal peoples from the Canadian justice system."
Aboriginals' right to protest "cannot simply be dismissed as illusory,
flawed or weak," the panel said. "Imprisonment, far from being a
meaningful sanction for the community, had the effect of pitting the
community against the justice system."
The appeals court also dismissed thousands of dollars in fines against
the protesters.
To their credit, Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael
Gravelle and Aboriginal Affairs Minister Michael Bryant agreed with the
appeals court decision.
Said Bryant: "The jailing was a black cloud hanging over everything,
and not just KI and not just for (Ardoch) Chief (Bob) Lovelace, but all
across the province and arguably across the country."
True enough. Jailing aboriginals was never going to stop demonstrations
and protests, unless the province was willing to fill the jails.
But what happens next? The black cloud remains, and it's not moving,
not even with legal injunctions.
