Report From NAN Emergency Chiefs meeting on the KI Six.

The NAN Chiefs held an emergency meeting to discuss their response to the jailing of the KI leadership yesterday in Thunder Bay. Elijah Harper and Ovide Mercredi spoke.

Talks went on for more than 10 hours and were recessed with a KI support motion on the floor and no decision on the fate of the Northern Table.

There is a general consensus on the outrage and betrayal Chiefs feel on the jailing of the elected leadership of KI. The Chiefs view the KI Six as political prisoners who
must be released unconditionally and immediately.

In one of the most powerful moments in the days deliberations, Chief Donny Morris spoke addressed the Chief from jail.

NAN women have begun a rotating fast that they hope can spread across the country.

While some communities continue to make agreements with mining companies only KI has tested the limits of a First Nation's right to say no to a resource developer.

Various advisors retail the idea that the consent of First Nations can be sought in IBAs or agreements with resource developers.

Maybe.But that lets the Crown off the hook on its consultation obligations and role as a Treaty partner.

What will happen when a community turns down an offer by a mining company? Could they face a lawsuit and jail? Under the current laws the answer has to be yes.

IBAs are fine but they are not the right to say no. They are simply a practical
business deal that some folks are attempting to cloak in the language of consent.
There is no legal requirement for a mining company to make an agreement with a First Nation in the Mining Act.And the current Mining Act only requires consultation(not consent) at the advanced exploration stage( big hole in the ground).

Deals are nice, but they are purely voluntary and at the pleasure of the company.

Ministers Gravelle and Bryant continue to stand up in the legislature and say that Ontario met the duty to consult in the KI case and that the Courts agreed with Ontario.

Maybe yes, maybe no.Here is what the Court actually said in May:

The recent submissions made to this court indicate that the parties have made good faith efforts to appreciate and accommodate the interests of the other. As I commented on May 18th, consultation and accommodation are ongoing processes, and may take several months.

[6] This Court will remain engaged to provide supervision and direction/orders whenever required, subject to the recognition that it is ultimately the responsibility of the parties to attempt to reach their own agreement. In other words, success of the process ultimately rests with the parties themselves.

The ongoing process referred to by the Judge abruptly ended when KI ran out of money and dismissed their lawyers in the Fall of 2007. With an incomplete process, no one knows or can know if the duty was met.

After a carefully staged series of events that led to the contempt finding we ended up with the KI six in jail, the Constitutional challenge to the Mining Act stayed and any appeal rights long out of time.

The Court then said no to the KI veto and ultimately jailed the KI Six for saying no.

Now legal efforts are to contest only the sentencing of the First Nation leaders for saying no. We can't contest the right to say no, we can only contest whether or what the sentence will be when First Nations say no.
Sad , but true.

Today an action plan on KI and a decision on the Northern table. Stay
tuned.