Top News - November - 2004
Temagami moves closer to land deal
Jamieson gains new post
Momentum gathers on revenue sharing
This is only a partial listing of the stories featured in the November 2004 issue of Birchbark. If you are not receiving your own copy of Birchbark, then you have missed out on a lot.Click here for Birchbark subscription information.
Temagami moves closer to land deal
Joan Taillon, Birchbark Writer, TemagamiThe most recent round of negotiations on the decades old and often volatile Temagami land claim have lasted three years and are about to enter another phase. Development on Timiskaming Crown land was stalled for years when a land caution preventing staking and exploration activities was attached to nearly 10,000 square kilometres of land in the district as a result of the Native claim.
That stalemate ended when a 1991 Supreme Court decision dismissed the claim by the band. The court did allow that the Crown still had obligations to the Temagami First Nation, based on provisions in a 19th century treaty that one band official states they never signed. Even so, negotiations resumed when the land caution came off.
On Nov. 12, public consultation ends on the report that spells out the establishment of a new mainland community for the First Nation at Shiningwood Bay near Temagami.
The text of the deal is still being worked out, but it appears a final agreement will be ready for ratification by the First Nation next June, according to Negotiations Unit Manager for the Temagami First Nation, Doug McKenzie.
If the community accepts it, provincial and federal approvals of the land transfers should be complete in two more years.
McKenzie said that after ratification by the parties it will likely be "at least 10 years to make the reserve."
He said that was because of "the size of the land and the number of ministries that's got to be involved. First of all it's going to take probably two or three years to get to the point where they can start surveying the lands."
McKenzie added the federal negotiator estimated it would take 10 years based on the experience of other settlements. In the meantime, the land they're talking about has been set aside since 1996 so that no other sale or development can take place.
The proposed land transfer includes 340 square kilometres of land at Shiningwood Bay that will constitute the new reserve. The present reserve, inhabited by about 250 people, is on Bear Island, but the new parcel will be on the mainland.
Seven development lots, including two on Lake Temagami, two on Rabbit Lake and one on Herridge Lake, will be transferred to the band. McKenzie said these will be commercial cottage lots and they likely will be leased out with fee simple property title.
The last two lots are camps along Highway 11 "almost contiguous to the reserve" that are transferring to them from private ownership.
Finally, up to 14 pieces of Crown land comprising less than three square miles will be added as traditional family lands. McKenzie explained that these 14 parcels would have at least two sites of 75 acres on each of them set side as family lands for winter and summer camps. This is the system they traditionally followed before they had a reserve.
The community will have the opportunity to select the land they want based on consensus and families' traditional use.
Other parts of the agreement include $20 million in compensation, another $4 million economic development fund made up of cash and land, the right to be consulted on land use proposals in the region, and finally the establishment of a waterway- class provincial park that will include most of the Lake Temagami mainland shoreline.
McKenzie said Temagami First Nation has about 600 members, but the Temagami Anishinaabe, which includes non-status people, number about 1,500. He said they are discussing developing a member code that will include all of them when the deal is settled.
Settling with Ontario for the lands is the important thing, McKenzie said, but the First Nation has not ruled out further action against the federal government.
"Because the Supreme Court said the Crown has a fiduciary obligation, we still feel the federal government owes us something. So we'll be pursuing some kind of a claim against the federal government ... We probably could fit into a specific claim, but the community basically is saying we've got more interest than a specific claim and it's because we never actually signed a treaty ... They're looking for something kind of wider ... I think there's a possibility of looking at a self-government process as part of the settlement," McKenzie said.
Jamieson gains new post
TORONTO- Roberta Jamieson has been appointed as chief executive officer to the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation (NAAF).
The announcement was made Nov. 4.
"I was impressed by the high level of candidates we interviewed," said NAAF board chairman Len Flett.
"Our final choice focused on a person who, in addition to having all the managerial qualities required of the positon, was compelling, visionary and charismatic."
Jamieson, chief of the Six Nations of the Grand River since 2001, recently announced she would not be running again for that office.
"I am very honoured to be leading the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation," a NAAF press release quoted Jamieson.
"The Foundation provides the opportunity for Aboriginal youth to find their voice and place in Canada. We will continue to showcase the contributions our people have historically made-and will continue to make-in the building of our country."
NAAF, the largest non-governmental funder of Aboriginal education in Canada, dispenses $2 million a year through its educational program to First Nations, Inuit and Métis students. It also supports career fairs and hosts an annual gala awards program showcasing Aboriginal career successes across Canada.
Jamieson herself is a previous winner of NAAF's National Aboriginal Achievement Award in the public service category, in 1998.
Her prestigious and varied career includes many firsts. She was the first Aboriginal woman in Canada to earn a law degree, in 1976.
In 1989, she was the first woman ombudsman appointed in Ontario. Jamieson received the Order of Canada in 1994. She was the founding chairperson, in 2000, of imagineNATIVE, a highly acclaimed international media arts festival.
Currently, Jamieson is at the helm of an initiative called Vision 20/20, which aims to see more Aboriginal physicians graduate.
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Momentum gathers on revenue sharingJoan Taillon, Birchbark Writer, Toronto
Public hearings on Bill 97, the First Nations Revenue Sharing Act, 2004 concluded this fall, but the bill was still being discussed at the Nishnawbe Aski Nation's Special Chiefs' Assembly in early November.
If Bill 97 is passed into law, it will establish a procedure "by which resource companies that intend to extract natural resources from First Nations traditional lands in Northern Ontario, negotiate a comprehensive revenue-sharing agreement with the First Nations and the government of Ontario."
Some at NAN's Special Chiefs' Assembly were critical, suggesting the legislation should contain provisions to compensate First Nations for resources taken from the land since exploration first began in their territories.
MPP Gilles Bisson, NDP (Timmins-James Bay), who initiated the bill, spoke with the chiefs in assembly. He said he would not be able to get the support to pass it in the Legislature if he leaned on the government about paying for resources taken decades ago.
There were other complaints heard that Bisson had only consulted directly with First Nations north of the 50th parallel. Bisson reminded them Bill 97 is a private member's bill, and that he doesn't get financed to visit every First Nation in Ontario, but that he had provided information about it to all of them over a six-month period, along with contact information so they could reach him.
On June 17 the bill passed second reading in the Legislature and was referred to a Cabinet committee with the task of conducting hearings and reporting opinions and recommendations of interested parties back to the House.
The Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs then visited Sioux Lookout on Sept. 20, Mishkeegogamang Sept. 21, Attawapiskat Sept. 22 and Moose Factory Sept. 23, where First Nations had their say about how the province and industry should share revenue from forestry, mining and other resource-based industries with them.
In Sioux Lookout, Nishnawbe-Aski Nation Grand Chief Stan Beardy spoke in favour of resource revenue-sharing.
"Resource revenue sharing is the first step in our journey to reconcile the injustices and build hope for the futures of our communities.
"While people in Ontario and the markets of the world benefit from the lands and resources of Nishnawbe-Aski Nation (NAN), our communities continue to languish in poverty. Our goal is a fair and equitable Ontario where First Nation peoples and our culture are respected and valued and where our communities share in the province's wealth," the grand chief said. "Today's submission is intended to send a clear message to the provincial government that First Nations need revenue sharing now. The future of our youth is at stake."
NAN's written submission to the committee set out a plan for compulsory impact and benefit agreements with resource industries, land use planning, "meaningful" consultation and capacity building for NAN communities.
Bisson told Birchbark Oct. 28, "We are now at the process of returning the bill to committee. I am requesting that the government allow the bill to have further public hearings in Toronto for at least a day-some of the organizations in Southern Ontario want an opportunity to come and present. I'll find out in the next week or two if that's going to happen, and from there what will then happen is that the bill will have to return to committee so that we can propose amendments in what we call the 'clause-by-clause' stage, and I expect that to happen this fall sometime, hopefully, and if not, sometime after Christmas. What would then happen is that the bill would then be referred back to the House, and it would be referred to third reading if it's voted on at committee in a positive manner. And I would expect if all that happens it'll happen by the spring, and then the House would vote on it by probably sometime late spring and it would be the legislation in place.
"I've been lobbying various government ministers in regards to the bill; there is some sympathy from the government toward such a thing, but they seem to be lobbied by others who are opposed, such as some of the private interests that see this as, you know, the possibility of them having to pay more taxes."
Bisson said while at the NAN chiefs' assembly he would be asking them to "come to Queen's Park in November for an intensive day of lobbying where chiefs and their appointees will basically lobby various members of the government and the opposition to make sure they understand the absolute need for this and the importance of having it passed, and then holding a reception afterwards so that the grand chief and whoever else can have an opportunity to say a few words to all those assembled and to try to lobby in a little bit more relaxed atmosphere."
