Victory for Darlene Necan

Two days after Darlene Necan talked to a Toronto audience about the daily desperation of poverty and homelessness in Northern Ontario, she got some much-needed good news.

Necan, a member of the Ojibway First Nation of Saugeen #258 in northwestern Ontario, had been charged by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) for building a home on her family’s land in nearby Savant Lake.

In October 2013, MNRF issued a stop-work order claiming she was building on Crown land.

Necan was determined to have her day in court to protect her right to build on her family’s traditional land and scored a major victory on March 19 when the province announced it would drop the charges against her. She had been facing tens of thousands of dollars in fines, along with ongoing homelessness.

A statement issued by CUPE 3903 First Nations Solidarity Working Group on March 19 said, “In a context of thousands of missing and murdered Indigenous women, the MNRF put Darlene in a position of having to search for shelter each day, hitchhiking from place to place, without any kind of safety and security.”

Necan said, “I saw the desperation of people as I did my walk of being impoverished and homeless with nowhere to live.” The poverty she experienced and the drinking and drug use that she observed made her feel, “like I was just re-walking what I used to be a long time ago when I was drinking too.”

“I learned a lot throughout the last winter,” she said, “how desperate our people are as a whole.” Instead of helping people make a change for the better, Necan said, the system keeps them homeless and impoverished.

“Everyone gets their cheque at the beginning of the month,” she said, “and they’re all paid up their rent, and then the food. So they buy enough food for maybe the first 9-10 days of the month and after that, you’re pretty well out for the rest of the month.”

Going to food banks, while it is an alternative (and Necan recognized the kindness of people who donate), it’s not always a nutritious alternative.

“You get expired food,” she said, “and it’s always like beans or pasta, but never really anything to go with it.”

“The system is always keeping us down,” Necan said, “and living is hard.” She spoke about a single mother with a five-year-old daughter living with no furniture, and not able to afford pots, pans and dishes to even prepare her own meals. 

This young Aboriginal mother on welfare experiences racism and discrimination from landlords, she said.

Necan herself, as a homeless person, receives $240 monthly. She puts this money towards purchasing food wherever she stays.

“You can’t just go there and eat,” she said, “because they too have no food because the only people I interact with is my family in Thunder Bay and a lot of them are impoverished.” We’re all struggling, she said.

People depending on the system live in fear of getting cut off, she said.

“People don’t want you to stay at their place because you’re not bringing in anything.”

“I walk around Thunder Bay, look at other people’s houses and wish I had my own house. Wish I would have been allowed to build my own house,” Necan said. “I wouldn’t have to depend on welfare and if I was at home, I would have went fishing, would have went partridge hunting. I would have went rabbit snaring and moose hunting. I would have done all that.”

After her victory, Necan will be able to do all of those things and provide for herself.

“I can’t wait to move into my house,” she said. “Even though there’s no heat, no hydro, it’s my own house. I can’t wait.”

Mike Leitold, a lawyer who has been working with Darlene for the past couple of years, had this to say on March 19 about her case:

“The strong stand taken by Darlene Necan in this matter is inspiring as it shows the power of grassroots action and solidarity to win victories for oppressed people. It is only right that the charges against her have been dropped, as she is rebuilding her home on her traditional territory. I hope her victory encourages all of us to fight against ongoing colonial oppression.”