No Uranium Mine ! Shabot Obaajiwan will not back down !

By Helen Forsey

The story behind the draconian February 15th sentencing of a First Nation leader began in the spring of 2007 when the Ardoch and Shabot Obaadjiwan Algonquin communities found out that their land was threatened by a proposed uranium mine. The Ontario government had given a permit to "Frontenac Ventures" corporation to drill for uranium on a 30,000 acre tract of wilderness in northern Frontenac County, 100 kms upstream from Ottawa. Some of the land staked is private property, but most is unceded Algonquin territory, claimed as "Crown land" by the provincial government.

Like the whole of the Ottawa River watershed, this "Frontenac Tract" is traditional Algonquin territory. It has never been ceded to the Crown, and since the early 1990s it has been the subject of Comprehensive Land Claim negotiations with Ontario and Canada. By issuing exploration permits on this disputed land, Ontario has made a mockery of its own negotiations and ignored Supreme Court rulings that require meaningful consultation with First Nations before allowing development in their territories.

Frontenac Ventures took advantage of this government travesty. In the spring of 2007 it set up a uranium exploration camp at Robertsville, 90 kms north of Kingston, and prepared to drill. Meanwhile, concern was building among local residents over the dangers uranium poses to human health and the environment. Meetings took place between Algonquins and their "settler" neighbours, research was done, letters written, questions raised. But as more alarming facts emerged about the risks of exploring and mining this radioactive mineral, it became clear that the company was going ahead regardless.

At the end of June, the Ardoch Algonquins and Shabot Obaadjiwan peacefully occupied the site at Robertsville, the only feasible entry point for the 30,000-acre tract. They were supported by hundreds of non-Algonquins from the local area and beyond, who brought food and supplies, raised money, and organized a communications and quick response network. The comprehensive website (http://www.ccamu.ca/) and email newsletter, "Uranium News" are the work of the Community Coalition Against Mining Uranium.

From the start, the entire protest was determinedly non-violent. Mindful of the lessons from Ipperwash, the Ontario Provincial Police helped maintain good communications and prevent crises. The Algonquins, working from an office in a donated trailer behind the gate, continued to press the government for consultation. Frustrated, Frontenac Ventures launched a $77-million lawsuit against the protesters and got an interim injunction ordering everyone away from the Site.

In response, settler support mushroomed, and an entire tent village went up outside the gate. The Algonquins insisted they would only leave if true consultation began, with a guarantee of no drilling for the duration of the process. Apparently outraged by their stubborn determination, Judge Cunningham of the Ontario Superior Court issued a follow-up "interlocutory" injunction on September 27th, and charged the protesters with contempt of court for defying the earlier order. With evidence implicating at least 50 people, both settlers and Algonquins, lawyers negotiated the number down to eight, among them the five First Nations leaders who bravely volunteered to take the rap for everyone

Finally in October the government agreed to mediated talks, and the Algonquins moved their peaceful protest out from behind the gate to the road allowance nearby. As the cold set in, the protesters maintained a watchful presence in the relocated trailer and a cabin they built in three days. Donna Dillman's hunger strike was based there until she took it to Toronto at the end of November. Frontenac Ventures came and went, doing "non-intrusive" preparatory work under the terms of the mediation.

But tensions began to mount soon after New Years, as the end of the twelve-week mediation period approached. An innovative Algonquin proposal for a consultation "pilot project" was on the table when the Ontario government pulled the rug out from under the whole thing by insisting that drilling must go ahead no matter what. Ardoch and Shabot rejected that condition and resumed their non-violent protest. That was how things stood on February 12th when the trials on the contempt charges began, leading to the rigid conditions, massive fines and jail time imposed by Judge Cunningham.



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Air pollution is still a major concern, particularly with wood boilers. A 2006 report from the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management, a nonprofit association of Northeast air quality agencies, found that average particulate emissions from one outdoor wood boiler equaled that of 22 wood stoves, 205 oil furnaces or as many as 8,000 natural gas furnaces.

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