Another dispute between Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation officials and a junior mining company is threatening to explode.
Calling God’s Lake Resources’ alleged exploration of their traditional territory “reckless” and accusing the company of deliberately ignoring advice from the First Nation, Chief Donny Morris said the gold mining company’s actions are unacceptable.
Morris was upset that it appears a mining company may have begun exploration on KI’s traditional territory, lands that also happen to be part of a sacred burial site.
“Our ancestors deserve a place where they can rest undisturbed. People everywhere understand that cemeteries are sacred places. But in Sherman Lake (God’s Lake Resources) wants to put a gold mine on one,” Morris said in a release issued on Tuesday.
Morris told CKPR Radio a couple of hunters discovered a camp near Sherman Lake and reported it to community leaders.
Morris said they will investigate the discovery in an attempt to determine who it belongs to – though the news release points to God’s Lake Resources.
Regardless of who it is, Morris said his people want God’s Lake Resources to stop any and all mining activities in the area, at least until proper consultations are held.
The community, located about 580 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, earlier this year set aside 13,000 square kilometers of ancestral land to give them time to identify and map burial locations.
KI spokesman John Cutfeet said the community was told government officials said they are powerless to stop the gold mining company from working its claims.
“We just wanted to keep this from needless desecration and from activities by exploration companies taking place without our knowledge and without our consent,” said Cutfeet, reached by phone on Tuesday.
MPP Michael Gravelle (Lib., Thunder Bay-Superior North), minister of northern development, mines and forestry when the election call was made, said the ministry is taking the situation seriously and they’ve been working with KI First Nation and the company to find a resolution to the dispute. He pointed to Ontario’s revised Mining Act, which provides the ability for First Nations to remove cultural sites from potential mining development.
“But I can’t tell you that I know all the details (of this case). I am obviously in the middle of a campaign where my ministry is taking the lead on this,” Gravelle said. “But we are working closely with them and those discussions will continue.
“We want to be able to find a very positive resolution, one that certainly meets the needs of the community and respects the Aboriginal treaty rights.”
That’s why the government has been involved from the start, having discussions in advance, he said. The province has worked hard, Gravelle added, over the past three years to improve relationships with Morris and the community.
In 2008 Morris and five KI band councillors were jailed for refusing to allow another junior mining company, Platinex, to continue exploration on land they deemed part of the community’s traditional territory.
Cutfeet cited a 2008 ruling by the Ontario Court of Appeals, a decision that freed Morris and the rest of the so-called KI 6, saying it called on the province and mining companies to hold good faith negotiations with First Nations, especially in light of the Ontario’s recently introduced Far North Act.
“The government and the Crown have to negotiate in good faith to reconcile our interests if they want to do any type of activity. Now, they didn’t do that,” Cutfeet said, referring to the case at hand. “The direction from the court was quite clear. Now we have another potential situation where we have an exploration company coming onto the KI homeland without consultation and accommodation, and without the consent of the community.”
Cutfeet said KI leaders would prefer a peaceful settlement to the dispute, and he didn’t anticipate anyone going to prison this time around.
The company, contacted by email, did not immediately respond when asked Tuesday for comment.
