The Saugeen Ojibway Nation is taking Ontario to the courts, arguing decades of non -remunerated salt royalties and a pattern of exclusion of key decisions about stone and sand quarries in their territory reflect a broader problem: the development of resources that leaves indigenous nations left out of the conversation.
The first nation spoke with CBC News on Wednesday, the first time he has spoken publicly about the subject since he filed his claim at the Superior Court of Ontario last July.
The lawsuit accuses the Ontario government of reaping decades of royalty of the world’s largest salt mine in Goderich, Ontario, while at the same time avoids the first nation in the opening and operation of about 500 sand and gravel quarries within its traditional territory of 1.5 million acres.
Saugeen Ojibway Nation (Son) is asking the Court $ 167.6 million in damages related to the subsequent payment of salt royalties, the alleged breach of the obligations of the crown treaty and the lack of offering a significant consultation, according to the latest judicial presentations.
The case highlights the renewed indigenous outrage as Parliament Hill and the Ontario Legislature promote rapid development through Bill C-5 and Bill 5 of Ontario, which have been beaten by weakening environmental protections and expanding the powers of the crown at the expense of indigenous rights.
The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources said it would not comment, since the matter is before the courts.
The quarries fed the boom of the Ontario building
The new legislation will only deepen what has long been a painful point in the relationship between the son and the crown, according to Chief Greg Nadjiwon of the chippewas of the first nation Nawash Sinced, a community that, together with the chippewas of Saugeen First Nation, prepares.
“We do not receive any just payment for the extraction of resources in our homeland,” he said.
The demand states that, between 2004 and 2017, the crown allowed hundreds of stone and sand quarries to be opened in the extensive traditional territory of Son, which extends from Tobermory in the north to Goderich in the south to Alliston in the West.
The judicial documents suggest that the quarries supply about 300,000,000 tons of aggregate every year.
The aggregate is a vital raw ingredient in innumerable construction and infrastructure projects in Ontario, from the expansion of the main roads such as 401, to Los Cruces, such as the International Bridge of Gordie Howe, to the slats that have sprouted as weeds as part of a recent hurried of vertical lands in the main songs of Ontario.
As the quarries have helped feed a boom of urban construction, Saugeen states that these operations have also had a detrimental impact on their environment and culture: destroying wildlife habitats, threatening archaeological sites, disturbing ancestral resting places and dragged forests that provide their people with their people with traditional medications.
“The landscape is changing daily,” Nadjiwon said.
The first nations argue that federal and Ontario law projects erode their constitutional right to be consulted in projects in their traditional territories.
Tensions have intensified and not only in court.
The first minister of Ontario, Doug Ford, caused Fury this week while defending the bill 5 when he said he was willing to give the first nations what they want in exchange for their support in mining projects, but added that “they cannot continue to see the government on hand” for more money.
The comment caused an immediate reaction, with indigenous leaders who condemned him as a racist. Amid the growing pressure, Ford apologized on Thursday.
“I love a lot and I just want to say that I sincerely apologize for my words, not only [did it] Hurt all bosses in that room, but all the first nations. “
Also on Thursday, Prime Minister Mark Carney defended bill C-5, qualifying it as “enabling legislation.” He promised that indigenous peoples would not only be consulted, but they could also help define what he called “a nation construction project.”
“This is how you build a nation. This is how we have designed it,” he said. “This is how we will advance.”
Except that indigenous leaders do not necessarily see it that way.
Randall Kahgee, a lawyer for indigenous rights, councilor and former head of Saugeen First Nation, says that both laws, which provide governments with the option to avoid consultation processes, are similar to stacking the deck in favor of the government.
“This is the frustrating part. It seems that you have some impulse and then someone changes the rules of the game or change the goal stand.”
Kahgee says that the legislation adds insult to injuries, especially because indigenous peoples often struggle to overcome a perception that they are not willing to do business, when a reality is made that their communities are only evaluating ways of mitigating the risk with their way of life.
“Anything less than that is taking.”
