Betreff:
Sign on to
support blockade of Canadian uranium mine |
Von: Hans Karow |
Datum: Thu, 06 Sep 2007 17:31:50 -0700 |
|
I just supported (# 3753 http://www.nirs.org/petition2/view.php
) the subject uranium mining blockade, it takes not even 5 minutes…go to http://www.nirs.org/petition2/index.php
Please forward to others ASAP, deadline to be met see
below.
Thanks, Hans.
Dear Friends,
Below is a letter to be sent to Canadian officials in
support of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation’s Blockade of the Proposed
Frontenac Ventures Corporation Uranium Mine near
To sign on, please send your name, organization (if
one), city, state and country to donaldk@nirs.org
by 5 pm (eastern time), Monday, September 10, 2007.
Thanks for your help!
Michael Mariotte
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
Prime
Minister Stephen Harper
Office of
the Prime Minister
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The
Honourable Chuck Strahl
Minister of
Indian Affairs
House of
Commons
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Premier
Dalton McGinty
Queen’s
Park
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The
Honourable David Ramsey
Minister of
Aboriginal Affairs
Ontario
Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs
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Statement
in Support of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation’s Blockade of the Proposed
Frontenac Ventures Corporation Uranium Mine near Ardoch, Ontario
We the
undersigned groups and individuals would like to express our strong support of
the Ardoch Algonquin Nation’s nonviolent direct action protest of the proposed
Frontenac Ventures Corporation Uranium Mine near Ardoch
Their
groundwater will be severely affected if this project is allowed to go forward
resulting in disastrous health problems for residents and other serious
environmental impacts.
We support
their right as a sovereign First Nation to determine the use and
protection of their territory.
We endorse
the statement of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation which follows
Ardoch Algonquin
First Nation
Statement on Uranium Mining
June 23, 2007
Over the past year, Frontenac Ventures
Corporation has appropriated Algonquin traditional lands near
The plan to develop this site as a uranium mine, however, was done without the
authority of Ardoch Algonquin First Nation. Furthermore, we were not consulted
at all with respect to this plan as is our right as an Algonquin community who
still holds Aboriginal title and rights to much of the land in question. As a
corporation interested in our lands, FVC, did not follow an honourable path in
their actions toward us, instead they choose to follow a historical path that
has led to conflicts and blockades with other Indigenous peoples across
This duty remains a morally and legally binding duty according to the
Supreme Court of Canada who ruled in 2005 in the Haida Nation and
The controlling question in cases such as this one is what is required on the
part of the Crown (as well as its agents, and ministries) to maintain the
honour of the Crown and to achieve reconciliation between the Crown and
Aboriginal peoples as is required under Section 35 of the Constitution Act of
1982? Aboriginal title and rights are still in existence in the Kiji Sìbì
(
As indicated in the cases presented above, the courts are prepared to determine
whether or not appropriate consultation and accommodation has occurred. Indeed,
they are prepared to suspend court actions, licences, and order-in-council
authorizing Crown activity. As a First Nation responsible for the health and
vitality of those lands, we will not allow our lands to be appropriated in this
way without our participation, agreement, and consent for the activities that
are proposed for that site. We therefore demand that the Ministry of Mining and
Northern Development and the
This decision is based upon the fact that our Aboriginal title and rights have
been violated by FVC and the Ministry of Mining and Northern Development, as
well as the realization that uranium mining will destroy the ecological balance
and sustainability of the Natural World and will have particular impacts on
local water tables which will in turn contaminate waterways throughout the Kiji
Sìbì. At the end of this process people living within Northern Frontenac County
could very well be left with no other option but to purchase water (as is the
case in Kitigan Zibi) as all wells will be contaminated from the tailings left
behind from the mining process. Tailings can never be disposed of and will
pollute the area for many unforeseen generations.
As Algonquin people, we also know that uranium mining will lead directly
to our social, spiritual, and cultural demise as our collective identity as
people requires a continual relationship with the land in which we interact and
carry out our cultural and spiritual activities and ceremonies on a daily
basis. If the land is contaminated and altered as a result of the proposed
mine, the animals and beings that we depend on for our survival will also
disappear, leaving us with no possibility for survival. Vacating the area is
not an option for us as this land is our home and has been the home of our
people for hundreds of years. As Algonquin people there is no other place that
we can go and be ourselves except for this place which is our homeland. We do
not have the option that FVC has to pack up and leave once their destruction
We are not the only victims who will suffer this fate, many private land owners
in the vicinity of our lands have also had their lands staked as potential
sites for drilling. The same fate will await them if the project is not
stopped. Our concern with those lands goes deeper than just the fate of the
present inhabitants; however, because we believe that although our neighbours
purchased their lands in good faith, the original title for those lands was not
acquired legally by the British or
As Aboriginal people, our relationships with all of the lands in question are
complicated which is why it is not possible for us to make memorandums of
understanding or co-agreements with citizens or environmental groups. With
respect to our lands, the issue is one of autonomy and sovereignty which
requires us to pursue options outside the parameters available to citizens or
environmental groups. This fact does not prevent us, however, from meeting or
working in unison with citizens or environmental groups to stop the mining from
taking place. It just requires an understanding by everyone involved that our
responsibilities as Algonquin people require a different approach than can be
utilized within such groups. That being said, there is a lot that we can do
together as human beings to stop this mining from occurring.
Donald
Keesing
Coordinator
Voices
Opposed To Environmental Racism
Michael
Mariotte
Executive
Director
Nuclear
Information and Resource Service
Joan Kuyek
Coordinator
Mining
Watch
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Sign the Simple Statement on Nuclear Power and Climate: "We
do not support construction of new nuclear reactors as a means of addressing
the climate crisis. Available renewable energy and energy efficiency
technologies are faster, cheaper, safer and cleaner strategies for reducing
greenhouse emissions than nuclear power."
Sign now at: http://www.nirs.org/petition2/index.php
and pass the word to your friends, colleagues, mailing lists, networking sites,
etc. You can also copy the graphic below and put it on your websites, myspace
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petition url.