Feedback on Grassy Narrows
We’ve recently asks many of you, our RAN supporters, to make calls to the Ontario government on behalf of the community of Grassy Narrows. Over 850 phone calls have been made to Premier Dalton McGuinty’s office over the past month and we’ve received a little feedback from many of you about how the calls went.
But we need for a little more. If you’ve made a call to Dalton McGuinty and the Ontario government, let us know how it went! What did they say? Did you feel it was making a difference?
If you haven’t called yet, check out the details here.
One Response to “Feedback on Grassy Narrows”
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February 1st, 2007 at 11:07 am
Christine is one of the RAN interns who lived, worked, and took action in Grassy Narrows this past summer. When she wrote to her local politician she got a misleading form letter in response. Having seen the impact of Weyerhaeuser’s logging in Grassy Narrows first hand, she knows that the politician’s spin is deliberate deception aiming to cover up a serious violation of human rights and ecological justice. You can read Christine’s response here:
Dear Minister Ramsay,
I received your letter dated November 6th 2006 in response to a concern I brought forward to my MPP, the honourable John Gerretsen, regarding forestry operations in Grassy Narrows’s Whiskey Jack Forest.
In this letter you claim that “members of the Grassy Narrows First Nation continue to be free to pursue their Treaty rights to hunt and fish throughout the area described by Treaty #3″. However, after visiting the area myself and speaking with trappers whose trap lines have been ecologically destroyed by clear cut logging, I have to
disagree with this statement. Although what you say is true in some sense, in that they are free to hunt and fish in that area, it is not much good to anyone to be free to hunt on land that is barren of wildlife because it has been cleared of trees, plants, moss, and lichens which attract and sustain game animals.
Furthermore, you describe a process by which consultation with the Grassy Narrows community was “offered and directly encouraged”, however you make no mention of what any such input might have specifically included or how said consultation has been integrated into the FMP.
From my point of view the community has spoken their position quite clearly through actions such as the Slant Lake blockade since 2002 and more recent actions in and around Kenora. I have heard them say that the logging operations of companies like Weyerhaeuser are infringing
on their ability to engage in their chosen way of life and this is creating social and health problems for their families. Now today I have just read in the Thunder Bay news source for January 17th that Grassy Narrows has declared a moratorium on all industrial activity within its territory without its permission. Now if this input was not heard by the ministry during its consultation process, this process must have been tragically flawed. The community is expressing its position now and this needs to be respected, instead of ignored, by the MNR.
Now, I recognize that the forest industry is an important part of the Northwestern Ontario economy, however, as an Ontarian, I am not willing to acrue benefits from an industry that is violating human rights. I certainly hope you feel the same way and will do your duty as Minister of Natural Resources, to adapt forestry practies in Ontario so that our resources are shared fairly and that their extraction does not cause the cultural death of the Anishinabe.
Thank you for your attentiveness and compassion in this regard. I look forward to your response and action.
Sincerely,
Christine Grossutti ARCT, BA, MES,