BC's Atleo chosen as new AFN grand chief

Beaucage supporter Pat Madahbee vows to work with leader

by Michael Erskine

CALGARY-Shawn Atleo, a hereditary chief from the British Columbia Ahousaht First Nation, was elected the new grand chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) during a 23-hour marathon involving eight ballots-the longest in AFN history.

A vice-chief of the AFN for British Columbia, a chancellor of Vancouver Island University, and a widely respected businessman, Grand Chief Atleo, 43, was also the youngest candidate in the election campaign. Despite the length of the contest, he had been considered the frontrunner by most observers from the start.

Grand Chief Atleo's campaign blended a modern, forward-looking and aggressive style with a strong personal attachment to traditional lifestyle and culture into a winning formula. In the end, he called upon the First Nations to put any lingering divisions behind them.

"We were supporting one another," said Grand Chief Atleo in his first address in his new position. "There is no reason why we can't leave here and build unity across this country, overcome divisions we did not create."

Grand Chief Atleo was quick to demonstrate his aggressive style during his acceptance speech. "It's our time to rise up as indigenous people," he said, receiving thunderous applause. "We've got threats to our education. We've got soaring rates of children in care. We have a country in Canada that does not recognize us as indigenous nations. This country of Canada does not uphold the honour of the Crown."

Grand Chief Atleo stressed the issues facing First Nations as what will bind them together. "That's the inherent rights that we're all born to," he said. "It's the treaty rights that the ancestors signed that have been passed on as sacred treaties. It's the plight of the youth in our communities. It's the health of our people exposed to issues like the H1N1 flu virus. It's the unsafe housing conditions that our people face, the unsafe drinking water."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the two main opposition leaders offered their congratulations to the newly elected national chief.

"It is more important than ever that government and First Nations leadership work together to identify solutions and produce real, practical and tangible results for Aboriginal peoples," Prime Minister Harper said through a statement from his office. "Only through meaningful dialogue, shared responsibilities and continued good faith can we succeed."

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff also offered his congratulations to Atleo in a released statement, referring to the AFN as an "important part of the Canadian mosaic."

NDP Leader Jack Layton's release also congratulated Grand Chief Atleo, saying "New Democrats are unwavering supporters of the rights of First Nations. We look forward to working with Chief Atleo and the AFN to address the pressing concerns of Aboriginal people across Canada."

"There was a good slate of candidates," said Union of Ontario Chiefs Grand Chief Patrick Madahbee, who went to the July 22 election in Calgary supporting John Beaucage. "Eventually, Shawn Atleo won. Shawn will make an excellent leader."

Chief Madahbee said that many of the local area chiefs saw the entire process through. "Lots of the chiefs from our area were up for 24, 30 hours straight," he said. "It was definitely a marathon of voting."

Those long hours saw some very intense negotiations and both subtle and not-so-subtle arm-twisting. "There was plenty of politics going on," conceded Chief Madahbee. "But in the end I think there was a strong message sent from our area chiefs-a strong message to pay attention to the treaties and to a rights-based agenda."

Great leaders cast large shadows upon history, and those standing behind great leaders face a tremendous challenge to nurture their profiles and become a nation-spanning presence. Three-time National Grand Chief Phil Fontaine cast perhaps the largest shadow upon the national stage in recent memory, and aspirants to his mantle found themselves hamstrung by their lack of national presence.

Grand Chief Atleo came into the race with the largest base; British Columbia is home to a full one third of Canadian First Nations, and his influence had at least one local chief supporting him from the start.

The local favourite, former Union of Ontario Indians Grand Chief John Beaucage, almost took on the role of kingmaker, as he threw his support behind Saskatchewan candidate Terry Bellegarde after finishing third on the first ballot with 15 percent. Chief Bellegarde had come second on the first ballot with 29 percent of the vote.

Manitoba author and consultant Terrance Nelson had finished fourth with 10 percent of the vote and BC land claims treaty negotiator Bill Wilson finished last with one percent-both cast their support to Chief Bellegarde. The result was a 254-ballot tie by the sixth ballot (550 AFN chiefs were at the assembly).

By this point many of the assembled chiefs and their aides lay prone across seats in the hall, or had retired to hotel rooms defeated by exhaustion.

The long night and the soft base of Chief Bellegarde's coalition saw Chief Atleo pull ahead again-building to a 58 percent lead on the last ballot. The winner needs a full 60 percent to win, or have all opponents concede. Chief Bellegarde signaled his intent by hugging Mr. Atleo.

The next-longest AFN election was in 1997, when six ballots were cast over an 18-hour period.

The length and divisiveness of the contest had many in the assembly privately admitting it was time to revist the AFN's election process. Chief Beaucage had advocated a system of universal suffrage for the election of the chief as part of his campaign. Non-reserve Native groups have been vocally criticizing the current system of delegated election by reserve chiefs, saying that it effectively removed their voices from the debate and placed the focus of AFN activity on reserve issues.

Chief Madahbee, however, said that he doubted that reform of the election process will top any agenda of the new leadership. "There is always that kind of talk after something like this happens," he said. "But there are many more pressing issues that need to be dealt with. The process has worked well for us in the past-the pressure to change it really isn't there.

Chief Atleo highlighted his viewpoint on the issues during interviews with British Columbia's BCBusiness Magazine. "I have a 21-year-old boy and an 18-year-old girl. I don't want them to inherit the depth of the gap that I grew up in," he said. "I'm hoping that my generation are narrowing that so that their children-my grandchildren-will have less to worry about than the day-to-day struggles of life, and the brilliance of being able to choose a profession and a career that is less about a struggle for justice than about just tapping into their human potential. That's my hope."

Cottagers threaten to protract renewal of harbour lease on Little LaCloche Island

by Jim Moodie

LITTLE CURRENT-Cottagers want more say into the types of material that could be shipped into Fisher Harbour under the terms of a proposed agreement with the province, and are prepared to tie up the port owner's application through a costly, full-scale environmental assessment (EA) if their concerns aren't met.

This warning was issued last week during a pair of public meetings put on by Alexander Centre Industries Limited (ACIL) and the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) to outline the process for a renewal of the water-lot lease at Fisher Harbour, which expired in 2004. The new lease, if approved by the MNR, would not only extend ACIL's use of the deep-water port on Little LaCloche Island but expand the list of commodities it is permitted to handle.

At present, the only materials flowing through the Fisher Harbour facility are road salt and silica sand-neither of which, critics are quick to point out, are sanctioned under the original lease granted in 1975. The company wants both of those materials, along with a dozen others-including rubber, concrete, slag and agricultural supplies-added to its slate of allowable cargo.

"Our problem is that you're going to do this in the dark," complained cottager Gerry Quinn, during the second of the two meetings, held in Little Current. "If I were you, I would listen and consult with us now, because if you produce a lease we don't like, we'll be going to the Ministry of the Environment (for a full-scale EA) and we'll be doing this for another six years."

It's a scenario that the company certainly wants to avoid. "This process has already taken six years," noted ACIL chairman Jamie Wallace. "Once we get to a document we can look at, we want to negotiate. A full EA involves consultants and lawyers, who make a lot of money. Give us your concerns, and let's see if we can come to a common ground."

The first meeting, in Birch Island on Tuesday, was held specifically for the cottage communities of McGregor Bay and Bay of Islands, and proved the feistier of the two, drawing over 60 summer dwellers, many of them in a fighting mood.

Ann McGregor, a long-time member of the McGregor Bay Association (MBA) and the group's liaison on the Fisher Harbour front, put her foot down immediately by demanding that the session take on a question-and-answer format instead of the typical "open house" approach, as had been the original plan. The meeting hosts complied, even though they hadn't come prepared for that and weren't technically required to do so.

Thursday's meeting in Little Current drew a smaller but still substantial crowd-about three-dozen people-that seemed evenly split between Islanders and members of the McGregor Bay cottage community. The latter were the most vocal, and again got a chance to air their concerns via the preferred Q&A format.

This time the proponents and MNR reps were more organized, however, and the tone of the questioning was more civil, perhaps because, as cottager Jim Stewart quipped, "we left our more rabid attack dogs behind tonight."

The McGregor Bay group still had some strong feelings to share, though, particularly in regard to their overriding concern: the potential contamination of their cherished waters due to a shipping or offloading mishap. As Mr. Stewart bluntly put it, "If something toxic spills, it's over for us."

The descriptions of items that ACIL wants added to its shipping options are too vague for cottagers' tastes; they want to see a more precise breakdown along with clear assurances that nothing noxious will slip in under a general category such as "agricultural products" or "metal-bearing concentrates."

"The bottom line for us is we don't want something soluble that's going to wreck the water," said Dick Lockrem. "Corn or wood, we don't care."

Mark McGoey, project consultant for ACIL, stressed that the list is not etched in stone, but neither was it compiled in a reckless way, as the company recognizes that some products are not worth the potential environmental hazard. "This is a starting point," he said. "But you don't see gasoline or toxic chemicals on there."

It was a point echoed by Jeff Wallace. "As owners of the island, these proposed commodities have been carefully considered," he said. "We take our role as stewards very seriously; preservation of animals and fish is core to our ownership of the island and its future."

For the Wallaces, who own both Great Cloche and Little LaCloche islands, as handed down to them by their late in-law Cliff Fielding, Fisher Harbour is a way to offset the costs of maintaining the rest of these lands as grazing areas for a few exotic cattle and as a hunt-free sanctuary for deer and other wildlife.

And while they won't necessarily begin to trade in every product cited for possible addition to the port's commodities list, they believe they have to create a wider range of potential business in order for the facility to remain viable.

"It's difficult for us to predict what may be a good commodity to take," noted Jamie Wallace. Salt is certainly a big part of their business right now, and a product the company wants to have officially approved on a new lease, but it may not be a going concern down the road, so to speak. "Maybe salt is not the future for Ontario's roads," pointed out the ACIL chairman.

Phil Annett, the chief operating officer at Fisher Harbour, noted that opportunities often arise for other types of business-some of them less controversial than road salt-but because of the restrictions currently placed on port, these have been turned down.

"We get a lot of inquiries about the harbour because we have lots of water," he said. "I could get a call, like the one for wood pellets that I got from the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, but I can't enter into a contract with them."

The company found a somewhat unlikely ally in Okeechobee Lodge owner Mike Wheatley, whose recreational property at the entrance to Baie Fine commands a view of the ships coming and going from the port. That traffic has never particularly bothered him, said Mr. Wheatley, and he believes ACIL performs a useful role in the area.

"I think it's good for the North, because we don't have another deep-water port in this area," he said. "If you have a good corporate citizen saying they aren't going to bring in bad stuff, and is willing to find common ground, I think it's a great opportunity for the North and for this given area."

Carl Botan, who traces his McGregor Bay connection back to the area's original settler (and onetime Expositor owner) Stuart Jenkins, wasn't entirely unsympathetic to ACIL's desire to expand its business options, but argued that this commercial operation, and the modest number of jobs it provides-five at present, and unlikely to become 20 any day soon-should not trump other parts of the socioeconomic picture.

"The economic foundation here is still tourism," he said. "And I think you have to keep a real careful sense about that."

Mr. Botan suggested that a lot of strife with the cottage sector could be averted if ACIL, prior to settling on a deal with the MNR, assuaged fears in McGregor Bay by "agreeing to a certain list of items that would be banned."

While this might be a voluntary and somewhat unorthodox move, "I don't see any downside to it," he said. "It would be a tremendous show of good faith from the company to say there will be, for instance, no heavy metals or pesticides. It might not be an exhaustive list but it would establish a precedent that the company and the community have worked together; it would show the community has an active role, and that it's not just meetings where you put up posters."

While the ACIL representatives didn't immediately agree to this request, it wasn't entirely ruled out. "If there are certain products you're concerned about, we can look at that," said Jamie Wallace. He noted that registering concerns is precisely what this stage of the application process is about, and that anyone with a request or argument to put forward can communicate this to the MNR.

Brian Riche, area supervisor for the ministry, echoed this point, noting, "Your comments are what will help the MNR determine what to put on the new lease." The process is not yet complete, he stressed, and there will be further opportunity for input-as well as the option of demanding a "bumped-up" EA through the MOE-before a final agreement with ACIL is inked.

For cottagers, though, the sense remains that most of these decisions are going to be made behind closed doors. "The commodity list you have here is generic, and we can't see a draft lease," said Mr. Stewart. "You're going to do the lease after these meetings, and I don't know what you're going to do. We're not interested in a class-action suit, and don't necessarily have to have a full-blown fight, but we're looking for ground rules."

They're also looking for assurances that whatever rules are finally put in place will be rigorously policed. "Given the oversight (regarding salt and sand), and that the 1975 lease wasn't enforceable, I'm curious to know if a similar situation could develop with the potential for new commodities," said MBA president Gillian Woodrooffe. "How would the public have confidence that the MNR would pull the plug, so to speak, if something isn't done appropriately?"

Mr. Riche promised that any lease agreement, this time around, would not be approved "until it goes to our legal department and we know it can be enforced."

The lack of an enforcement clause in the original lease wasn't so much an oversight as a factor of the time, he suggested, when policymakers couldn't fully anticipate how the framework of environmental legislation would develop.

Fisher Harbour is also a unique case, not just locally but province-wide, as "most leases don't have commodities lists," noted Ken Henson of the MNR.

That represents a competitive disadvantage for ACIL, and a management challenge for the MNR.

But for cottagers, along with members of the Whitefish River First Nation and others in the area who cherish the environment and resist more truck traffic on Highway 6, such a list is only reassuring insofar as the items on it make sense for the area, and the contract governing their transport turns out to have teeth.

Citizen group launches petition to put brakes on wind projects

NORTHEAST TOWN-The effects on residents' health, safety and the environment are amongst the concerns outlined in a pair of new petitions being circulated by a citizens' group challenging the proposed McLean's Mountain wind farm project.

A group comprising landowners with property in the vicinity of the proposed project has been vocal in its opposition to the wind farm following developer Northland Power's announcement that the farm had ballooned from a handful of turbines to 43. The group charges that the project will have an incontrovertible effect on the people and the landscape, and questions the ethics behind the developer's plan to exploit the land for its purposes without compensation to the municipality and its residents.

In the first of the two petitions, the citizens' group implores Northeast Town council to "implement policies, resolutions or bylaws regarding this and other green energy projects, to have setback limits in place to have the least effect on their adjacent landowners and constituents."

The petitioners argue that the noise generated from each turbine contravenes Ministry of Environment guidelines that set the acceptable limit at 40 decibels. Each turbine in the Northland project will create 103.5 decibels of noise, yet there is no way to prevent the noise from spilling onto the properties of non-participants, nor is there any plan to address future land use for properties that are currently vacant, the petition charges.

"May we request the implementation be such that has the least effect on the health, safety and environment on the Town of NEMI's current and future residents," the petition entreats.

The second petition adopts a more far-reaching approach, imploring other Island communities to bring a halt to any wind-farm proposals slated for Manitoulin "until such time it can be demonstrated that all reasonable concerns regarding the health, safety, planning, setback requirements, taxes, royalties, assessments, legal rights, liability, electrical infrastructure, decommissioning, aesthetics, lifestyle, and environmental impact the construction of wind towers will have on the inhabitants of Manitoulin, have been addressed."

In the interim, the Northeast Town council has already heeded the complaints of residents by passing a resolution temporarily halting applications for wind farm projects "until such time that regulations regarding renewable energy project approval transition procedures and wind turbine setbacks prepared under the Green Energy and Green Economy Act have been proclaimed."

The decision was made during an in-camera session at the last regular council meeting on July 21.

New study should help to explain shadfly scarcity in 2009

Islanders welcomed to share observations on annual bug bombardment

by Jim Moodie

NORTH BAY-The annual invasion of shadflies-those big night-flying insects that encrust storefronts and form crunchy heaps on sidewalks-may have been less intense this year than in summers past, but that hasn't put the brakes on a new research project that aims to assess this seasonal phenomenon.

If anything, the study through Nipissing University couldn't be more timely, as the idea is to analyze trends in the population over the years based on observations of those who inhabit shadfly-prone shorelines, and the information gleaned will likely help to explain this year's unusually fleeting visit.

Of course, visits of shadflies-also called mayflies or fishflies-are, by definition, fleeting: these insects lack mouths in their adult, flying phase, and live just long enough to mate before dying. Some flutter about on shore for a mere two-three hours before expiring, while others might prolong this fasting/procreating period for a couple of weeks.

But that's about the limit of their time on terra firma. They spend a much longer time underwater-up to two years-in nymphal form, feeding on algae and bacteria in the lake bottom, before rising to the surface, shedding their skin, and sprouting wings.

Members of the Ephemeroptera family-from the Greek ephemeros-these flies are indeed ephemeral. "They come by their name honestly," remarked James Abbott, an assistant professor of geography at Nipissing and the main force behind the shadfly research. "Ephemera were mythical beings that lived only for a day."

It was this very brevity of their terrestrial incarnation-along with a general lack of information regarding their full life span, from muck-embedded eggs to lake-floor nymphs to molting juveniles flapping across the water-that drew Dr. Abbott to shadflies as a subject for study.

"I was intrigued by the idea of an annual appearance that lasts for such a short time," he said. "There's a vacuum of knowledge about their role in the food web, and because they inhabit three different environments (lake-bottom sediments, water and land), they can tell us a lot about the environment and are potentially a really good indicator of environmental change."

Dr. Abbott's study, launched this year, will explore how denizens of shadfly country experience the yearly bug bombardment and then apply this local knowledge to a refinement of current scientific thought regarding environmental change.

"Scientific knowledge is often put on a pedestal," the professor noted. "But inhabitants of an area are often aware of environmental change before scientists are." He pointed to the collapse of the cod fishery on the east coast as an example of laypeople being ahead of academics in appreciating the problem at hand. "Inshore fishers were identifying changes due to their proximity to the organism and knew something was screwy, but most scientists ignored these warnings," he said.

In a project description at the University of Nipissing website, Dr. Abbott notes that, "every spring, millions of shadflies emerge for approximately a week to breed and then die. However, their timing and abundance does vary between years."

To learn more about these variations, inhabitants of "lakeshore areas of Lake Nipissing and Lake Huron" will be surveyed "about their perceptions of trends in shadfly occurrences," he indicates.

While the research has so far been confined mostly to the area around North Bay, Dr. Abbott said he plans to visit Manitoulin in the near future, likely in September, to interview folks in these parts concerning shadfly incursions. He'll also be digging through newspaper archives and even accounts of explorers to gather historical references to shadflies and how plentiful (or not) they may have been in the past.

"We're trying to get as many perspectives as possible to see the degree to which there may be heterogeneity, and to explain changes in abundance," he said.

Many shoreline residents, and especially shopkeepers, find the annual infusion of shadflies an annoyance, Dr. Abbott admitted. "You hear words like 'plague' a lot," he laughed. "You hear about cars turned into Chia Pets with shadflies."

Mostly the aversion is an aesthetic one, but the flies can apparently pose a hazard, too. "I've heard of car accidents happening because of shadflies," said the professor.

Residents of Lake Nipissing-which produces a particularly bounteous crop of shadflies-were once so fed up with the seasonal scourge that they "planned to build a collection tower on one of the islands," Dr. Abbott noted. "They were going to have this enormous light and trap them out there, and then either burn them or turn them into fertilizer."

But the species does play a valuable role, providing a food source for fish, birds and bats, not to mention a form of fertilizer once they breathe their last on land. Their shoreward surge each summer represents "a massive annual export of matter from an aquatic system to the terrestrial environment," noted Dr. Abbott.

Not everyone appreciates the fishy smell of these winged insects, but that odour bodes well for the soil. "They're extremely rich in phosphorous, nitrogen and carbon, and high in protein," pointed out the geography prof.

Like those expired salmon you see on the banks of spawning rivers, a shad carcass may look kind of grim-particularly when it's part of a massive pile of insectile mortality-but both of these species that perish after procreating contribute to the nutrient balance of their ecosystems.

As for this year's relative scarcity of shadflies, Dr. Abbott said he has a few theories, but it would be premature to air them in detail, as the research project is still in its infancy and doing so might bias the results. He'd rather continue to hear from people who live along shad-frequented coasts regarding their observations and hunches, all of which will eventually contribute to a broader understanding of the species' patterns.

He doubts, though, that these light-loving window-clingers are on their way out. Shadflies have been with us for millenia and have proven quite resilient even when confronted by major corruptions of their environment.

"In the 1950s, sewage going into Lake Erie caused oxygen in the water to drop, and they were almost completely wiped out," pointed out Dr. Abbott. "But they came back in the 1970s."

Anyone interested in participating in the shadfly study is encouraged to contact James Abbott at (705) 474-3450, ext. 4143, or jamesa@nipissingu.ca.

EDITORIAL

Time ripe for universal suffrage in AFN elections

Time seems to pass with lightning speed in this electronic age, but the pace of resolution of the issues facing First Nation communities, and the non-reserve Native population, seems to move with familiar glacial speed.

Time has not stood still, in any sense, either on or off reserve: if anything it is picking up exponential momentum. And unless the leadership of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) comes to recognize that change is in the wind, they run the danger of becoming increasingly irrelevant as the 21st century matures.

The First Nation component of the Canadian mosaic is its youngest demographic, with the bulk of the population lying securely in the under-30 quintiles. It is also a demographic that is, despite sky-high dropout rates, becoming more sophisticated and educated than at any era in post-Columbian history.

The off-reserve population is now larger than that living on-reserve, and yet many of the issues confounding both are similar. Endemic poverty and structural discrimination collide with the perception of entitlement held by a wide selection of the other components of Canadian society to make dealing with those issues even more difficult than it already is. The First Nations need solid, determined leadership with a clear mandate to represent the needs of all status Natives.

Many First Nations, particularly those close to home, have demanded to negotiate matters of resource sharing and development on a government-to-government basis, rather than band to corporation. The argument for such a government-to-government relationship would be much stronger if the leadership of the AFN held a clear mandate from both on- and off-reserve status Natives.

Certainly the provisions of the Corbiere decision, mandating that bands must allow non-resident members a voice in local elections, went a distance toward ensuring some enfranchisement of off-reserve status Natives, but those rights clearly do not go far enough.

The added legitimacy and credibility of a universal vote, where every status Native could vote in the selection of the leaders speaking on their behalf, would strengthen the hand of anyone wearing the bonnet of the grand chief. Certainly the argument could be made that mainstream society in this country does not directly elect the leader of the country either, but under the current circumstances that fact hardly weakens the thesis.

Shawn Atleo will fill the role of grand chief of the AFN with the flair he has exhibited as a businessperson, an educator and as a regional chief of British Columbia, and, at a still youthful age of 42, he also well-positioned to engage youth in finding the solutions to the challenges facing the First Nations. But the First Nation youth need hope and a sense of a vision that they have had a hand in creating-without regard to whether they live on or off reserve. If that representation takes place through the election of urban delegates, or through universal suffrage, it will go a long way toward strengthening the voice of the grand chief in speaking truth to power.

If reform of the selection process is sacrificed on the altar of expediency, the results could be devastating to the main voice of the Anishinabek. In the end, however, any reform must come from the people themselves.

Letters to the Editor

Chance for Island to be exporter of green power welcomed

Friendlier source of hydro should generate sense of pride

To the Expositor:

Several years ago I made a decision to support wind power as an eco-friendly method of power generation. Hydroelectric dams are not only a problem due to the huge tracts of the natural landscape flooded and changed forever and the lack of sites that can be utilized, but the huge power corridors necessary to transport the power.

For several years I was a member of a study group on the feasibility of a nuclear reactor in the North Channel. I still have huge stacks of studies and plans proposed by Ontario Hydro. Despite the potential for employment for the people in our area, I could not endorse this idea. Although the project seems to be long dead, I suspect it is still on the back burner of future planning in head office.

As far as a fossil fuel generating station anywhere in Ontario, just forget it. This comes down to solar power and/or wind generation. The technology has been in use for many years and is widely utilized in many countries. When Manitoulin was chosen by several companies for future wind-power developments, I was delighted.

Certainly, there are drawbacks. Among them is the fact that some people object to the sight of a tower on the horizon. This is their God-given right. Some people object to a transmission line and this is understandable. There are those who complain about the sight of an outhouse. I myself find a privy to be somewhat lacking in aesthetics.

However, if the electricity is off, that line truck fixing the transmission line looks alright. If the lack of power causes your water and sewage system to become unusable, the humble outdoor bathroom starts to look pretty darn good sooner or later.

Let's face, it we are dependent on electrical power. I hope to see the day that our fiercely independent Manitoulin Island residents can point to the horizon and say: "We are a green island using green power." With the First Nations projects, the Schneider Wind Farm and the Northland project, it could happen. Manitoulin could be a net exporter of clean power.

I refuse to let my hatred of change (and the fact that I don't like the thought of a new look to the landscape) keep us dependent on imported nuclear and coal-generated power. I hope to be able to look at the towers and view them as a source of pride in being independent and unique, a huge island community where everyone from Wikwemikong to Meldrum Bay can be proud of the fact that we are producing and using green power, and totally in harmony with our environment.

Ed Ferguson Sr.

Howland

McLean's Mountain wind farm tip of the iceburg

Project first step to Island becoming wind capital of Ontario

To the Expositor:

I learned last week that the McLean's Mountain Wind Farm has grown to 43 wind turbines. The towers will be 80 meters high, supporting a blade 180 metres across and will generate 77 megawatts (MW) of power. I can't comprehend such a huge industrial development on the Island.

Then I learned that the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) plans to have the Manitoulin provide 500 MW of power to the province from seven different potential wind-farm locations by 2015: Little Current, Manitowaning, a site west of Lake Manitou, a site north of Lake Kagawong and three sites at South Baymouth. The OPA map did not include the wind farms proposed by M'Chigeeng and Wikwemiikong.

Peak energy demand at Manitoulin in 2006-2007 was 30 MW. The OPA wants Manitoulin to bear the impact of the development of seven wind farms in order to export 470 MW of power to other parts of the province. It's like asking the turtle to carry the province on its back.

And the bad news doesn't end there. In order to get Manitoulin's wind power into the grid, the 115-KV power line from Little Current to Manitowaning will be replaced with a 230-KW high voltage power line. More big towers. The visual and noise impacts of the giant turbines up on the escarpment is no small matter: nor is the number of people along Highway 6 or possibly Highway 542 who are going to have high-voltage transmission towers in their front yard. These towers will be much larger than the ones spanning the North Channel at the swing bridge.

I'm in favour of wind-energy development that is appropriate and proportionate to the landforms, land uses and the community. I'm in favour of sharing and exporting some of the wind energy from the Island. The OPA study said that Manitoulin could add 100 MW of power to the grid using the existing power lines. I think that would be generous, like sharing two-thirds of what your garden grows. I could feel good about that. But because we've been kept in the dark, there is no chance to talk about reasonable alternatives.

The Mclean's Mountain wind farm is a size-12 steel-toed boot in the door to making Manitoulin the wind capital of Ontario. Once the McLean's Mountain wind farm has been built, it will be impossible to stop the construction of Northland's power line under the North Channel to Goat Island, regardless of its impacts. A submerged power line across a navigable body of water, the North Channel, should be subject to a federal environmental assessment. This has not been done. When I asked Northland's Gordon Potts if the underwater power line has been approved, he said, "There's no permit for that yet."

I have to wonder why a private company would invest $28 million in a wind farm when they have no sure means of getting their electricity to the point of sale at Goat Island. Seems like putting the cart before the horse, to me.

Northland's 500-page Environmental Study Report, to have been released on July 23, gives the public 30 days to comment, object or suggest changes to the project. Two copies will be available at the municipal office. Mr. Potts declined to send me one by snail mail.

It takes at least two years to do the studies for that report, and the public only found out about it a month ago. Northland should have held a public meeting at the beginning of the study, not at the end. It must have taken months to negotiate leases with the 12 landowners on McLean's Mountain who will receive $6,000/year for each turbine on their property. But the company waited until June to let the public in on their plans.

This wind farm has been in the works for seven years, and now the company is rushing to get shovels in the ground-more likely explosives-next spring. Northland is rushing to get its approval from the Ministry of the Environment by the end of the summer. Why the rush? Could it be that they want to get all of their "permits" before the Green Energy Act comes into effect this fall? The Green Energy Act will require a setback of 550 metres. Right now the setback is 500 metres.

It all leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, like certain interests are trying to pull the wool over our eyes while they do an end run. And we only have a month in the middle of summer to do anything about it. So if you are inclined to contact your politicians or the Minister of the Environment, do it today.

For the record: my land is not within sight or sound of the McLean's Mountain wind farm.

Joyce Young

Kagawong

Scheme for Kagawong marina would put township in hole

Strategic plan better than plotting behind the scenes

To the Expositor:

Boondoggle: a term for a scheme that wastes time and money.

Here in Kagawong, things move in mysterious ways. A small group of residents that wanted to tell council what to do (excuse me-offer advice to council) and wanted council to "communicate with them" is doing it again-plotting behind the scenes! Nothing gets my goat more than people plotting behind the scenes, and apparently I'm not alone.

What is up for "discussion" are grandiose plans for upgrading the Kagawong Marina to be presented on August 6 in Park Centre. Council is "welcome" to attend. Also under discussion is the termination of stunts like jumping off the dock that Haweaters have celebrated here for generations. I am a relative newcomer to the Island myself, but I can't help noting that the key folks behind this are imports too, not that I want to be associated with them!

These proposed changes come despite the fact that the marina doesn't pay for itself under current economic conditions (as these folks well know) and that they missed the boat when Gore Bay and Little Current went through major expansions. I enquired of the powers that be and found that while money might have been available for this project back in 2003 from provincial and federal governments, the township couldn't afford its share then-it was in the middle of the water capital project following Walkerton-and is even deeper in the hole now.

Anyway, that part is moot, because anyone looking at Little Current and Gore Bay dockage this year can't avoid the empty slips. How adding more slips to the Island's inventory will pay for itself is frankly a mystery to me and any accountant who might wish to examine the facts. The argument being made, no doubt, is that there are infrastructure monies to be had and we should grab them. Trouble is it is always a three-way split, which means that for every million the feds and the province come up with, Billings Township will have to match, and we just don't have it. Last time this pie in the sky (or boondoggle on the water) was priced, the bottom line came to $6 million-$2 million of that to come from the municipality. Also, I don't believe the province has any more in the pot, and frankly, Billings has already had its fair share of grants recently for upgrades to roads (like the Maple Point hill project) and the museum.

I will bet, when push comes to shove, that several things will be decided: 1) That the vast majority of Billing taxpayers don't use the marina and will be damned if they pay for some brand-spanking set of empty slips for the very few who do (I'm a boater and have my boat in Kagawong marina and I don't want any expansion); 2) Those who are part of the congregation of St. John's Church, sitting as it does right on the marina wall, will come to their senses when they realize that any expansion to the marina will have a severely detrimental impact on that beautiful little place of worship; and 3) Just in case anyone wants taxpayers' money to go into major expansion-putting the township in the hole such that they have to look at selling some assets-that a poison pill clause be put into any plans for the marina, maintenance or otherwise, so future councils can't sell off this little gem to some private group at a fire-sale price just to balance the books.

Anyway, all this is putting the cart before the horse. This township has no strategic plan on the books to determine in a democratic manner what the majority of citizens want and think they can afford.

Going off half-cock is always dangerous in shooting, and even more so in planning. This same group of folks (then wearing a hat calling itself the focus group) came to council claiming council didn't listen to them. I have an idea that will give them, in a fair and balanced manner, a chance to put in their 10 cents' worth, along with all of the other citizens of this fine community. With council's approval I will help put together a strategic plan for the community, and will even welcome input from the local representative of the LaCloche-Manitoulin Business Assistance Corporation, as long as my mandate is directed to be balanced, and inclusive of all community members. A structured questionnaire could gather a great deal of information, as well as a number of community meetings. What I will stand in front of is any attempt to bulldoze a preconceived idea through that would put a great hole in the budget without providing benefit for the wider community. Ask Mike Brown's colleague in Queen's Park, MPP Mike Colle, who was very much the driving force behind the Green Belt strategy around the GTA. I am pretty good at standing in front of bulldozers. Just try me!

Paul Darlaston

Kagawong