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Racism
Conference Racism in Canada a concern; Coon Come
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by Neil Zacharjewicz
DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA - National Chief Matthew
Coon Come believes Canada is trying to hide ongoing racism and
the use of state violence from the United Nations (UN). This
is why Chief Coon Come and five other delegates from the Assembly
of First Nations (AFN) traveled to Durban, South Africa to attend
the UN's World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination,
Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance, which runs from August
31 until September 7. "Canada will no doubt present itself as
a world leader in respect of human rights," suggested Chief
Coon Come prior to the trip. "Yet within Canada, there are two
realities. There is the 'reality' of highly developed, just
society that the world knows, and then there is the harsh and
deadly reality which Aboriginal Peoples endure." He pointed
out UN bodies have criticized Canada for the social conditions
of its Aboriginal people. He also raised concern about restitution
and compensation over native land issues. "Canada will try to
paint a rosy picture as if everything is history, but there
is a continuation of dispossession and marginalization of our
people," Chief Coon Come stated. He pointed to ongoing concerns
of violence on the East Coast over native fishing rights. In
what the Toronto Star termed as two "well-attended sessions,"
Chief Coon Come was reportedly applauded as he told international
delegates of "the oppression, marginalization, and dispossession
of indigenous people" in Canada. In response to Chief Coon Come's
presentation, Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Bob Nault
said he has gone too far with his comments. He suggested such
comments "are not acceptable for any national leader to make
in an international forum." "With this kind of language and
talk, I believe Matthew Coon Come is going to set the agenda
back for many years," Mr. Nault indicated. "He is going to find
it very difficult for people to do business with him if he is
going to make those kinds of serious accusations, which we all
take very seriously. People like myself... are not just annoyed,
we're just beside ourselves." Martin Bayer, Tribal Chair of
the United Chiefs and Councils of Manitoulin (UCCM), said part
of Chief Coon Come's platform when he ran for the position of
national chief was to take the First Nations issues which have
historically been a problem into the international arena, and
he supports his efforts to do so. "Definitely, we have to go
into the international arena," Mr. Bayer stated. "I certainly
support his efforts." The reason, he suggested, is because there
are no effective mechanisms to deal with these issues. The court
system takes too long, and experience shows it is not necessarily
effective, Mr. Bayer said, and dealing directly with the government
is much the same. There are still major problems with housing,
education, economic development and job creation, health issues,
the need to provide safe water and development of information
technology systems in First Nations communities. The international
arena may be an effective vehicle for First Nations to have
their issues dealt with, he said. Negotiations, he suggested,
reflect a 'David versus Goliath' scenario. If the government
is not happy with the direction of negotiations, it can simply
cut the First Nations' funding for the negotiations, effectively
ending the discussions. Furthermore, there are rarely any results
from the negotiations process. While the world has entered into
the new millennium, the First Nations' people still find themselves
dealing with the same issues. First Nations have made a noticeable
improvement in managing their financial situations, Mr. Bayer
indicated. The government has put a great deal of resources
into self-government negotiations and land claims, but the First
Nations are only interested in these discussions in order to
utilize them as an avenue to improve the areas with which they
feel there are major problems. He said while Mr. Nault has been
putting his efforts into a modern governance act, which isno
doubt a good thing, unless there is a sound economic base to
redress the problems, there are not going to be many signs of
change. "Canadians just see five second sound bytes on the evening
news," Mr. Bayer said. First Nations need to come up with innovative
ways to deal with these issues, and should not count on any
level of government to provide for them, he indicated. He noted
the last time the government boasted a surplus, he had thought
it would be a good time to approach them about training programs
to address the shortcoming in skills-related fields. It would
have had the instant effect of changing unemployment levels
on First Nations, which continue to sit around the 65 - 70 percent
mark, Mr. Bayer suggested. He said he does not blame Chief Coon
Come for wanting to take the issue into an international arena.
He explained the only time Canada responds is when it runs the
risk of international embarrassment. Mr. Bayer said he believes
the AFN also plans to schedule a visit to meet with Nelson Mandela
when he visits Canada later this month. He suggested it will
provide another opportunity to raise awareness of First Nations'
peoples issues on an international scale. "If some people find
that disturbing, then maybe that is just the kind of shock therapy
that is needed," Mr. Bayer stated.
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Construction
begins on Highway 6
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by Cheryl Waugh
NORTHEASTERN MANITOULIN and the ISLANDS ----Drivers along Highway
6 South in Little Current should be noticing construction equipment
moving into the area this week as Pioneer Construction begins
improvements to the much-used roadway. The long waited for phase
two part of the Highway 6 improvement project will not proceed
exactly as first planned. The town of Northeastern Manitoulin
and the Islands did not receive as much funding as expected,
and have been forced to split the phase two workload. "The province
didn't come through with sufficient funding to do all of phase
two," said Councillor Ron Lewis, chair of the Public Works committee.
"So (phase two) has been split." Originally, the plan was to
improve the highway from the Vankoughnet St. intersection to
the Little Current Howland Recreation Centre, including improving
the intersections in between. However, without enough funding
for the project, the work has been split into 'A' and 'B' phases.
In the first part, the Vankoughnet St. and Blake St. intersections
will be improved, while Walcot St. will become a cul-de-sac
on both sides of Highway 6. "The cul-de-sac will allow people
who live on that street to turn around, but they won't be able
to access Highway 6 at the end of that road," said Councillor
Lewis. Both the Draper and Blake St. intersections will be widened
and improved. Drivers should find navigating from Highway 6
onto Blake St. much easier once the construction is completed.
The intersection has been a safety concern because of the sharp
turn that currently must be made off of Highway 6 onto Blake
St. The 'B' part of phase two will see improvements to the Draper
St. and Wilson St. intersections, as well as improving Highway
6 up to the Little Current Howland Recreation Centre. Phase
three - a future capital plan - will see improvements to Highway
6 from the top of the hill (at Hill Top Shell) to the swing
bridge. Phase one of the Highway 6 improvements was completed
several years ago, and entailed adding the Highway 6 turn-off
at the Meredith St./Highway 6 intersection, allowing vehicles
easier access north to Highway 6 South, Espanola. Pioneer Construction
won the tender for the work at a bid of $562,887.27, beating
out their next competitor by almost $40,000. Northland Engineering
Ltd., of Sudbury, the engineering consultants on the project,
said Pioneer's price is so much lower mainly because of their
local asphalt plant currently being used for the Highway 6 work
on Great LaCloche Island and Birch Island. The construction
company does not have far to go to move its equipment. Pioneer
will also be building the sidewalk on Wilson St., while they're
here. They won that tender with a bid of $61,171.75, more than
$10,000 lower than the next highest bidder. Mr. Lewis said Pioneer
expects for a fairly short contract span. Meaning the work should
be completed, at the absolute latest, before mid-November.
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Aquaculture
Land claims negotiations stall aquaculture expansion
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by Michael Erskine
MANITOULIN ISLAND---Stalling tactics by the
local branch of the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) and
an operating atmosphere, poisoned by misinformation about the
aquaculture industry, has led to the loss of 40 jobs in Little
Current and the likely loss of more than 100 other new jobs
over the next year to the East Coast, said Robert Devine, owner
of Coldwater Fisheries. Local Ministry of Natural Resources
officials, however, lay the blame for the current aquaculture
impasse on ongoing negotiations with First Nations over traditional
fishing grounds. Mr. Devine pointed to the unwillingness of
the local offices of the Ministry of Natural Resources in Espanola
to even accept his application for the expansion of his operation
as the main stumbling block to the creation of new jobs in the
area. "We have tried everything, we have answered their every
question and tried to get answers from them as to what we need
to do to move this thing forward," he said. "I have even had
our lawyers talk to them, nothing happens." Mr. Devine insists
that a hiatus has been declared on the granting of new licenses
to his company by the local MNR, a situation that he said the
Toronto and Peterborough head offices are unaware of. "They
told me they didn't know why the branch would not accept my
application," he said. "It seems to be a local decision." Due
to what Mr. Devine describes as intransigence on the part of
the local MNR branch in granting him a land use permit, he has
had to expand operations on the East Coast, locating jobs which
he feels should have gone into the Manitoulin area. Ken Gibbons,
director of the MNR branch in Espanola, explained the process
that has led to the impasse. "When a new application comes in,
we send the application out to other ministries and branches
of both the Federal and Provincial governments for comment,"
he said. "The comments we received back indicated that no further
development should be entertained for that area, as it was under
negotiation with the First Nation communities." The area in
question encompasses traditional fishing islands and grounds
close to Wikwemikong Unceded Reserve, areas that are in the
first stages of being negotiated, according to Mr. Gibbons.
He noted that the discussions are so preliminary that the boundaries
and scope of what is being discussed are not even defined as
yet, but the area that two new applications would be located
in are believed to be in the area under negotiation. "We have
been advised that the areas in question should not be considered
for development until those negotiations have matured somewhat,"
he said. "The process of gaining a license to operate an aquaculture
operation is very involved and requires a long term commitment
from the operator proposing the site," he noted. "It can take
up to two years to go through the process. One year in advance,
they have to collect water quality samples; they have to hire
a consultant to analyze the data and prepare a report. In addition
to that, we go out two to three times a year to conduct our
own tests." The testing requirements and procedures are set
by the MNR, and it is the responsibility of the applicant to
conduct the tests and submit the report. "It is quite a long
and involved process," said Mr. Gibbons. "We simply do not want
the company to start a process that will leave them with stale
data. It may take five or six years to settle the negotiations
to the point that they could start operations, by that time
any data they would have collected would have gone so far out
of date as to be useless. We don't want them to waste time or
money on something we are not sure they may ever be able to
do." There are two permits issued for the operation of an aquaculture
operation, the first is a ground use permit, that applies to
the lake bottom, and it is that very lake bottom that is under
negotiation; the second is a feeding permit, which allows an
operation to use a set amount of feed. "We found that limiting
the operations by number of cages and other means were impractical,"
said Mr. Gibbons. "By setting the amount of feed an operation
can use, we can limit the size of the operation and the impact
of phosphorous entering the system, it has proven to be a much
easier system by which to regulate the operations." Mr. Devine
said he was willing to approach the First Nation involved to
negotiate a mutually beneficial arrangement and that he was
willing to meet all of the requirements the MNR set out for
him, but he could not get the MNR to agree to even accept his
application so that he could begin the process. "We just can't
seem to get started on this," he said. Mr. Devine said that
he believes that the politically charged MNR was an inappropriate
venue for aquaculture. "It is the most political and politically
sensitive of all the government ministries," he said. "They
are so concerned about making the wrong move that it is just
easier to do nothing, to turn down applications, rather than
risk upsetting powerful political groups." Mr. Devine blames
misinformation and inaccurate reporting in the media, as well
as a one-sided approach to the reporting of the issues involved
in aquaculture as being one of the root causes of his difficulties
in expanding operations. He said part of the controversy over
the location of fish cages in the LaCloche Channel arose out
of ill-advised actions by the MNR itself. "There is information
collected by the MNR itself that proves we did not cause the
problems in the area," said Mr. Devine. "But they won't release
it, we have not been able to get the message out, that we were
not the cause of the problem." He said he was frustrated by
the perception that aquaculture operations are contributing
to the degradation of water quality in the Great Lakes. "We
were operating in that area (LaCloche Channel), and then the
MNR itself allowed another operation to come in," he said. "I
have nothing against the other operators, they are not at fault,
but the MNR tells us that we have to pull out of an area because
it is being over extended, and it was they themselves that allowed
the other operations to set up in the area. It was not our idea,
but we get the bad publicity and have to suffer the consequences
of those decisions." "We need clean water in order to produce
the quality product that we supply to the world," said Mr. Devine,
adding that aquaculture operations, such as his, have a vested
interest in keeping water resources as clean as possible, that
they are required to follow stringent regulations, yet must
operate in an atmosphere that he feels is threatening and counterproductive
to development of the industry. Mr. Gibbons said the MNR does
indeed have data from the area in question, collected while
the MNR was conducting test operations prior to granting the
first licenses in the LaCloche Channel. He said the data is
in chart form it would be difficult for untrained personnel
to interpret the information. The data was also collected "from
a slightly different area" as well. "Are the readings different?
(Between when the cages were first set up and the current readings.)
Sure they are," said Mr. Gibbons, "but we don't really know
what that means." "We never placed blame on anyone for the conditions
that are found in the LaCloche Channel," said Mr. Gibbons. "What
caused it? Low water conditions probably played a part, maybe
the inclusion of other operations in the area, we simply do
not know the answer." Part of the confusion over the blame Coldwater
Fisheries received from the state of the LaCloche Channel may
be simple semantics. The MNR uses the scientific term 'coldwater
fishery' to identify aquaculture in local freshwater lakes,
and the name of Mr. Devine's company, is 'Coldwater Fisheries.'
The scientific term was used in a MNR memorandum that criticized
the LaCloche Channel fishery site as an example of a poorly
situated operation. Although Mr. Devine had thought the original
confusion between the two names had been cleared up, he was
alarmed to hear the inaccurate reference from the MNR memorandum
resurface yet again, during a Georgian Bay Association meeting
last July. "Nobody has corrected the misinformation in the public
eye," he explained. The science behind the aquaculture industry
has made great strides in the years since the controversy developed
over the LaCloche Channel operations, said Mr. Gibbons. "Both
we and the industry itself have learned a lot. It is still very
much a developing industry." "As a result of what we have learned,
sites have been located in deeper, more open areas. That allows
for a better mixing of water, and therefore better temperatures
than what you get in low flow, shallower sites. Typically those
sites have seen temperatures in the 35 degree range, when what
they want are 15 to 18 degrees for optimum results." Although
the move to more open sites has lessened the concerns of cottagers,
there are still issues that are associated with the more open
site locations. "There are still significant numbers of other
user groups in those areas, including boaters and recreational
fishermen. We have to find ways that everyone can work together,"
he said. "Generally, I would describe our relationship with
the industry as good," said Mr. Gibbons. "I like to think that
it is anyway. Certainly my impression of the industry is that
they are not out there to pollute, they want to operate as responsible
corporate citizens." None-the-less, the MNR and the Ministry
of the Environment are enforcement and regulatory agencies,
according to Mr. Gibbons, and that is part of the problem according
to Mr. Devine. "We should not be under the MNR," said Mr. Devine.
"We are an agricultural operation, not a wildlife organization.
Our fish don't have anything more to do with wildlife than domestic
turkies do. Our fish are domestic, not wild, and therefore we
should be under Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, an agency
with a stronger mandate to promote and develop the industry.
They have an entirely different orientation and are not as politicized
a ministry." The problem, according to Mr. Devine, is that the
MNR and Ministry of the Environment are geared to prevention
and enforcement, an orientation which colours the perceptions
of field personnel on how to approach the industry. "The MNR
officials show up at our site, and find nothing wrong," he said.
"Instead of being happy and supportive of our work, they tell
us how lucky we are that there were no problems. If we had been
just a few degrees out, they could shut us down. It is that
whole 'regulation-enforcement' attitude, it just isn't the right
place for the industry to develop. The MNR are acting like bullies,
and there is no appeal process to overturn their decisions."
As matters stand however, the MNR and Coldwater Fisheries seem
to be at an impasse over the extension of operations in the
area. The MNR is locked into a restriction over disposing of
lands (the fishing ground lake bottom), and therefore will not
issue a land use permit while negotiations over the extent of
land claims and traditional fisheries have not been finalized;
and Coldwater Fisheries must expand to meet the demands of their
customers, or risk losing them to global competitors. The unfortunate
solution, said Mr. Devine, is moving more of their operations
to a receptive area, such as New Brunswick. "That is something
I don't want to have to do, we want to stay here and help develop
the area, we want to do business here, but the current situation
is making that all but impossible," he said. "They want us down
East. In the last five years there could have been 120 jobs
in the Little Current area from Coldwater and other fisheries."
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