CPTnet
17 March 2006
KENORA: Who is in the community?
by David Milne
[Note: The following is a Milne's letter to the editor of the _Kenora Miner
and News_. ]
On February 17 David Goerzen, a laid-off Abitibi mill worker, wrote in this
paper: "The wood in this area is the community's and not big business and
any profits from it should benefit the community." Mr. Goerzen was
protesting Abitibi's refusal to sell its "timber rights." I do empathize
with Mr. Goerzen's situation, and that of all other laid-off workers and
their families. I too, have lost a job and have had to move. I agree
also with his sentiments regarding the activities of big business and their
lack of concern for communities.
However, I find some aspects of this letter disturbing. Most notably Mr.
Goerzen did not seem to include aboriginal people in his definition of
"community." They are not named directly. Given that few aboriginal
people had jobs in the mill or in the forest industry, it seems unlikely
that he intended to include them.
Moreover, some aboriginal people, for example those in Grassy Narrows,
oppose clear-cutting, saying it causes environmental damage, contributes
to health problems, and destroys their traditional pursuits of hunting and
trapping. However, they had to resort to a blockade to enforce rights
granted to them by treaty, a binding legal agreement.
While they were doing this the non-aboriginal community didn't seem very
concerned. And the Ministry of Natural Resources continued to issue permits
to Abitibi and other companies.
Last week people of the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (Big Trout Lake)
First Nation blockaded a drilling site and forced Platinex mining
exploration company to leave, even as company officials protested they had
legal permits to drill. Will job hungry miners now join forces with
mining financiers to press the government to overturn the indigenous
people's wishes?
On the one hand, most Canadians acknowledge that aboriginal people have
received a raw deal. We know that many reserves have an undeveloped
economic base that leaves residents unemployed and in poverty. On the other
hand, when aboriginal people take matters into their own hands and reclaim
rights to resources which are theirs by law, we pretend they aren't part of
the community.
It is time Canadians acknowledged that aboriginal people are part of the
"community" and that they have preexisting rights to the resources of this
country.
David Milne
Christian Peacemaker Team in Kenora
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