Algonquin Union seeks urgent action from Tourism and Culture Minister Michael Chan

~ waawaaskesh

Media Advisory for Thursday, February 24, 2011

STOP DESTRUCTION OF SOUTH MARCH HIGHLANDS
>> Algonquin Union seeks urgent action from Tourism and Culture Minister Michael Chan
Firekeeper Daniel Bernard (Amikwabe), on behalf of the Algonquin Union, will hand-deliver an urgent letter of request to the Honourable Michael Chan, Ontario’s Minister of Tourism and Culture on Thursday morning, seeking an immediate halt to the clear-cutting of South March Highlands (SMH) in Ottawa.

Despite numerous appeals to the Minister, Mr. Chan has yet to respond to the Algonquin request for a meeting to share new archeological information about the SMH site. This new information will provide grounds for Mr. Chan to stop the further devastation of land now being developed and considered sacred by First Nations people.

A sacred ceremony will be performed prior to delivery of the letter at 11 a.m. outside the Ontario Legislature at Queen’s Park “in the hope that the Minister and his officials will open their hearts and minds to preserve what remains of this sacred place,” Daniel Bernard states.

From: The Algonquin Union
When: 11 am, THURSDAY, February 24, 2011
Where: Main entrance, Ontario Legislature
Queen’s Park, Toronto

Contact:

• Daniel Bernard, on behalf of the Algonquin Union
Cell: 416-876-3051
Email: dan_bernard@rogers.com

• Paul Renaud
Cell: 613-277-5898
Email: paul@renaud.ca

For more information:
• Algonquin Union: www.union-algonquin-union.com

Feb 14 – Day of Justice: Rally for Sisters in Spirit

~ waawaaskesh

Monday February 14, noon-1:30pm
Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Algonquin Territory
(Facebook page)

Also events in Vancouver and Winnipeg, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal

Come out and show support for the survival of the Native Women’s Association of Canada’s (NWAC) unprecedented Sisters in Spirit campaign (SIS), which, since it’s inception in 2004, has worked to raise awareness about violence against Native women and girls in Canada–namely, those who have gone missing or been murdered.

SIS not only compiled a data for over 583 cases of missing and murdered Native women in five years time, but also identified key patterns integral to understanding the systemic nature of the violence: media neglect or racial bias, police racism or negligence, victimization of Native women by the Justice system, and governmental apathy and enforcement of cycles of poverty for Native communities, to name a few. In a relatively short period of time, SIS also managed to raise the profile of the issue in the media and in the minds of the population at large, while providing indispensable support to the families of victims and creating a cross-country network.

This October 86 communities organized the 5th annual memorial Sisters in Spirit March and Vigil, including one in Nicaragua.

In spite of this progress, and the ongoing collection of new data (indeed, grassroots groups have put the number of missing and murdered women much closer to 2000), the government has held SIS in funding limbo for the past 8 months, ever since the release of Canada’s 2010 budget back in March, when $10 million was promised to “address the issue of missing and murdered Native women.” It wasn’t until November 2010 that the government finally made the announcement that confirmed the worst fears of many activists, organizers, and even opposition MPs: the money would not go to fund SIS research, but would instead fulfill the government’s new idea of safety for women, and include requirements for enhanced police power: amendments to the Criminal Code to allow police to wiretap without warrants in emergencies and obtain multiple warrants on a single application. This will not only increase the likelihood of criminalization of women, Native communities, and other vulnerable sectors of the population, but will be expected to operate without the backbone of research and data collection. Add to this the historical and ongoing relationship of distrust between many Native communities and police, who are themselves implicated in a number of documented violent altercations with Native women. Gladys Tolley, for instance, was killed by the Surete du Quebec in 2001 and no one was ever brought to justice. Her daughter Bridget Tolley has pushed for an independent investigation for years and was recently refused.

ENOUGH is ENOUGH!! We will not stand for the continued stripping down of First Nations programs essential to the physical safety and mental and emotional health of Native women and Native communities, as we have seen earlier this same year with the Aboriginal Healing Foundation and First Nations University.

RALLY FOR JUSTICE on February 14th. SHOW YOUR LOVE!

~~~~

Volunteers needed!

We are looking for volunteers who would like to help out on the Hill, February 14th from noon to 1:30 pm (shorter if windchill warning in effect).

There are a number of tasks available:

– Handing out rally signs
– Handing out memorial armbands
– Being a part of our human billboard (by holding 1 of 19 letters to send a clear message to Stephen Harper)
– Helping to coordinate the human billboard on the steps of the Hill
– Taking photos/video of the event (to be posted online afterwards)

If you are interested in volunteering please email Kristen at familiesofsistersinspirit@gmail.com

In love and resistance!

Feb 13 – IPSMO New Members’ Meeting

~ waawaaskesh

IPSMO New Members’ Meeting & Screening of Short Films

Sunday, Feb. 13 at 2pm
ipsmo@riseup.net
http://www.ipsmo.org

Women’s Studies Student’s Association Office
55 Laurier Ave. East (at Laurier transitway station)
Desmarais Building, University of Ottawa
Room 2170 J
We will meet you in front of the doors in front of the Laurier bus stop.

Everyone Welcome!
Accessible
Contact us if you require sign language translation
Ottawa, Ontario
On unceded Algonquin territory

IPSMO is continuing to have “New Member’s Meetings” in order to make it easier for new people to get involved in the group.

New Members Meetings provide an opportunity to meet IPSMO organizers,  talk with them and to learn about what the IPSM Ottawa is and does. We will also be watching one or two short movies, in this case about missing and murdered indigenous women, as well as having some food and just talking about various things in a social atmosphere.

We will also provide a brief introduction to the campaigns and support work that we do. Finally, we will address how IPSMO works as a collective.

The IPSM Ottawa has and does work on many issues as far as indigenous solidarity is concerned. We work with the Algonquins of Barriere Lake, the Ardoch Algonquin, the Akwesasne People’s Fire, as well as the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women, support for John Moore, and many others.

As part of the New Members Meeting we will be showing one or two short movies. We hope to show 2 movies by Audrey Huntley:

Go Home, Baby Girl , CBC News Sunday by Audrey Huntley, Carolynne Hew and Liz Rosch

The Heart Has Its Own Memory
by Audrey Huntley and Folkard Fritz

Audrey Huntley from the No More Silence Coalition speaks about political activism and the neglected and ignored issue of missing Aboriginal women in Canada, before screening her film on the issue, ‘The Heart Has Its Own Memory’. Part of Toronto’s Israeli Apartheid Week 2008:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8019090184632452299#

3 mars – Les Algonquins du Lac Barrière, au l’Université d’Ottawa

~ waawaaskesh

UNIVERSITÉ D’OTTAWA / UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA

Le département de sociologie et d’anthropologie, le programme d’études autochtones et la Chaire de recherche du Canada sur la diversité juridique et les peuples autochtones

The Department of Sociology and Anthropology, the Aboriginal Studies Program, and the Canada Research Chair on Native Peoples and Legal Diversity

… présente / presents …

« Les Algonquins du Lac Barrière : Des siècles de lutte pour le respect et la coexistence »

“The Algonquins of Barriere Lake – Hundreds of Years of Struggle for Respect and Co-Existence”

(presentation in French with whisper translation)

Michel Thusky
Ancien directeur général des Algonquins du Lac Barrière
Member of Algonquins of Barriere Lake

Jeudi 3 mars 2011, 11 h 30
Thursday, March 3 2011, 11:30 a.m.
Pavillon Vanier Hall, salle/room 2095, l’Université d’Ottawa, www.uottawa.ca/maps

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=183423951693614#!/event.php?eid=183423951693614

~~~~

Depuis plus de deux décennies, les Algonquins du Lac Barrière démontrent un leadership environnemental au reste du Canada, faisant campagne pour arrêter les coupes à blancs destructives et pour implémenter un plan de développement durable dans leur terre native du nord-ouest du Québec.

Cependant, des compagnies de foresteries multinationales et des bureaucrates gouvernementaux refusent d’honorer les accords qui ont été signé avec le Lac Barrière. À tout bout de champs, ils tentent de saper les efforts de cette petite communauté, une des plus pauvres dans le pays, et de prévenir que cette communauté implémente et réalise sa vision pour la protection et la bonne intendance des forêts.

Cette histoire de David contre Goliath vient de se tordre encore plus: le gouvernement conservateur et les bureaucrates des Affaires Indiennes et du Nord Canada sont en train d’intervenir dans les affaires internes du Lac Barrière, utilisant la section 74 de la Loi sur les Indiens pour forcément assimiler et détruire le gouvernement traditionnel de la communauté – un gouvernement traditionnel qui existe depuis d’incalculables générations et qui maintient la mode de vie de chasseurs et de respect pour l’environnement.

Venez entendre Michel Thusky nous expliquer ce qui se passe dans la communauté des Algonquins du Lac Barrière au nord d’Ottawa.

Biographie

Michel Thusky est un membre des Mitcikinabikok Inik qui parle la langue algonquienne, l’anglais et le français. Il est un survivant du pensionnat indien à Amos, où, comme la majorité des survivants, il a subi l’abus psychologique réservé aux enfants autochtones.

Malgré l’abus, il a pu maintenir sa langue maternelle et son identité comme membre des Algonquins du Lac Barrière en poursuivant des activités culturelles et traditionnelles et en entretenant des relations avec la terre. Il a 3 filles et 3 garçons et plusieurs petits-enfants qui suivent ses pas.

Il a été le directeur général des Algonquins du Lac Barrière pour plusieurs années. Il a également été membre du comité de négociation de l’accord trilatéral de 1991 avec les gouvernements du Québec et du Canada. Il est maintenant dédié à rendre service à sa communauté en tant que bénévole. Il s’engage principalement comme porte-parole de celle-ci.

**

For more than two decades, the Algonquins of Barriere Lake have been demonstrating environmental leadership to the rest of Canada, campaigning to stop destructive clear-cut logging and to implement a sustainable development plan in their homeland in north-western Quebec.

But multi-national forestry corporations and government bureaucrats have refused to honour any of the agreements signed with Barriere Lake. They have tried at every turn to undermine the small community, one of the poorest in the country, and to prevent them from implementing and realizing their vision for the protection and stewardship of the forests.

The David-vs-Goliath story now has a new twist: the Conservative government and bureaucrats in Indian and Northern Affairs Canada are interfering in Barriere Lake’s internal affairs, using section 74 of the Indian Act to forcibly assimilate and destroy the community’s traditional government — a traditional government the community has used for countless generations and one that maintains their hunting way of life and respect for the environment.

Come hear Michel Thusky explain what’s going on in the community of Barriere Lake, just north of Ottawa.

Biographical notes:

Michel Thusky is a member of the Mitcikinabikok Inik who speaks fluently in Algonquin, English and French. He is also a residential school survivor, where he attended school in Amos. Like most of the survivors, Michel had to endure psychological abuse as a child and as a member of the First Nations.

Despite the abuse, he managed to maintain his language and keep his identity as an Algonquin of Barriere Lake through cultural and traditional pursuits and by maintaining a connection to the land. He has a family of 3 daughters and 3 sons, and many grandchildren who follow in his footsteps.

He was the community’s band manager for many years, when he had to teach himself about the programs and services available to the community. He was also a member of the negotiating team that led to the development of the 1991 Trilateral Agreement signed with Canada and Quebec. He is now dedicated to helping his people on a voluntary basis, including as a spokesperson for the community.

Sacred Fire for Beaver Pond Forest starts Wed in Toronto

~ waawaaskesh

Media Release ~~ February 8, 2011 ~~ For Immediate Release

SACRED FIRE WILL BURN AT QUEEN’S PARK FOR OTTAWA’S SOUTH MARCH HIGHLANDS

(Toronto) Daniel Amikwabe Bernard, Algonquin Firekeeper, will keep a Sacred Fire burning at Queen’s Park from Wednesday 9th to Sunday 13th February to urge the province to halt tree-clearing and to promote understanding about Ottawa’s most important ecological and cultural heritage area.

The South March Highlands is one of the most bio-diverse areas remaining in urban Canada, with more than 675 different species of life, including 240 species of wildlife and over 134 different types of nesting birds.

For the past year local citizens, environmentalists and First Nations groups representing over 14,000 people have mounted a vigorous campaign to save undeveloped lands in the 10,000-year-old, ecologically unique, South March Highlands.  In the 1970s it was protected as a Natural Environmental Area but urban development has steadily eroded it until less than 1/3rd remains protected.  Citizens have actively opposed development since 1981 because the South March Highlands is an old-growth forest having the densest bio-diversity in Ottawa and provides critical habitat for 20 species-at-risk.

In the latest assault on the forest, KNL Developments recently began clear-cutting trees for a subdivision in an area known locally as the Beaver Pond Forest, even though development depends on planned water diversions without Environmental Assessment and a questionable archaeological study.

The principal Algonquin Spiritual Elder, Grandfather William Commanda, Ancestral Carrier of the 3 Sacred Wampum Belts, Officer of the Order of Canada, recognized as a spiritual leader and founder of the Circle of All Nations, considers the South March Highlands to be Sacred and sees this as an opportunity to renew our sustainable relationship with Mother Earth.

Algonquin across the Ottawa River Watershed in both Ontario and Quebec have called for a comprehensive archaeological assessment of the area.  KNL’s archaeological study was accepted by the Ministry of Culture in 2004 despite being described as ‘fatally flawed’ by Dr. Robert McGhee, past president of the Canadian Archaeological Association.  A review of the KNL study by Groupe de recherche archéologique de l’Outaouais (GRAO) led by Marcel LaLiberté, concurred that the area “can no longer be ignored as of low archaeological potential”.

In addition to questioning many irregularities in development approvals, the Coalition to Protect the South March Highlands has put forward creative proposals for stewardship of the South March Highlands that the City of Ottawa and the Provincial Ministries of Environment (MoE), Natural Resources (MNR), Culture (MTC), Aboriginal Affairs (MAA) and Municipal Affairs (MMHA) have to-date declined to discuss.

“We are also asking why the MNR has yet to confirm the area as a provincially- significant Area of Natural and Scientific Interest despite the fact it was recommended for that designation in 1992, and why the MMHA has yet to enforce the Provincial Policy Statement that prevents development in ecologically significant areas such as ANSI candidates,” says Paul Renaud, of the Coalition to Protect the South March Highlands.

“We are asking why the MoE is allowing development to proceed without Environmental Assessments and why the MAA has yet to uphold the Canadian Constitution which requires the Crown to consult and accommodate the interests of First Nations,” adds Renaud.

Starting Wednesday, a Sacred Fire will burn as a beacon of hope within the provincial capital to promote understanding and to request support from the Ministry of Tourism & Culture, to issue a Ministerial Order to halt the clear-cutting, in light of the two independent archaeological reviews, and the discovery of potentially significant sites since the 2004 MTC approval.

In an unprecedented recognition of aboriginal religious practices by the Provincial Legislature, permission has been granted to keep the Sacred Fire burning day and night. The Sacred Fire is an altar for prayer and visitors are invited to approach respectfully and spend time with the Firekeeper to learn more about the South March Highlands and to discuss our relationship with Mother Earth.

On Sunday, February 13th, the Sacred Fire will go out at mid-day.  There will be Closing ceremonies, with drumming, prayers, and singing, a message from Grandfather William Commanda, and from other First Nations elders and chiefs.  Everyone is invited to join with us regardless of religion, race, or culture.

PLEASE NOTE:  There is a protocol regarding filming and photography at the Sacred Fire and media are kindly asked to speak with the Firekeeper before recording or photographing.

-30-

The Sacred Fire will be directly in front of the Provincial Legislature at Queen’s Park.

For more information:

Daniel Amikwabe Bernard – 416-876-3051

Liaison for Daniel Bernard: Peter Haresnape, Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) Aboriginal Justice Team – 647-838-8455 or office 416-423-5525

Paul Renaud, Coalition to Protect the South March Highlands  —  613-277-5898

Background Info:

UPDATE:

On the morning of Tues Feb 8th, approximately 20 community members staged an action in the forest, surrounding the cutting machines and temporarily preventing them from further destroying the forest:

Beaver Pond Forest: Welcome Rally for Chan & McGuinty

~ solidarity

Saturday, February 5 · 6:00pm – 7:00pm
The Westin Hotel (11 Colonel By Drive, attached to the Rideau Centre), Ottawa

** Update: article in Ottawa Citizen “Westin hotel orders South March Highlands protester to leave”

Provincial Tourism and Culture Minister Michael Chan has the power to issue an emergency stop work order for cutting of the Beaver Pond Forest, under the Ontario Heritage Act section 62. Please consider joining us at 6pm for a rally outside the Westin, where the provincial Liberals are gathered from Feb 4-6, and where Dalton McGuinty is set to deliver a speech at 6:30pm Saturday.

Note:

This is part of a letter from Minister Chan dated February 4, 2011:

“The Ministry of Tourism and Culture’s role in this situation is limited to the regulation of archaeology. The ministry is not an approval authority in respect of any development project.

The ministry regulates archaeology by licensing archaeologists under the Ontario Heritage Act and reviews archaeological assessment reports as a condition of licensing in accordance with Part VI of the act.

The assessment ofthe property in question was completed under the 1993 technical guidelines, and on June 1, 2004 the ministry issued a letter confirming that the assessment report met all of the requirements.

We recognize the City of Ottawa’s efforts to foster dialogue between the development proponent and the Aboriginal community on this issue.”

The assessment referred to, prepared for the developers and accepted by the Ministry in 2004, was reviewed by an independent archaeologist, Dr. Robert McGhee, in 2010:  click here to read the review. More recently, a review of the assessment was conducted by the Groupe de recherche archaeologique de l’Outaouais (GRAO) for the Algonquins of Ontario: read Ottawa Citizen article here.

Both reviews of the initial assessment are strong grounds for Minister Chan to issue a stop order on cutting so that further archaeological study can be done.

~~~~

The South March Highlands have the highest density of bio-diversity in Ottawa and have been recognized as provincially significant for its ecological value for 20 years.

We have found physical evidence that the SMH is also provincially significant for pre-contact aboriginal cultural heritage, possibly containing sites not found elsewhere in Ontario.

Despite the recommendation of its own Advisory Committee on Arts & Culture, the City of Ottawa has to-date failed to properly assess this evidence and the sites that we have reported, saying that it is the responsibility of the Minister of Culture to require a new study.

To-date there have been 2 independent reviews conducted by eminent archaeologists of the situation.   Dr. Robert McGhee and Dr. Marcel LaLiberte are highly respected across Canada and around the world.  They have concluded that the Minister needs to order a new study and that the entirety of the South March Highlands are of extremely high archaeological potential.

The Algonquin First Nations in both Ontario and Quebec have all demanded that their cultural heritage be protected by the Minister – yet he refuses to fulfill his responsibility as a Minister of the Crown to accommodate the legitimate request of First Nations.

Minister Chan has not explained why he chooses to ignore their scientific assessments and why his Ministry refuses to consider the new evidence at hand.

We are here to ask him “why not?”

Contact Minister Michael Chan:

Ministry of Tourism and Culture
9th Floor, Hearst Block
900 Bay Street
Toronto ON M7A 2E1
Tel: 416-326-9326
Fax: 416-326-9338
mchan.mpp@liberal.ola.org

450 Alden Rd., Unit 5
Markham ON L3R 5H4
Tel: 905-305-1935
Fax: 905-305-1938
mchan.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org

Cutting taking place now at Beaver Pond Forest

~ waawaaskesh

CUTTING HAS BEGUN AT BEAVER POND FOREST
(please click here for background info – or read this article published Jan 31 at MediaINDIGENA – or twitter updates #BeaverPond)

MASS RALLY on Tues,  noon-1pm, at City Hall (Human Rights Monument, Elgin& Lisgar) please arrive early – We demand immediate halt to cutting and an Emergency Open Council Meeting including ALL Stakeholders by noon Wednesday Feb 2nd – invite people to the rally via Facebook

UPDATE – This morning (Tues Feb 1st), at sunrise, warriors from the Algonquin Nations chained themselves to the trees of the Beaverpond Forest in the South March Highlands to prevent further destruction of this important woodland. Media contact: Paul Renaud,613-277-5898 – update: read this story

UPDATE #2 – At 11:45 am (Tues) , concerned community members began a sit-in at Mayor Jim Watson’s office, demanding he take responsibility by immediately stopping cutting at Beaver Pond and calling for an emergency council meeting, open to all residents of Ottawa. Link to press release. Media contacts: Pei-Ju Wang (in mayor’s office) 613-276-8941, Ramsey Hart (offsite) 613-612-1768.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW:

  • Consider getting out to the Goulbourn Forced Road Parking lot to bear witness (approx map: http://bit.ly/eQ1e3i)
  • Print off pamphlets to hand out to friends, random people (print single-sided, or double sided and then cut in half to get two flyers)
  • CALL & email the following, demand they stop this

ASK him to put his foot down:  Robert J. Potts Principal Negotiator and Senior Legal Counsel Algonquin Treaty Negotiations (Algonquins of Ontario)
Telephone: 1-877-593-7221 x3952 email: bpotts@blaney.com

Mayor Watson: 613-580-2496, Jim Watson <jim.watson@ottawa.ca>;
Watson’s Community Liason Director, Adam DeCaire 613-580-2424 x22700

Hon. Michael Chan, Minister of Tourism and Culture – Markham-Unionville, Liberal
– Suggestion of what to say to Minister Chan:
“All of the Algonquin First Nations have invoked their constitutional right to consultation and accommodation regarding the imminent destruction of provincially significant cultural resources in the South March Highlands.  The Honour of the Crown is attached and it is your duty under the emergency powers of the Ontario Heritage Act to issue a Ministerial Order requiring a new archaeological study be done by an independent agency such as  the National Capital Commission.  This matter is URGENT and in the interests of the 14,500 citizens of Ontario who support the Algonquin and who, in addition to me, demand that you protect all heritage in Ontario.”

Ministry of Tourism and Culture
9th Floor, Hearst Block
900 Bay Street
Toronto ON M7A 2E1
Tel: 416-326-9326
Fax: 416-326-9338
mchan.mpp@liberal.ola.org

450 Alden Rd., Unit 5
Markham ON L3R 5H4
Tel: 905-305-1935
Fax: 905-305-1938
mchan.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org

Premier Dalton McGuinty
Tel: (416) 325-1941
Fax: (416) 325-3745
dmcguinty.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org

Constituency Office (Ottawa South):
Tel: (613) 736-9573
Fax: (613) 736-7374

Norm Sterling, MPP for Carleton-Mississippi Mills
Phone: 416-314-7900
Fax: 416-314-7966
norm.sterling@pc.ola.org

Yasir Naqvi, MPP for Ottawa Centre
Phone: 613-722-6414
Fax: 613-722-6703
ynaqvi.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org

Urbandale (the developers)
613-731-6331 – mjarvis@urbandale.com

~~~~

RELEVANT WEBSITES:

South March Highlands / Beaver Pond Forest

~ waawaaskesh

Latest updates:

~~~~

A message from Paul Renaud (paul@renaud.ca, renaud.ca/wordpress):

I am writing to you on behalf of the 14,500+ persons in the multicultural communities who have come together to protect the South March Highlands from development in west Ottawa – only 20 minutes from Parliament Hill.

This multicultural community includes over 6,500 Algonquin in the First Nation communities of Ottawa, Kitigan-Zibi, Bonnechere, Kinounchpirini, Ardoch, Kichesipirini, and Pasapkedjiwanong who have responded to Grandfather William Commanda’s call for protection (attached).  The multicultural communities unified in protecting the South March Highlands also includes another 8,000 Canadians of non-aboriginal heritage as well as many non-Algonquin Metis.

We are asking for your support and influence with both federal and provincial leaders to call for an immediate halt to development and a reassessment of this situation.

The South March Highlands (“SMH”) has been described in official studies as a “wild island” of natural landscape within the City of Ottawa (“City”).  Until recently it remained largely in its original natural state because its rugged landscape was unsuitable for agriculture.  SMH is the southern end of the Precambrian Canadian Shield outcrop known as the  Carp Hills which first emerged from the Champlain Sea 11,000 years ago.  Its geology is unique to the National Capital and its wetland-rich land has been described in City studies as “an island of rugged, heavily-glaciated, rocky, Gatineau Hills-like habitat”.  The Carp Hills/SMH is the only place in Ottawa where the Canadian Shield is visible on the Ontario side of the great river.

No other major city in the world includes a vigorous old growth forest with endangered species.    The closest is perhaps Vancouver’s Stanley Park which is 1/3 the size, contains ½ the variety of vascular plants, and no species-at-risk as compared to the SMH which is refuge for 20 documented species-at-risk of extinction within a small area of only 3 km by 4 km in size.

The SMH is a candidate Provincially Significant Area of Natural and Scientific Interest (“ANSI”) for both its Life Science value (895 hectares) and for its unique Wetland Complex (114 hectares).  It has been valued by scientists as the “most important reservoir of ecological potential” in the City because it has the densest bio-diversity and its 30 eco-types of vegetation provide a wide variety of resources for the renewal of depleted natural areas elsewhere.  There are 10 distinct habitats within the SMH and the largest deer wintering yard (925 hectares) in the City.

The SMH is the aquifer for North Kanata and its hydrology is integral to both the Carp River as well as to the federally significant Shirley’s Bay wetland complex in the Greenbelt.  The SMH is ecologically unique in the City, supporting over 440 native species of vascular plants and has the highest floristic diversity of any natural area in Ottawa.

This SMH is also home to over 269 species of wildlife, including 170species of birds that are known to breed in this area, twice the number found in Punta Cana’s world famous ecological park.  The area is also home to the Monarch Butterfly, another species at risk, however no study of insect or bryophyte (non-vascular plant) species has ever been performed.  We have written to the Federal Minister of Justice questioning the lack of authority granted to the City to authorize a mass killing of wildlife but have received no response.

The SMH is also rated by the City as having high potential for archaeological resources.  To-date, 3 archaeological sites have been found that present evidence of native occupation of the SMH dating back 500 generations.  One of these sites was confirmed by eminent archaeologists but is tied up in a court case because the developer who commissioned the research refused to pay for it.  Two of the other sites have been identified but not been properly assessed to-date.  An archaeological study done by another one of the developers was reviewed by a former president of the Canadian Archaeology Association who determined it was “fatally flawed” for having not adequately considered pre-European-contact cultural resources.  Despite appeals to the Ontario Minister of Culture, nothing has been done about this.

We have also been working with the National Capital Commission to protect this area and in conjunction with the Greenbelt Coalition have made formal submissions which have been accepted by the NCC as part of their Greenbelt Master Planning process.  Two MPs, Gordon O’Connor and Paul Dewar have called on the NCC to protect this area, as have Elizabeth May, the Sierra Club of Canada, and the David Suzuki Foundation.  However, to-date Madame Lemay has declined to confirm any official NCC support for protecting the area.

This matter is now urgent as one of the developers is already clear cutting in the forest and another is about to start at the end of January. With the support of the Algonquin Chiefs, the Inter-Tribal Medicine Council has established a Sacred Fire last week which has been burning continuously to symbolize that this land is a place of Manitou and is integral to the cultural heritage of all Anishinabe people.  The Sacred Fire is currently being maintained around the clock by Fire Keepers representing all the communities that have been unified in this cause.

More information about the South March Highlands and our efforts to protect it can be downloaded from the links below.  This includes a couple of short videos that are well worth viewing.

We ask that you assist us in whatever way you can to bring this to the attention of both federal and provincial leaders for immediate action.

Please join us by adding your tobacco to our Sacred Fire to protect this place of Manitou.

Kitchi Megwetch,
Paul Renaud
Coalition to Protect the South March Highlands
613-277-5898

Letters sent by First Nations:

And by Grandfather William Commanda:

And by other Elders:

Motion passed unanimously by City of Ottawa’s Aboriginal Affairs Advisory
Subcommittee:

Videos:

Presentations:

Other Letters of Support may be downloaded from:

www.ottawasgreatforest.com – website for the stewardship plan to protect the SMH)
www.southmarchhighlands.ca – (website for the coalition to protect the SMH)

http://onnaturemagazine.com/the-race-to-save-the-south-march-highlands.html – (Article in Ontario Nature Magazine)

http://www.renaud.ca/public/Presentations/2010-09-07%20Greenbelt%20Coalition%20Position%20Paper-for%20NCC%20Review.pdf – Greenbelt Coalition Position Paper to NCC on Emerald Necklace

http://www.renaud.ca/public/Presentations/2010-09-07%20Greenbelt%20Coalition%20Position%20Paper%20App5%20-%20SMH.pdf – Submission to NCC  on South March Highlands

Sacred Fire at Beaver Pond Forest continues – fire keepers needed!

~ waawaaskesh

IMPORTANT: If you would like to volunteer to take a shift as a fire keeper, please contact adam@acaldwell.ca or call one of the numbers at the bottom of this message. More info on volunteering is also at the bottom of this message.

ALSO: Fire Ceremony – Pray For The Land — Sun Jan 30, 10am-4pm

~~~~

Media Release
January 24, 2011
For Immediate Release

Amikwabe Passes Flame to Community to Continue Sacred Fire

(Ottawa) With the blessing of local Algonquin Chiefs, the Sacred Fire at the threatened Beaver Pond Forest continues. In a ceremony Sunday afternoon, Algonquin Medicine Man Ron “Big Bear” Goddard transferred firekeeping duties to members of the community, to take over from Algonquin Daniel Bernard “Amikwabe”. Bernard started the fire January 19th and maintained it day and night, in response to a declaration by Algonquin Elder William Commanda that the forest is sacred.

Christopher Busby was named as the new Firekeeper. He and other community members will share the duties of maintaining the Sacred Fire, and welcome those who wish to gather at the fire to offer prayers for the trees and wildlife of the Beaver Pond Forest and all of the South March Highlands.

“We all sit at the Medicine Wheel and are all children of the same mother,” explains Chief Mireille Lapointe of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation. “We all are responsible for our home and helping each other live a good life. This is part of the Original Instructions. The sacred fire brings us together and encourages discussions and synergies that otherwise wouldn’t happen. I’m deeply grateful to Daniel for his sacrifice and his example to us.”

The forests near the Beaver Pond have become a rallying point for nearby residents and supporters from across Ottawa and beyond, who have campaigned steadily for the past year to protect the forests and wetlands threatened by urban expansion. Trees have already been clear-cut for the Terry Fox Drive Extension and on Richardson Ridge, and KNL Developments recently received City approval to begin clear-cutting for a subdivision of more than 3000 homes on the lands north of the Beaver Pond.

Paul Renaud, who is at the forefront of the campaign to protect the South March Highlands and his himself Metis, notes that “the continuation of the Sacred Fire by the local community expresses the unity of purpose of all communities in protecting the forest. The Sacred Fire symbolizes the Great Circle of Life of which we are all a part.”

“Daniel Amikwabe Bernard and Chief Mireille Lapointe have entrusted me with making sure the flames continue as a prayer to the Creator to protect this irreplaceable forest in urban Ottawa,” says Christopher Busby. “I and many others will attend this fire round the clock until we are told the fire can be put out. This fire has rallied the Native and non-native communities in an unprecedented way. There is great power in these flames.”

Goddard, who is with the InterTribal Medicine Council, is training the fire keepers and will be overseeing the fire.

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For more information:
Christopher Busby — 613-897-6183
Paul Renaud — 613-277-5898
Steve Hulaj — 613 878-1135

Please click here for the original post about the Sacred Fire at Beaver Pond Forest

Directions:
Exit Highway 417 at Terry Fox Drive and go North past the shopping centers. Turn Right and take Kanata Avenue up the hill. Proceed past Goulbourn Forced Road on the left and high school on right, to Walden. Turn Left on Walden and proceed to the very end.

VISITORS:
Check-in with the fire keeper so he/she can lead you over to the fire, and enter by the East gate (it will be marked with a log). You may wish to pray or meditate at the Eastern gate. If you see someone paused there, be patient, they are probably preparing to make an offering to the fire (tobacco, sage, cedar, or sweetgrasss). To avoid confusion, if you are NOT preparing to enter by the East gate, don’t stand there! Migwetch.

INFO FOR POTENTIAL VOLUNTEERS:
This is a Sacred Fire, entrusted to the Ottawa community by Daniel Bernard (Amikwabe). So watch his instructions below to see if you’d like to do this. In brief, the Fire is like an altar, even what we say in the circle around the fire ought to be a prayer for the Forest and her trees and wildlife. No booze or other drugs, profanity, or anything else that would desecrate this sacred place. Contact: adam@acaldwell.ca

Algonquin Native Lights Sacred Fire to Denounce Anticipated Forest Destruction

~ waawaaskesh

UPDATE: As of Sunday Jan 23, the Sacred Fire has been passed on to be kept up by the community (and volunteers are needed to take shifts) – click here for more …

OTTAWA –  Algonquin Daniel Bernard “Amikwabe” set up a camp this morning to keep a Sacred Fire burning round the clock next to the entrance of the Beaver Pond forest at the end of Walden Drive in Kanata.  This is a personal initiative “to denounce the massacre of the wildlife and this sacred forest” in response to a declaration by Algonquin Elder William Commanda that the forest is sacred.

The landowner, KNL Developments, moved tree-clearing equipment on to Beaver Pond lands January 18 after receiving City of Ottawa approval to proceed with plans to build a housing development.  Development plans have been contested by citizens for decades, and protest has peaked in recent months.

Grandfather William Commanda, the most senior Algonquin Elder, has stated that the area is sacred to his people, and has written letters to all levels of government urging protection of the land.  Four First Nations groups, Chiefs, and Elders have written similar letters of concern (see links below).

Archaeological artifacts have been found nearby that show evidence of pre-contact civilization.  Natives and non-Natives alike are calling for a comprehensive archaeological assessment and meaningful consultations with Aboriginal peoples before any development proceeds.

On January 12, the City’s Aboriginal Affairs Advisory Subcommittee passed a resolution noting that the City of Ottawa “should be seen as an example role-model to other municipalities in Canada in respecting Aboriginal affairs” and asked the City take the lead in conducting a new archaeological survey of the entire South March Highlands.

Gordon O’Connor, MP for Carleton-Mississippi Mills, recently asked the National Capital Commission to include the Beaver Pond forest in its upcoming revision of the Greenbelt master plan. Carleton-Mississippi Mills MPP Norm Sterling wrote letters January 17 to the Premier of Ontario and several other Ministers in support of protecting this land.

Robert Lovelace, former Chief of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation, recently wrote that “If Mayor Jim Watson were a real leader, he would know enough to realize that the incremental destruction of the last wildlands in the city needs to stop.  As a real Chief, he would be on the side of the people and the land.” (see link below)

A Sacred Fire is a peaceful religious observance.  Bernard, of the Algonquin Beaver Clan, invites others to join him and pray for the forest and the animals.  He plans to keep the fire burning until Sunday, January 23.

Members of the community are providing support to Bernard, and will be joining him throughout the protest.  All are committed to protecting the Beaver Pond forest and other environmentally sensitive areas of the South March Highlands, which is home to more than 675 species, including 19 species at risk, and recognized by the City as one of the most biodiverse areas in Ottawa

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For more information:
Steve Hulaj — 613 878-1135

Directions:
Exit Highway 417 at Terry Fox Drive and go North past the shopping centers.  Turn Right and take Kanata Avenue up the hill.  Proceed past Goulbourn Forced Road on the left and high school on right, to Walden.  Turn Left on Walden and proceed to the very end.

BACKGROUND:

Letters sent by First Nations to-date:
http://www.renaud.ca/public/Letters_of_Support/2011-01-09-Kinounchepirini_Algonquin_FirstNation_Letter.jpg
http://www.renaud.ca/public/Letters_of_Support/2011-01-09-SMH_Ottawa_Algonquin_FN_Support.pdf
http://www.renaud.ca/public/Letters_of_Support/2011-01-10-AAFN_letter%20to_Ottawa.pdf
http://www.renaud.ca/public/Letters_of_Support/2011-01-14-Ottawa_Letter_From_Kichesipirini_Algonqiun_FN.pdf

And by Grandfather William Commanda:
http://www.renaud.ca/public/Letters_of_Support/2010-08-24_Circle_of_Nations-South_March_Highlands.pdf
http://www.renaud.ca/public/Letters_of_Support/2010-12-20-GWC_Letter_To_Council.pdf
http://www.renaud.ca/public/Letters_of_Support/2011-01-05-GWC-Message_Regarding_Development_at_South_March_Highlands

And by other Grandfathers:
http://www.renaud.ca/public/Letters_of_Support/2010-08-14-A_plea_for_the_forest-Grandfather_Albert_Dumond.pdf
http://www.renaud.ca/public/Letters_of_Support/2011-01-14-Grandfather_Lovelace_Letter_to_the_Editor_Revelation18.pdf

Motion passed unanimously by Ottawa’s Aboriginal Affairs Advisory Subcommittee: http://www.renaud.ca/public/Letters_of_Support/2011-01-12-Unanimous_AHCAC_Motion_on_SMH.pdf

Background info:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZBcLvtcJBY (4 minute documentary video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhSU5heJl5o (cultural and natural heritage video)
http://www.renaud.ca/public/Presentations/2011-01-13-SMH-1-SMH_Overview_v16.pdf (SMH Overview presentation)
http://www.renaud.ca/public/Presentations/2010-12-07-SMH-2-Stewardship_Plan_Overview_v4.pdf

Other Letters of Support (e.g. David Suzuki Foundation, MP Gordon O’Connor, MPP Norm Sterling) may be downloaded from
http://www.renaud.ca/public/Letters_of_Support/

Submission to NCC on South March Highlands:
http://www.renaud.ca/public/Presentations/2010-09-07%20Greenbelt%20Coalition%20Position%20Paper%20App5%20-%20SMH.pdf

www.ottawasgreatforest.com (website for the stewardship plan to protect the SMH)
www.southmarchhighlands.ca (website for the coalition to protect the SMH)