Richard Peters, left, and Greg King display their painted version of the 1764 Niagara Treaty, a 24 nations wampum belt, on April 20 near Coldwater, Ontario. The Anishinabek men, along with their friend Kai Kai Kons (an Anishinabek spirit name), have set up camp at the Coldwater Canadiana Heritage Museum. The men say the Coldwater-Narrows land-claim settlement offered by Canada’s government undermines First Nations sovereignty and goes against the first treaties, called wampum belts. PHOTO COURTESY/THE ORILLIA PACKET & TIMES
COLDWATER, ONTARIO –– A trio of First Nations citizens have taken a bold – but peaceful – stand against the Canadian government in protest of a $307 million land-claim settlement offer over 20 years in the making. On April 13, the Anishinabe, or more properly Anishinabek, men – Richard Peters, Kai Kai Kons (a spirit name) and Greg King – established a pacifistic encampment they have named Oshkimaadziig on the grounds of the Coldwater Canadiana Heritage Museum, which is closed for the off-season until May 24. Oshkimaadziig is Anishinabek for “The New People.” All three hail from Chimnissing Anishinabek Territory, also known as Beausoleil First Nation, located on Georgian Bay’s Christian Island in the Canadian province of Ontario. Georgian Bay is a part of Lake Huron, one of the five Great Lakes that straddle the U.S.-Canada border. Peters, 32, whose Anishinabek spirit name is Memskwaniniisi – which translates to English as Red-Tailed Hawk – said he also represents the Dené people of Northern Canada, while King, also 32, is part Potawatomi, an Algonquian people originally of what are now the American states of Michigan and Wisconsin. In the prophecies and teachings of the Anishinabek, in the Sixth Fire, “the world is sort of like going down the tubes, like the way it is right now, and then in the Seventh Fire, The New People will stand up and they will light the Eighth Fire,” Peters said in further defining the term the group selected for their camp, Oshkimaadziig. “So we consider ourselves the Seventh Fire because we’re trying to mobilize the people to get up and pick up our teachings and stand up and unite," Peters said. Anishinabek itself has varying meanings, including “Original Man” and “The Good People,” Peters added. “This encampment is a place for those from our communities who want to gather and organize due to the lack of representation and consultation for the voice of those Anishinabe who wish to uphold our nation-to-nation Peace Agreements we have with The Crown in assertion of our sovereignty regarding this land claim process,” explains Kons in a prepared statement. “This camp is to assert our sovereignty and to uphold our end of the 1764 Niagara treaty we have with The Crown, which is based on peace, coexistence and non-interference,” he said. “This agreement, which has three wampum belts between 24 Nations and The Crown, serves as Canada’s first constitutional document.” The 1764 Treaty of Fort Niagara transferred British possession of a narrow four-mile strip of land along the Niagara River’s western shore back to the 24 signatory First Nations. The first treaties made with The Crown are called wampum belts. As a continuing member of the Commonwealth (formerly the British Commonwealth), Canada, although considered a sovereign state, recognizes the United Kingdom’s monarch – currently Queen Elizabeth II – as its figurehead. “This action is to show that we opt out of this illegal process to uphold our end of our peace,” said Kons. “We do not want to interfere with those from our communities who choose to surrender title to the lands and accept Canada’s authority over our nationhood.” Specific demands of the protesters include the return of 10,000 acres of environmentally sound land to the Anishinabek, freedom from the Indian Act and other Canadian policies governing First Nations peoples, an apology from Canada’s prime minister, Stephen Harper, and financial compensation for misappropriation of assets and usage of lands. “We are allowing the spirit of our ancestors and of those yet to be born to decide the outcome of this issue and only request we are provided restitution in a justified manner,” Kons said. “Any intimidation or interference from federal, provincial (or) municipal law enforcement agencies will only cause (us) to intensify this peaceful encampment.” Presented by the federal government in May of last year, the settlement offer – the largest in the history of Canada – relates to the alleged surrender of the Coldwater-Narrows Reserve in 1836 by the Chippewas (Anishinabek) of lakes Simcoe and Huron and subsequent land sales to non-aboriginal citizens. The land once known as the Coldwater-Narrows Reserve covers an area of 10,673 acres in Ontario. It was once a portage route, or terrestrial passageway for hauling boats, supplies and goods from present-day Orillia to Matchedash Bay on Lake Huron, a 14-mile overland stretch. A portion of the original inhabitants of the reserve are now collectively referred to as the Chippewa Tri-Council, which is comprised of the First Nations of Rama Mnjikaning, near Orillia; Georgina Island, located on Lake Simcoe in Ontario, and Beausoleil. Additionally, the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation of the Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, have been included in the land settlement offer as the nation has ancestral ties to the Coldwater-Narrows Reserve, which was established in 1830. The Coldwater-Narrows claim was initially submitted by the Chippewa Tri-Council in 1991, with the First Nations contending the 1836 “surrender” of reserve lands was invalid because it was conducted improperly and in an untimely fashion, according to a recent news report by The Orillia Packet & Times. It was not formally accepted by Canada’s government until 2002. Following a decade of negotiation with government officials, Chippewa leaders agreed earlier this month to set a ratification date for the $307 million offer. “After many years of extensive studies and reviews and consultations, I’m comfortable with the offer brought forward,” Rama Chief Sharon Stinson Henry told the Packet & Times on April 13. While it would be nice to be offered more, she said, we feel comfortable that this is the best offer we will get. Paradoxically, the deal spells out provisions allowing the nations to replace the land claimed to have been surreptitiously taken by the Canadian government in an acreage amount equivalent to the former area of the Coldwater Reserve. “The government’s offer of $307 million to the four First Nations to split also allows these communities to purchase up to 10,673 acres from private landowners on a willing seller, willing buyer basis,” Kons pointed out. “Accepting settlements under Canada’s policies or judicial system coerces our nations to be subjected to the same abuses that are in these types of specific claims.” Members of the four nations voted whether to accept or reject the government’s offer on April 14, with the Chippewa Tri-Council nations – Rama, Georgina Island and Beausoleil – overwhelmingly voting to accept the government’s landmark offer by 97 percent, 93 percent and 98 percent turnout margins, respectively. Nawash, however, failed to garner the minimum number of votes required by the federal government for its overall vote to count. A majority of the Nawash community’s eligible voters, or 50 percent plus one, were required to take part in order for the nation’s overall vote to count. Eligible voters are those members 18 years of age and older. Only 716 of Nawash’s 1,891 eligible voters, or 38 percent, voted on April 14. “That is going to slow down the process, but it is what it is,” said Stinson Henry on April 16. “We just have to get through this last hurdle, and I think we can do that.” Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) will be approached about planning a second vote for the Nawash community, she said. AANDC is one of the federal departments responsible for meeting the Canadian government’s obligations and commitments to First Nations. “The draft agreement says that a second vote can be held if the vote is positive for all four First Nations,” said Geneviève Guibert, AANDC spokeswoman, in an email to Native Sun News, “but a majority of eligible voters did not cast ballots in one or more of the communities. Following an internal review of the results, the parties will need to discuss any next steps.” Guibert noted a second vote would only be required for Nawash. “What’s going on in Canada mirrors what’s going on in America, in South Dakota,” said Tim Fallis, a member of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe. “The situation is identical to our own Black Hills land-claim settlement offer from the U.S. government in 1980, which now totals around $1 billion with interest, except that many Lakota have rejected the offer.” “Most of our tribal leaders and members haven’t accepted the money for our sacred Black Hills – yet,” he said. Rama community member Verna Friday calls the ballot-casting in favor of the settlement offer an “absolute surrender.” If the settlement is eventually ratified, the First Nations involved “will be giving up hundreds of square miles of hunting grounds – it’s incredible,” she said. The agreement is not valid, Friday added, because “it was not done in the proper way.” She said her partner, Stephen Snake of the Rama Nation, opposes the federal government’s buyout. As a hereditary descendent of Chief Joseph Kinaybicoinini (Snake), he sent a rejection letter to Canada’s governor general, David Johnson, who represents Queen Elizabeth II. “Chief Joseph Snake signed the 1811 provisional treaty between Great Britain and the Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay Indians, including Chief Yellowhead and Chief Assance,” Snake wrote. “These ancient treaties made by the hereditary chiefs were honourable ones then. Now, the present-day agreements are not so honourable because they are transactions between the Canadian government and usurper chiefs of their Indian Act-legislated bands.” According to Friday, the Canadian government no longer recognizes hereditary First Nations chiefs as it should. “Whether or not the settlement offer is accepted or rejected, it is by the act of accepting this process where we have already surrendered title to these lands as well as our sovereignty,” said Kons. Oshkimaadziig Camp “is accepting donations of firewood, tarps, traditional medicines, nonperishable goods, seeds, gardening, hunting and fishing equipment, and anything that can help make this stand,” he said. For further information about the encampment, contact Kons at (705) 209-0824 or Peters at (416) 806-6929. (Contact Jesse Abernathy at editor@nsweekly.com)
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