[IPSM] SUPPORT THE MOHAWKS OF THE BAY OF QUINTE: Demand the Province of Ontario Revoke Quarry License

[stef at tao.ca]

** please forward widely **

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SUPPORT THE MOHAWKS OF THE BAY OF QUINTE:
DEMAND THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO REVOKE QUARRY LICENSE
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LOCATION: Ministry of Natural Resources
          Whitney Block (at the corner of Queen’s Park Circle and Wellesley,
          in front of two large cannons)
          Toronto
DATE:	  Monday, April 23
TIME:	  11 am

Join us as we tell the Ontario government to uphold its duties to the
Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte (MBQ) and to the environment.  Join us as we
deliver direct evidence of illegal dumping and a message sent by the
Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte to the steps of the Ministry of Natural
Resources.  It is time the MNR and the Province of Ontario stepped up and
took responsibility for their part in the destruction and theft of
indigenous land.

One month ago, the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte reclaimed a portion of the
Culbertson Tract – 925 acres of land taken from their community,
Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, in 1832.

The land reclaimed by the Mohawk community pointedly includes a gravel
quarry. Beyond the obvious direct thieving of stolen land which quarry
operations so blatantly embody – more than 100,000 tonnes of land are
trucked out every year, to benefit settler Canadian business interests -
it has since been discovered that the crimes against the Mohawk Territory
are greater than first imagined.

Thurlow Aggregates, the quarry operators, were also carrying out illegal
dumping of waste on this site. Building materials, batteries and highway
asphalt have been uncovered.  The operators went so far as to try and bury
the evidence of this scandalous activity, when they became aware of the
Mohawk’s intended reclamation of the land.

While this information was made public several weeks ago, the Government
of Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) – responsible both for
the licensing and environmental standards of quarry operations in this
province - has refused to inspect it.

Since day one of the quarry takeover, the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte
have demanded that the quarry license be revoked. Not only has the MNR
refused to comply, but the MNR District Manager came to the Territory,
only to refuse to see the evidence of the dumping and environmental
destruction at the quarry.

The MNR refuses to act despite Federal government recognition of the
validity of the Mohawk’s claim to the land.  The Province of Ontario has
failed in every way – no proper monitoring of the quarry, no revocation of
the license to ensure its rightful owners can clean up the mess that has
been made and put the land to healthy use, complete risk of the local
environment and local water supply.  Before the quarry was reclaimed, the
MNR sat back and collected fees from the operation of removing stolen land
from the Culbertson Tract.

Join us on Monday, as we demand the Province of Ontario own up to its
inaction and answer for its role in the devastation and pilfering of
indigenous land.

This demonstration is organized by a coalition including No One Is
Illegal-Toronto, Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, Coalition Against
Israeli Apartheid, and members of the Coalition In Support of Indigenous
Sovereignty.

DETAILS:

Ministry of Natural Resources
Whitney Block (at the corner of Queen’s Park Circle and Wellesley,
in front of two large cannons)
Monday, April 23
11 am

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Native protester feels stood up

By Luke Hendry
The Belleville Intelligencer
Thursday, April 05, 2007

DESERONTO — One of the lead protesters at a native encampment here has
delivered a warning to the provincial government that its ministerial
representatives should keep their appointments.

Shawn Brant told reporters Thursday afternoon a district manager of the
Ministry of Natural Resources was expected to visit a quarry here at noon
Thursday, on the invitation of protesters, but did not attend.

Brant said the official instead went to the band office for Mohawks Of the
Bay of Quinte and told officials there she had concerns about visiting the
site.

An official with the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte Thursday confirmed the
band council had convened “a meeting between the ministry and officials
from the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte,” but declined to confirm whether
the manager in question was among the ministry delegation.

Brant said district manager Jane Ireland had been invited to tour several
sites on the disputed land where the Mohawks allege garbage and industrial
waste had been dumped and burned illegally. Brant said the protesters
camped at the quarry in what is known as the Culbertson Land Tract had
assured Ireland there would be no safety issues during her visit.

Brant said the evidence of contamination — sites, he said, where asphalt
was dumped and some waste had been burned — was obvious and required no
testing by the ministry to ascertain that it was hazardous.

But, because the manager did not honour the invitation of the protesters,
Brant declared no other government official will be allowed to enter the
area, henceforth.

“We wanted them to see this,” Brant said. “It was today or it was nothing.
I think it (the alleged contamination) is clear enough and they should
just revoke the licence and f*** off.”

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Group wants gravel pit’s operations stopped, land claim settled

Friday, March 23, 2007 @ 00:00
By Jeremy Ashley
DESERONTO/Osprey News Network

Clad in camouflaged apparel and hauling camping gear, more than 125
members of the mohawks of the Bay of Quinte community seized control of a
gravel quarry on a disputed tract of land located along the northeastern
outskirts of Deseronto last night.

Shortly before 5 p.m., the winding access road leading to the Thurlow
Aggregates gravel pit off of Deseronto Road was blocked off by mohawk
protesters in several vehicles, including two school buses and an number
of all-terrain vehicles.

Protesters and members of the mohawks of the Bay of Quinte (MBQ) band
council say the move is to reinforce an earlier request to have the
quarry’s operation stopped.

Flanked by members of his council, MBQ Chief R. Donald Maracle said the
event was to “basically send a message to Canada that it is unacceptable
to continue to develop land that is unsettled.”

The demonstrators say they are reclaiming a small part of 925 acres known
as the Culbertson Land Tract, a parcel of land that they claim was
illegally taken from the MBQ in 1832.

Maracle said the occupation wasn’t formally supported by the MBQ band
council.

“The intervention that is occurring today is not officially sanctioned by
the mohawk council, but the mohawk council certainly understands the
frustration that young people have in achieving a resolution that’s in the
best interest of future generations.

“I’m here basically to point out that the government is not dealing fairly
with our people and helping us settle these claims amicably.”

Shawn Brant, a well-known mohawk activist, said the occupation of the
quarry is expected to go on for quite some time.

“Let me put it to you this way – once we’re dug in, it will take an air
strike to get us out,” the 42-year-old said.

“The quarry is something that strikes at the heart of the issue – it’s
very difficult to have negotiations at a time when they’re taking out
10,000 truckloads of our land [per year]. It’s an affront to our process.”

Establishing camps inside the quarry earlier in the evening, as many as
150 people acted as a “set-up crew,” Brant said.

Native communities throughout the province have “been put on notice” about
the group’s actions, and “all are waiting and it is our intention to draw
up support as it’s needed.”

Brant said it was his group’s intention “to close the quarry” but admitted
the group “was a little reluctant about a long-term campaign 
 what we
want to do is suspend his [quarry] licence until the land claim is
resolved.”

After a federal negotiator was appointed earlier this year, protesters
turned their attention to the quarry, claiming the operation would be
contributing material to the development of a new $30-million housing
development in Deseronto and pledged to shut down the site.

To read more background information, please visit: www.ocap.ca