The Buck Stops Here

First Nation youth are rising up to protest Canada’s Bill C5 and Ontario’s Bill 5 which both threaten the most pristine wilderness in Northern Ontario. These new bills threaten to bypass the idea of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) which is a principle within the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) that emphasizes the right of Indigenous peoples to give or withhold their consent to activities that affect their lands, territories, and resources.

Both the Federal government and provincial government used the excuse of American tariff threats to push through these bills. It should be noted both governments also used this excuse in their bid to win recent elections and this worked for them. Arrogantly they have refused to include First Nations before setting up and pushing through these historic bills. The federal government’s bill C5 was described by the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) with ‘Chiefs raised strong concerns over the rushed legislative process, lack of meaningful consultation, narrowly defined national interest that excludes First Nations priorities and perspectives, a failure to support First Nations priorities such as closing the infrastructure gap, and the broader implications for rights and jurisdiction’. Bill 5, the Protecting Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, allows Ontario to create special economic zones, where companies or projects can be exempted from having to comply with provincial laws, regulations or municipal bylaws.

Protests are developing in Ontario through First Nation leadership including AFN, Chiefs Of Ontario, Nishnawbe-Aski Nation(NAN), Mushkegowuk Council, many of the Chiefs and Councils, Elders and members supporting the youth driven initiatives. There are major youth groups organizing these protests including ‘Youth Rising Together’ in Timmins and ‘Okiniwak’ a national group formed by First Nation youth in Ontario. On the land in the remote traditional lands of the Cree and OjiCree are youth leader Jeronimo Kataquapit, his brother Jonathan and their parents James and Monique. The family braved the challenging freighter canoe trip of 400 km from Attawapiskat to Neskantaga to join up with other First Nations protesting Bill C5 and Bill 5 in protecting their treaty rights and their traditional lands. You can follow Jeronimo and his family who provide daily live stream updates through their Facebook group ‘Here We Stand - Call to Action’.

These youth are appealing to other First Nation youth, Chiefs, Councillors and Elders to become involved in developing protests in their areas and communities to support them and to push back on these undemocratic bills. This is an important time for all of us to step up and stand up for the land to make sure our future generations will have a life, safe water, clean air and an environment that is still healthy for people. I have witnessed over the years that it is possible to create mutually beneficial agreements with industry, government and First Nations. A few decades ago this was not the case and historically we were ignored as resource development companies made billions in our backyards.

I am all for working together to make good projects happen that benefit our people but this particular focus on the Ring Of Fire area and Hudson Bay lowlands is extremely worrying for First Nations as well as all Canadians and people across the planet. This pristine wilderness contains the second largest carbon sink in the world and even bigger than the Amazon Basin that we hear so much about. This natural wilderness plays a crucial role in mitigating climate change by reducing atmospheric carbon. We need these carbon sinks to fight climate change. The Society of Wetland Scientists provides a detailed explanation of all this in their video title 'Canada Chapter Webinar - Peatlands in Canada with a Focus on the Hudson Bay Lowland'.

Right now we are seeing temperatures rise all over the world, we see huge storms, flooding, polar ice cap melting and huge forest fires as a result of climate change. This is no time to be making things worse by destroying such a huge and important carbon sink right here in Northern Ontario. The problem is that government is focusing primarily on prioritizing profits, business and corporations at the expense of destroying important natural habitats and contributing to the endangerment of life not just for Canada but for the world as a whole. The buck has to stop somewhere and this is that point.

We can all find ways to protest. Recently my brother Joseph, his wife Lynda, their sons Orion and Landyn and my sister Janie and her husband Brian went to London, England with the Attawapiskat flag which they proudly raised at the gates of Buckingham Palace in protest of Bill C5 and Bill 5. Their trip was also to visit the grave of our great-grandfather John Chookomolin, a First World War veteran, who is buried just outside the city of London. You can read
about his story on my website at www.nativeveterans.com

My family wanted to remind everyone of the sacrifice our people had to make for this country and how our families continue to fight to protect the land we call home, not just for the people of James Bay but for all of Canada.

www.underthenorthernsky.com