More than 6,000 people walked side-by-side from Grange Park towards Queen’s Park on Sept. 27 to raise their voices against the Ford government’s free entry policies on Indigenous territory.
First Nations Chief Rudy Turtle said he has been fighting for decades to protect his land from unregulated corporations.
“Fifty years later, that Indian problem is still here,” Turtle said. “It’s never been resolved. 50 years later, we’re still raising our voice and we’re still telling the governments, you need to clean the river up.”
Chief Turtle was referring to the poisoning of the English-Wabigoon River.
In 2019 the Supreme Court found the two companies responsible for contaminating the waters. Water levels continue to be poisonous.
Chief Turtle called upon the people who live in Fort Severn, Fort Albany, Ottawa, along the Hudson Bay and Lowlands to “defend our lands.”
Chief Chris Moonias of Neskantaga First Nation spoke about the Ring of Fire in front of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
“We just don’t want to let anybody ravage our lands, destroy our lands, destroy our rivers,” Moonias said.
The Ring of Fire is a 5,000 square kilometre area with potentially valuable minerals located approximately 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay in First Nation land.
The Ontario government states they are working alongside First Nations to mine the land.
Samuel Mckay of the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug said that the government was only talking to specific organizations and avoiding talking to other communities.
“If you’re talking to the PTOs, AFN, Chiefs of Ontario, any other PTO, you’re not talking to us. We’re an independent nation,” Mckay said.
On Sept. 25 a letter was sent to Doug Ford to meet face-to-face on the front lawn of Queen’s Park after a previous cancellation.
The letter reads, “The response from Minister Rickford, that he will meet with us in your stead is frankly disrespectful to us and ignores the nature of our request.”
The letter repeatedly stated, “It is not too late to do the right thing.”
Cecilia Begg, Chief Chris Moonias, Chief Rudy Turtle and Deputy Chief Stanley Anderson set a table on the lawn in front of the Ontario Legislative Building on Tuesday, Sept. 26.
Ford did not show up.
Chief Mary Duckworth of the Caldwell First Nation took the stage and said the government of Ontario should “pay attention” because this generation will no longer stand for the injustices.
“The tactics of divide and conquer will no longer be accepted by the First Nations,” Duckworth said.
“How do we keep coming to Queen’s Park and getting nothing except being called our indigenous partners?” she asked.
In a media kit given to HumberNews, the Asubpeeschoseewagong Anishinabek (Grassy Narrows), Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (Big Trout Lake), Wapekeka, Neskantaga, and Muskrat Dam First Nations state they have formed an alliance officially known as the Land Defence Alliance.
The protest was held days before Orange Shirt Day, a day created to remember transgressions done in residential schools and seek truth and reconciliation.