February 16, 2008

Ontario Algonquin uranium protest chief is jailed

Friends,
As you know, US corporate integration of our energy and resources, including nuclear, is happening now under the SPP.
www.fighturanium.com notes that Nevada-based Canam Uranium has taken over El Nino Ventures, and its uranium mining/ exploration claims throughout the Haliburton and Bancroft regions of Ontario (nice maps at http://www.canamuranium.com/ ), as well as in Saskatchewan and BC. US-based Bancroft Uranium is also active in Ontario.
The article below refers to the situation north of Sharbot Lake, Ontario, in the Kingston area.

First Nations and community activists in the region have been holding events and Chief Lovelace has been a key negotiator.
Details can be found at www.ccamu.ca .
At the same time, NATO officials are considering a proposal to engage in first strike nuclear warfare. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jan/22/nato.nuclear . The proposal will be discussed at NATO meetings in Bucharest in April.
"Maybe we are going to use nuclear weapons before anyone else, but I'd be wary of saying it out loud."- Robert Cooper, an influential shaper of European foreign and security policy in Brussels. [from the Guardian article noted.]
The proposal is utter insanity, and much has been said already to oppose this 'option', in our circles at least, which would likely use Canadian ore for the task. You may know that Saskatchewan uranium ore was used for the Hiroshima/Nagasaki nuclear bombs. Now NATO is considering bombing Iran's Bushehr civilian nuclear power plant as well, in a 'nuke them first' strategy for the Middle East, an intentional Chernobyl. Such an action would, 'fortuitously' for the western uranium industry, force Iran and terrify others into purchasing their 'products'.
Cameco Inc. of Port Hope, Ontario is self-described as "the world's largest uranium producer". http://www.cameco.com/investor_relations/about_us/ .
It processes Canada's ore, and that of international mines, and re-processes uranium products from and for the rest of the world.
Radioactive imagery shows the Port Hope region literally glowing from historic nuclear waste that has not been cleaned up. (See links from http://www.ph-fare.com/ and http://www.porthopehealthconcerns.com/ ).
The historic mines in central Ontario are all now Radioactive waste storage facilities under federal licence, Faraday in Bancroft, the Bicroft mine and the Dyno mine in Haliburton, are all contaminated.
Arizona-based Bancroft Uranium Inc. http://www.bancrofturanium.com/ is exploring 'their claim' on the Irondale River in Haliburton, which feeds into the Trent River, and into Lake Ontario. In addition to water contamination, radioactive dust is spewn throughout the region during mining. Ultimately we're all 'downstream' or 'downwind', once the stuff is released.
There are many intersecting issues at this time: war, corporate deals like the SPP (Slavery Under Private Power), vs. human rights and environmental protection.
Supporting First Nations in joint struggles is a central grounding in our collective work.
thanks for your consideration of these issues,
Leigh
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Algonquin chief to serve jail term

By Bruce Ward, Ottawa Citizen

Published: Friday, February 15, 2008

An aboriginal leader who defied the law by staging protests at a potential uranium mining site near Sharbot Lake was sentenced Friday to six months in jail for contempt of court.

The jail sentence makes Robert Lovelace, co-chief of Ardoch Algonquin First Nation, "a political prisoner," said lawyer Chris Reid, who represented Mr. Lovelace in the case.

"Bob Lovelace is a political prisoner and he is in jail because (Ontario Premier) Dalton McGuinty and (Aboriginal Affairs Minister) Michael Bryant refused to consult with this community. The Ardoch Algonquin have made numerous proposals to Mr. McGuinty and Mr. Bryant to have discussions to peacefully resolve the issue around uranium mining in their territory."

Mr. Reid said Mr. McGuinty and Mr. Bryant never responded to the Ardoch Algonquin proposals.

"They instructed their lawyers to sit in court this week and say nothing while the lawyers for the mining company asked for six-month jail terms and punitive fines. The fact that Mr. Lovelace is in jail today is one hundred per cent the fault of Mr. McGuinty and Mr. Bryant.

Paula Sherman, co-chief of the Ardoch Algonquin, was also sentenced to six months by Justice Douglas Cunningham in a Kingston court yesterday after being found guilty of contempt of court.

But Ms. Sherman, the single mother of three children, was spared jail time in return for agreeing to obey the court injunctions. This means she must stay away from the site and not participate in any protests there.

Mr. Lovelace was also fined $25,000, and Ms. Sherman $15,000. Although Ms. Sherman will not be behind bars, the judge ruled that she must pay the fine.

Both co-chiefs had admitted taking part in protests on the property, near Sharbot Lake, Ont., about 60 kilometres north of Kingston. Two court rulings had granted Frontenac Ventures Corp., a mining exploration company, access to the site to carry out test drilling for uranium.

Protesters from both the Shabot Obaadjiwan and Ardoch Algonquin First Nations occupied the disputed site from late June to mid-October last year, defying court injunctions that ordered them off the site and gave police the authority to arrest them.

The Algonquin protesters maintain the site is on their land. They are concerned that uranium drilling could lead to environmental contamination.

The occupation ended after the Ontario government agreed to mediation talks. But the protests began again this month after those talks failed.

Mr. Reid also said the Algonquin community was also fined $10,000.

"This is a community that has no funding from anywhere. They raise money through concerts and bake sales. They are not funded by the federal government. So they'll lose out. The community is essentially bankrupted by this decision."

The statement of defence in the case, which challenged the constitutional validity of the Ontario Mining Act, was struck out by the judge.

"When your statement of defence is struck out, you're gone," said Mr. Reid. "You can't bring motions, you can't do anything.

"The punishment for contempt of court is all about punishing people because, instead of going to court to seek remedies against the government, they used what he (the judge) called self-help. It seems utterly perverse to me to say were going to punish you for that by kicking you out court. This kind of decision, it leaves people nothing to lose. Any rational person would ask, if you're going to kick people out of the court, how can you then expect them to not use self-help?"

The blockade began when the Algonquins discovered that Frontenac Ventures Corporation had begun removing trees and blasting rock to prepare for exploration for uranium near Sharbot Lake.


1 comment:

Mrs Robertson said...

I sat in that court room for the four days, and I believe Bob Lovelace is a political prisoner. He is a true man, and I am incredibly humble at his convection to protect the land and water from uranium drilling and mining. I am disgusted in the Ontario Government in there predetermine efforts to send a message to all, that democracy means nothing to them, and hope people look into this story and act to preserve what human right we have left. The Ardoch Algonquin First Nation, are a non-statice peoples and get no moneys from the Government, there only wish is for the Crown of Ontario and the Canadian Government to enforce there own laws. In my opening , it was the prospecting company Frontenac Ventures dictating the out come in court.

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