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Wednesday, 03 July 2019 15:21

CAO Orr’s last council meeting

By the time the next South Frontenac Council meeting rolls around (August 6), Wayne Orr will be retired and packing for a leisurely road trip west. In recognition of this, Mayor Vandewal presented Orr with his nameplate at the end of the meeting, just before Clerk Angela Maddocks brought out a cake.

Draft Development Charges By-law

Consultant Gary Scanlon of Watson Associates attended the mandatory public meeting to review the proposed Development Charges by-law and receive public input prior to Council’s final consideration of the new by-law on August 6. Development Charges are charges levied at the time of new construction to recover capital costs associated with both residential and non-residential growth within the municipality. The Province is currently in the process of separating “hard” services (roads, fire protection, police and engineering services) from “soft” services which include parks, recreation, and library services and community-based studies.

Mayor Vandewal noted that there have been no enquiries from either developers or the general public and only one person had attended the mid-June information open house. Likewise, no one from the public (other than the press) was in attendance at this meeting.

The report estimates that, over the next 15 years, 1311 new residential units will be built in the township and the population will increase by 2,767 people. The draft bylaw pegs the total development and community benefit fees per new single-family dwelling at $9,383, a 39% increase over the current fee of $6,758. This fee is paid in addition to building permit fees and any zoning amendment charges that may be necessary.

Scanlon briefly reviewed some of the highlights of his report, and there being no questions or comments from the public, Council agreed to move on to the next step, in August, of passing the by-law.

Community Safety and Well Being Plan (CSWB Plan)

In January 2019, The province legislated municipalities have two years to prepare and adopt a CSWB Plan which will identify risk factors in the municipality and “determine which risk factors the municipality will treat as a priority to reduce; strategies to reduce the risk factors, including providing new services, changing existing services, improving the integration of existing services or coordinating existing services in a different way; set out measurable outcomes that the strategies are intended to produce; plus any other issues/information that may be prescribed through Regulation.” A joint Frontenac Townships CSWB Advisory Committee will be created, and will include representatives from a large, specified group of social, health and education services. CAO Orr said that while the basic concept of such a group had the potential to lead to positive outcomes, “we’re the wrong group of people to set it up”.

Councillor Roberts suggested the proposed advisory committee was too large, but Orr said there was no choice: the group’s composition had been determined by the Province. Councillor Sutherland said he would prefer that as many as possible of the committee members be Frontenac residents.

The proposed committee will include Deputy Clerk Cindy Deachman, Central Frontenac Mayor Frances Smith (who is the incoming county warden and has a social services background) Sgt Sharron Brown, detachment commander Frontenac OPP, David Herrington from the South Frontenac Police Services Board, Chief Doreen Davis from the Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation, and one representative each from social services, addictions and mental health, health care, education, and children and youth.

Council adjourned to share the aforementioned cake in CAO Orr’s honour.

Published in SOUTH FRONTENAC

It’s highly likely the phrase “fishin’ is better in the rain” was heard several times on area lakes Saturday as anglers of all ages took to the water amid rain and windy conditions in two fishing derbies.

Numbers were down at the third annual Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation Bass Derby, said Chief Doreen Davis, who also served as chief tournament official at the weigh-in at Oso Beach.

“You can’t anchor in this weather,” she said. “But because it’s any lake north of the 401, people could find their own favourite spots.

“And it’s about getting the community together. All of the kids get a prize and even though it’s a bass derby, kids can weigh in anything, even if it’s a minnow.”

However, the kids division win, was anything but a minnow. Owen Lightheart landed a 3-pound bass on his “last cast of the day” to win the rod and reel combination.

Craig Schonaier took the $630 first prize in the derby with a 4.7 pound lunker, which he caught in Mosquito Lake, followed by Connor Clow’s 4.1 pound $180 second place winner. Jacob White took third with a 3.14 pounder.

Over at the King of Sharbot Lake tournament, which was limited to fish caught in Sharbot Lake, 22 teams braved the weather with Team #12, consisting of Bill Bowick, Scott Bullen and Brayden Bullen taking home the $1,500 first prize with a combined weight of 14.11 pounds.

Second place ($750) went to Team # 19 consisting of Billy Chambers and Taylor Lowry with a combined weight of 13.12 pounds. Third place ($500) went to Team #5 of Dave Lockridge and Steve Lockridge with a combined weight of 13.11 pounds.

Cazz Bahm and Josh Carr (Team #9) won the Hidden Weight prize.

Published in CENTRAL FRONTENAC
Wednesday, 10 April 2019 13:12

Ardoch’s Harold Perry passes

Harold Perry, who died last week, was born at Ardoch. He left for Toronto as a teenager but returned to Ardoch as an adult, and lived the rest of his life on Canoe Path Lane, on a section of the Mississippi River that is called Mud Lake.

He experienced discrimination because of his Algonquin heritage when he was young, in Ardoch and in Toronto.

Nonetheless, he embraced the teachings and connection to the land that he learned as a child. He also developed a very strong and unwavering set of political understandings that have influenced indigenous activists locally and across the province in profound ways. He also was a master canoe builder and country music guitarist. He was proudly inducted into the Land O’Lakes Traditional Music Hall of Fame in 2016.

Harold also helped to manage a patch of wild rice, that was transported to Mud Lake by his mother from Rice Lake near Peterborough. And that patch of rice was responsible for a chain of events that changed Harold’s life and many others, and helped spark the re-birth of Indigenous culture in Frontenac and Lanark Counties and beyond.

In the late 1970’s, the province of Ontario granted a license to a rice harvesting company to collect the rice from Mud Lake. Harold was a well-established builder, woodworker, martial arts instructor, and musician at the time, headed towards retirement age, when he saw that the rice patch that he had been stewarding for most of his life was about to be harvested.

He approached North Frontenac Community Services, which had a community legal worker on staff at the time (a position that eventually led to the formation of its own agency – Rural Legal Services.)

That worker was Bob Lovelace, who spent most of his time representing clients of the Oso Township welfare office, who were having trouble accessing funds from the township.

When Harold and Bob met, both of their lives changed.

“I knew from when I was a kid that I was part Indian,” Lovelace said when contacted this week at his home on Canoe Lake.

“I was mainly focussed, at that that time, on the local welfare system. Harold came to see me one day about what he could do about the rice.

Harold and Bob and a host of other community members worked on what were dubbed locally as the ‘rice wars’ for a couple of seasons and eventually the company was forced to withdraw.

The entire episode sparked a bit of a renaissance in Aboriginal culture in the region.

“Local people kept their culture to themselves before that. They kept it within their extended families, but at that time they started to feel they no longer wanted to be ashamed of their identity, they wanted to come together in public.”

A number of cultural and political groups developed throughout the 1980’s in the Ardoch and Sharbot Lake areas, and Harold and Bob formed a friendship and political alliance.

Lovelace, who is a university lecturer at Queen’s, a community educator and political activist, said “I like to tell my students that Harold Perry taught me everything I know about aboriginal culture and politics.”

In the 1980’s, Harold became a central figure in another legal battle, over hunting rights for non-status people of Aboriginal heritage.

“He thought it was important to establish hunting rights, and he said he thought it would take longer than his lifetime to do it, but we had to make a start. It was a shorter fight than he thought.”

It turned out that it was Harold himself who supplied the test case, when he was arrested for shooting a duck without first obtaining a hunting license.

Harold fought the case on his inherent right to hunt as an aboriginal person, and won. The case was later overturned in an appeal court, based on some of the comments that the judge made during the trial, but the government of Ontario has never re-visited the issue, being content to establish harvesting agreements with First Nations to this day rather than challenging Aboriginal hunting rights.

In the late 1980’s the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation and Allies (AAFNA - later renamed the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation) had been formed, and Harold was elected as Chief through a vote of the family heads council.

AAFNA was approached by Kirby Whiteduck from Golden Lake (now know as Pikwakanagan First Nation) to join in the Algonquin land claim process, and they agreed to participate.

“After about a year Harold realised that the non-status communities were only going to be used and he encouraged the family heads council to have AAFNA step back from the process, and they agreed.”

AAFNA, and Harold, became harsh critics of the land claim process, never yielding in his opinion that it would lead only to the diminution of Aboriginal rights. This led to more than a little bitterness within the local community that is still echoed to this day.

The Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation, based now on White Lake, and the Snimikobi Algonquin First Nation (based in Eganville) remained within the process, and AAFNA has remained opposed.

In 2007, a uranium exploration company began doing testing on Crotch Lake, using an old mine at Robertsville as an access point from Hwy. 509. Crotch Lake and the region surrounding it are the traditional territory for both AAFNA and the Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nations.

In spite of the schism between the two groups, who share territory and family connections, the two First Nations worked together and occupied the site, saying they would not permit drilling on their ancestral territory. It was an uneasy alliance that frayed pretty quickly, but the occupation held for several months.

“Harold, Doreen Davis (Chief of the Shabot Obaadjiwan) the Badour and St. Pierre families deserve credit for putting that coalition together,” said Lovelace, “even if it was tough.”

After the occupation ended, a court case, launched by the exploration company, culminated in a Superior Court Judge in Kingston demanding that the community representatives who ended up facing charges of trespassing, commit to staying away from the site.

In the end there were three who resisted making that declaration, which was a matter of principle more than practicality since by that time the site was back in the hands of the company and access was blocked.

The three were Harold Perry, Bob Lovelace, and Paula Sherman, all Chiefs or former Chiefs of AAFNA.

“Harold was 78 at the time, and I knew from working in the prisons that he was not in good enough health to go to prison, so we talked him into making the declaration,” Lovelace recalls. Lovelace was the only one who ended up in jail, until he was released on appeal several months later.

The company ended up leaving and the land is no longer eligible for staking, and is part of the lands earmarked in the land claim, for transfer to the Algonquins.

Harold Perry lived on at his home in Ardoch with his wife Elsie until last week.

He was an unassuming, even a shy man, but a ferocious political fighter for the rights of non-status Indigenous people, and whether they agreed or disagreed with him, no one can deny the impact he has had on Indigenous politics in this region, and beyond.

Published in NORTH FRONTENAC
Wednesday, 13 December 2017 12:10

Canada 150 Finale

Canada 150 Finale

 

Canada’s Sesquicentennial is drawing to a close and the people of Central Frontenac should congratulate themselves for having staged a great year. We have marked the occasion with some truly memorable projects.

 

Each of our community institutions has come through with something special - a heritage video at Parham Fair, special demonstrations by the Arden Fire Department, a Trail day at the Railway Heritage Park in Sharbot Lake and commemorative public benches where we can enjoy our beautiful surroundings. The area’s churches held special services (indoors and out) and supported community events such as the Giving Thanks Dinner. The lake associations got into the act with flotillas on Kennebec, Horseshoe and Long Lakes and tree planting projects on Eagle Lake and Sharbot. And the Frontenac Heritage Festival had a distinctly 150 flavour this year. The Recreation committees made a special contribution to the year with a host of programs in Arden, a fantastic Canada Day in Sharbot Lake and a great Canada 150 float in the Parham Santa Claus parade.

 

Credit for some of the best projects has to go to the individuals who inspired them – Diane Lake’s 150 stories of 150 women, Virgil Garrett’s goal of 150 (now over 200) visitors to his grandfather clocks, Janet Gutowski’s display of 150 quilts and Jim MacPherson and friends with 150 Canadian songs on quiet evenings in the Oso Park. This one grew into a great evening of Canadian music at GREC – Covering Canada – with profits going to the school music program.

 

Rural Frontenac Community Services, The Child Centre, supported a focus on youth by partnering with Shabot Obaadjiwan and North Frontenac Little Theatre, in the first case for the Strawberry Moon Festival and the second for a picnic and workshop in the park. The Little Theatre also provided a great next-to-last Canada 150 event with this year’s fall production of Sunshine Sketches of Our Little Town - a delightful retrospective of our community and the wonderful things that happen in it especially those in celebration of our nation’s 150th Birthday.

 

The Legions started the year with a New Years Day levee in the Arden branch and will end it with a New Years Eve ball to be held in the Sharbot Lake branch. This final event of the year will be a traditional New Year’s Eve party with food, dancing, decorations and door prizes. It is jointly sponsored by the Legion branch and by the District #3 Rec committee. Profits will be divided between the two groups – the Legion share going to meals for shut-ins and the Rec Committee share to the rink project. One special activity will be a draw for the Canada 150 quilt shown in the picture. A few tickets are still available for the dance. They can be purchased at Gray’s Grocery or either Legion Branch. Quilt tickets can be purchased by calling Rosemarie Bowick at 613 279-3341.

Published in CENTRAL FRONTENAC
Wednesday, 12 April 2017 11:43

Training course at Shabot Obaadjiwan office

A construction worker training course co-sponsored by the St. Lawrence College Employment Centre in Sharbot Lake and the Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation, is wrapping up this week, and Chief Doreen Davis is pleased with the results.

The 8 week course was designed for self identified indigenous youth (under 29) interested in learning carpentry skills and work-site safety. Local contractor Kevin Rioux supervised the trainees, who received boots, hats, tools and belts at the start of the course, took some training courses, and then began to do some renovations to the Shabot Obaadjiwan offices on Hwy 7 just east of Arden.

“Not only did they completely re-do our boardroom and add a small office and shelving, they also did some work on the exterior building and built a brand new storage shed,” said Davis, “We paid for the materials but they provided all the labour. It was more than we originally talked about getting done and it helped the participants learn skills. Many of them have jobs lined up after the course ends.”

Kevin Rioux said that the shed they built was finished as a house would be finished, not only to make a good product, but to provide for more of a learning opportunity.

“They really progressed during the course,” said Rioux, “and I have enjoyed teaching it as well.”

Chief Davis said that the Shabot Obaadjiwan is planning to apply once again to host a program in the future, either at their offices or their nation site on White Lake, where they have built a large meeting hall and have plans for improvements and ancillary structures.

“These projects help us, they provide skills for our youth in a field where there are jobs, and they are good for the local economy because we buy all our materials at the Home Hardware in Sharbot Lake,” she said.

Published in CENTRAL FRONTENAC

Land Claim AIP ratified at a ceremony in Ottawa

Now the real negotiations begin, says Kirby Whiteduck of Pikwakanagan

by Jeff Green

At a ceremony in Ottawa on Tuesday morning, October 18, the Government of Canada, the Government of Ontario, and the Algonquins of Ontario signed an Agreement in Principle (AIP) regarding the Algonquin Land Claim.

The AIP is “a key step toward a modern-day treaty to resolve a long-standing land claim that covers an area of 36,000 square kilometres in Eastern Ontario,” according to a release from Flavia Mussio of the Ontario Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation.

The non-binding AIP paves the way for continued negotiations toward a final agreement that will define the ongoing rights of the Algonquins of Ontario to lands and natural resources within the settlement area”, Mussio added.

Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs for the Government of Canada, heralded the agreement as “a momentous milestone and a significant step forward on renewing Canada’s relationship with the Algonquins of Ontario.”

Robert Potts, chief negotiator and legal counsel to the Algonquins of Ontario, said the agreement “marks a critical step forward in a journey that began almost 250 years ago when the first Algonquin Petition was submitted to the Crown in 1772.”

The AIP had been stalled since the spring, even though a ratification vote among the 7,500 Algonquin electors within the territories had yielded a strong yes vote.

However, some members of the Pikwakanagan First Nation at Golden Lake were given a chance to vote in a separate process. Most of them voted against the AIP.

The Pikwakanagan Council pulled out of the land claim process at that time and throughout the months of June and July the council met with the local community and heard a number of concerns about language in the agreement. Of particular concern was the language around self-government at Pikwakanagan.

Pikwakanagan Chief of Council Kirby Whiteduck told the News today that his council sent letters to Ontario and Canada seeking clarification of specific items and received letters in return, from each of the ministers, which were shared with the community and discussed at an open meeting in July.

For example, some of our members were concerned that if we sign a self-government agreement, we will lose our reserve, which is not what the agreement says, but people needed more assurance. There were legitimate concerns about a lack of clarity in some of the language in the AIP that needed to be addressed, and the letters did that,” said Whiteduck.

The council asked, at the meeting in July and through a mail out, for Pikwakanagan members to let them know if they should continue with the process or end it.

Not a lot of people responded but 95% of those who did respond, said yes, continue,” Whiteduck said.

The Pikwakanagan Council passed a motion last week indicating they were ready to sign the AIP and move on to final negotiations.

The Chief and Council will be participating in the signing of the Draft Agreement-in-Principle in the Parliament buildings along with the Government of Canada, the Government of Ontario and the Algonquins of Ontario. This will take us into negotiations, towards a final agreement,” said a release that was posted on the Pikwanagan website late last week.

However while negotiators and politicians from the federal and provincial governments and the Algonquins of Ontario are celebrating the signing of the AIP, Kirby Whiteduck is not celebrating.

We said to them today we are now past the AIP stage in the process. It is good to be done with the AIP, but now we are into the more important and definitive negotiations. As far as we are concerned, every thing is open to change. There are important things in the AIP, but there is a lot more to negotiate. If there was nothing to negotiate, we would all just sign the AIP and be done with it.”

Whiteduck, who has been involved in the process for over 30 years, longer by decades that any of the government negotiators, is committed to negotiating a self-government agreement for Pikwakanagan as part of the land claim.

He argues that a self-government agreement is a necessity for Pikwakanagan, in part because it will allow the local council to determine membership in the community, which would no longer be tied to the Indian Act.

Under the Indian Act, there are two general categories for status, 6-1 and 6-2. Those with 6-2 status, and that includes many Pikwakanagan members, only pass that status on if they have children with another 6-2 status parent. Otherwise their children do not have status, and this means our community shrinks. Under self-government, we can determine status ourselves,” he said.

Further he considers a self-government agreement within a land claim treaty as more powerful than self -government under a simple Act of Parliament.

A treaty brings more security,” he said.

That is not to say that the Pikwakanagan Council is willing to sign a treaty before they are happy about all of its provisions.

We are ready to negotiate all of the issues,” he said, “and as I said we are not bound by the AIP.”

Whiteduck also indicated that there are issues between Pikwakanagan and the off-reserve communities that need to be sorted out as well, saying that Pikwakanagan and the nine off-reserve communities (which include the Shabot Obaadjiwan) are undergoing a mediation process to try to come to an agreement over beneficiary criteria under a final treaty.

Ron Dearing, the land claim negotiator for the federal government, said today in a conference call that the Algonquin land claim negotiations are unique in that the public has been privy to more detail than in any other negotiation that Canada has negotiated, and there will be further opportunities to consult with the public over the next two or three years as final negotiations take place. He said the negotiations could be finalised in about four years.

Robert Potts resisted being pinned down to a time frame and said that even if negotiations are completed within four years, legislation in Ontario and Canada will be required to enact a treaty.

And that takes more time,” he said.

Published in General Interest
With the participation of the Government of Canada