Ontario Algonquin Land Claim moving forward

Jeff Green | Nov 01, 2012

Municipal officials receive information about ‘land package’ at closed door meeting

On Thursday, October 25, a closed door meeting was held with municipal officials from Frontenac County and Addington Highlands Township at the Sharbot Lake Legion about a potential lands package as part of land claim negotiations. A second meeting was scheduled for Monday, October 29. The meetings were held as part of the consultation process surrounding the pending Agreement in Principle for the Algonquin Land Claim in Ontario.

Attempts to talk to any of the federal or provincial, or Algonquin officials who participated in those meetings concerning the current state of negotiations yielded the following e-mail response from Flavio Mussio of the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs in Toronto: “There will not be anyone available to speak to the media as they are not public meetings.”

One of the goals of the meeting, according to Mussio, was to receive information from municipal politicians and staff about any local plans for road expansion that might impact on the lands under discussion for transfer as part of the land claim.

Previous information provided by the Ontario chief negotiator, Brian Crane, established that all land transfers that will flow from the claim will be on a fee simple basis, meaning the Algonquin jurisdiction over their lands will the same as any other landowner in Ontario.

Mussio’s email message went on to discuss future opportunities for public input into the land claim process.

“Once these negotiations have progressed, more information about any potential lands package will be made public. The public engagement process is a consistent part of our policy in settling land claims … Ontario’s consultations with stakeholders and the public will expand and continue as the negotiations proceed. Public information will continue to be available through negotiators’ updates; material on the Ontario website; through the Ontario Information Centre on the Algonquin Land Claim in Pembroke; and through other means. The negotiating parties also intend to hold regional public information forums to discuss the proposed content of a draft agreement-in-principle with members of the public.”

Negotiators from all sides have answered media inquiries about the claim on a regular basis, but there have been no meetings for the general public thus far in the process, which got underway in 1992.