Frontenac County Recognizes "gathering place of the first peoples"

Jeff Green | Jul 26, 2023

At their regular meeting on July 19, Frontenac County Council adopted a land acknowledgement statement to be read at the beginning of council meetings.

As a staff report regarding the proposed wording indicated, the process to develop the land acknowledgement statement began in September of 2021.

At that time, council made a commitment to recognise September 30 as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and also provided direction to staff “to work with the Frontenac Municipalities to proceed with the investigation of options for the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action, including a Land Acknowledgment for adoption by the County” in consultation with the indigenous community in the Frontenac region.

“Inspired by the Calls to Action contained in the TRC, land acknowledgements are a necessary first step toward honouring the original occupants of a place,” the report said.

Part of the challenge in Frontenac County, is that the county spans the territory of several first nations, including territory that was included in both the Crawford Purchase and the Rideau Purchases, as well as the ongoing Algonquin Land Claim process.

As County Clerk Janette Amini said at the meeting last week, that was one of the reasons why “the proposed wording does not name an individual first nation, preferring to remain more general in nature.”

The wording that was proposed for council consideration is as follows:

“We begin this gathering by acknowledging and celebrating these traditional lands as a gathering place of the first peoples and their ancestors who are entrusted to care for mother earth since time immemorial. We do so respecting both the land and the Indigenous People who continue to walk with us through this world. Today, the County is committed to working with Indigenous peoples and all residents to pursue a united path of reconciliation.”

Frontenac Islands Mayor Judy Greenwood-Speers said “on thing that is missing is reference to the missing and murdered indigenous women. That seems to be a lost opportunity in this land the acknowledgement”.

South Frontenac Mayor (and County Warden for 2023) Ron Vandewal was not at the meeting, but he left an alternate proposal for the wording with Central Frontenac Mayer (and Deputy Warden) Frances Smith.

“He thinks the acknowledgement should be a little shorter, and I will read the wording that he suggests,” said Smith. “’we begin this gathering place by acknowledging and celebrating these traditional lands, and as a county, are committed to working with indigenous people and all residents to pursue a united path of reconciliation’”.

She then said that at Central Frontenac , we use the following, which came from Chief Doreen Davis [Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation]: 'I would like to begin by acknowledging that the land on which we are gathered is the unseeded territory of the Algonquin Nation'”.

Smith said that Chief Davis has explained that “Algonquin Nation includes all other people, Metis and otherwise, that are at the Algonquin table”.

Councillor Bill Saunders from Frontenac Islands, said that a lot of work and research had gone into developing the proposed wording from County staff, and he thought it was worth considering in its final form

“Is the idea for all of the Frontenac townships to use the same acknowledgement,” he asked.

The five Chief Administrative Officers (4 from the townships and Kelly Pender from Frontenac County, meet regularly and discussed the land acknowledgement at one of their meetings, Clerk Amini told Council.

“The CAO's indicated that they would prefer there were one acknowledgement for the entire county, but a decision by Frontenac County to adopt this one only applies to Frontenac County. The townships can then adopt it or use something else,” she said.

Amini also said that, in addition to Chief Doreen Davis, Terry Brennan, from Wolfe Island, had been consulted as part of the effort to obtain local indigenous input to the process.

Councillor Nicki Gowdy from Central Frontenac said she was in favour of adopting the wording as proposed, and said “we can see if we want to change it later on.”

Both Mayor Gerry Lichty and Councilor Fred Fowler from North Frontenac agreed with Gowdy.

The land acknowledgement was approved by Council.

Other items from Council.

Chief Administrator Kelly Pender reported that the Administrative Building Construction is proceeding well, and took council through a video walk through showing that the new space is taking shape. The expected turnover date from the construction contractor is the end of December, with a move-in date a few weeks later.

“I’m sure we will have a ribbon cutting on a very cold winter day,” he said.

Update on Provincial Policy Statement

Community Planner Dmitry Kurylovich appeared before council with an update to a report he delivered in May concerning the impact of changes to the new Provincial Planning Statement on the development process in rural Ontario.

He said that, to his surprise, the text regarding Natural Heritage Features, which are plentiful in Frontenac County, is “basically unchanged in the new document.” The only potential difference is that, in regards to provisions to protect ‘species at risk’ there is no longer a reference to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, so he said other ministries may be involved.

“That could slow things down, as the Ministry of Environment could say talk the MNR and MNR could then say talk to the Ministry of the Environment,” said Frances Smith.

Kurylovich said that the county comment to the province regarding the proposed change will ask for clarity on the matter.

Council approved the wording in the motion, with no amendments, and the land acknowledgement will be read at county meetings going forward.