'Now the real negotiations begin", says Kirby Whiteduck of Pikwakanagan

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.

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.

If the Algonquin Land Claim were a train, you might say it went a bit off the rails last week, just it was rounding the corner towards its destination after a long, arduous journey.

The snag that caused the Council of the Pikwàkanagàn First Nation to “take a step back” from the process, in the words of a press release last Thursday (March 17) were the results of a referendum that was conducted earlier this month.

When asked if they supported the Agreement in Principle for the Algonquin Land Claim, which was negotiated by their Chief and council, and the representatives from nine off-reserve communities, 246 members voted in favour and 317 voted against the agreement, 56% against to 44% in favour.

Pikwàkanagàn Chief Kirby Whiteduck said, “Our members ... are currently divided on the proposed AIP and some do not have the level of comfort to move forward at this moment. As a result, our council requires further discussions and consultations with Canada and Ontario to clarify certain issues, to address the concerns of our members and to bridge the divisions in our community.”

For their part, the Algonquin Nation Representatives and the land claim's Principal Negotiator Robert Potts are prepared to give Pikwàkanagàn Council the time it needs to bridge those divisions.

“We are all supportive of the Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn as they take the necessary steps to pursue discussions with Canada and Ontario ...” said Clifford Bastien Jr. ,the Algonquin Nation Representative for the Mattawa/North Bay community.

Among the communities in the Mississippi and Madawaska watersheds, the Shabot Obaadjiwan (Sharbot Lake) recorded a 114-5 vote in favour and the Snimikobe (formerly Ardoch Algonquins) recorded a 98-0 vote in favour. The total among the nine off-reserve communities was 3182 in favour and 141 against.

The issue that came up at Pikwàkanagàn in the run-up to the vote was concern over the implications of the AIP as regards self-government, which was a surprise, according to Robert Potts.

“We held extensive meetings throughout the territory and at Pikwàkanagàn after the draft of the AIP was released, and at that time the self-government issue was not raised. It was only in the few weeks preceding the vote that the concern, which was based primarily on misinformation, came up and had an impact on the vote,” he said.

Although he could not completely hide his disappointment about the results of the ratification process, Potts said that the vote was always intended as a non-binding process aimed at identifying issues that need to be addressed, and in that sense it was successful in revealing that the “comfort level among some at Pikwàkanagàn is not where it needs to be. Chief Whiteduck and his council can now address that.”

The other issue that Potts identified as being of concern in Pikwàkanagàn is beneficiary criteria.

“That is something that will have to be finalised before we get to the treaty stage,” said Potts.

While the concept of direct descent from an Algonquin relative, in addition to a connection to an identified Algonquin community, has been used to determine the voters list that was used in the ratification vote, who the ultimate beneficiaries of the claim will be has not been determined.

He said that when a final vote on a land claim treaty is taken, the voting and beneficiary criteria will be identical.

“It will be the beneficiaries who will vote,” he said.

As far as sorting out the issue of self-government at Pikwàkanagàn, Chief Whiteduck indicated last week in an article published in the Eganville Leader, that whether it is tied to the land claim or not, self-government is a priority for his council.

According to research done by Pikwàkanagàn staff, as members inter-marry with non-Algonquins, Pikwàkanagàn will cease to exist within 60 - 70 years because none of its members will have Aboriginal status.

“It would be helpful to further explore self-government and see if we can negotiate and get support for our own constitution under a self-government agreement and determine our own citizenship criteria,” Whiteduck told the Leader.

In an article published in the Frontenac News on March 3, 2016, Greg Sarazin, a former Land Claim negotiator for Pikwàkanagàn now representing a group that opposes the AIP, said that his group is afraid, based on language in the AIP and the statements of federal negotiators, that self government will lead to Pikwàkanagàn losing some of the tax advantages it has under the Indian Act.

“My reading of the AIP, as well as a number of the statements made by negotiators, leads me to be concerned that a commitment to enter self-government negotiations has already been given by Chief and Council and that the terms committed to will extinguish Pikwàkanagàn members' rights and bring an end to Pikwàkanagàn,” he said.

With one side claiming that self-government is the only way for their community to survive, and the other claiming it is a death sentence for their community, it could take some time before a land claim process that is associated with self government to get back on track.

by Jeff Green

A movement has been growing among many of the members of the Pikwàkanagàn Algonquin First Nation, and on Sunday (February 28) it bubbled over in a peaceful march by demonstrators in front of the council office on the reserve.

Led by the Grandmothers of Pikwàkanagàn, the protesters are calling for the elected council of Pikwàkanagàn, which is the only Algonquin reserve in Ontario, to reject the Agreement in Principle (AIP) for the Ontario Algonquin Land Claim.

A vote on the AIP is scheduled for Saturday, March 5 in Pikwàkanagàn, and the protesters have given their council until March 4 to respond to their demands.

The protest follows a community meeting that took place two weeks ago, and a subsequent petition, demanding that the chief and council withdraw Pikwàkanagàn from the ratification vote and begin discussions with the community on the terms of an acceptable AIP.

Pikwàkanagàn council members have a lot at stake in seeking ratification of the AIP, as all of them are part of the team that negotiated it, along with representatives from nine non-status Ontario Algonquin communities.

A report from Postmedia says that Pikwàkanagàn Chief Kirby Whiteduck addressed the demonstrators on Sunday, and said that the AIP is not a legally binding document but only sets the stage for further negotiations.

Greg Sarazin was chief of council and one of the negotiators for Pikwàkanagàn during the first 10 years of the process. He is now the media spokesperson for those in the community who oppose the AIP and on February 22, he delivered a press release outlining community concerns.

"Details of the proposed AIP have just recently come to light and members of the First Nation are coming to realize the scope of the damage that will be done to them, their children and to Pikwàkanagàn 's future.

“Over the past several years, community members have provided input to the chief and council on what was acceptable and what would not be acceptable in a settlement of the Algonquin land claim. Our concerns have fallen on deaf ears. The proposed AIP contains language that leads to a loss of identity as an Algonquin First Nation.”

As Sarazin explained in a telephone interview early this week, there are a number of clauses in the AIP that raise concerns about its impact on the future of Pikwàkanagàn. He said that when he raises those concerns with the council and Chief Kirby Whiteduck, “There is no clarity; there are just statements and vague promises that clearly contradict what is written in the AIP document. The AIP itself is a written document that is being voted on.”

The AIP says that with the agreement, Algonquin rights will be “extinguished”. This is something that will affect the Pikwakanagan members in particular, since among the 7,000 Algonquin electors qualified to vote on the AIP, they are the only ones who have status under the Indian Act.

In particular, Sarazin points to provision 12.4.1 of the AIP, which says that “Section 87 of the Indian Act will have no application to any Beneficiary, Algonquin institution or Settlement Lands as of the Effective Date."

Section 87 is the provision in the Indian Act that exempts status Indians living on reserves from the tax system.

“My reading of the AIP, as well as a number of the statements made by negotiators, leads me to be concerned that a commitment to enter self government negotiations has already been given by Chief and Council and that the terms committed to will extinguish Pikwàkanagàn members' rights and bring an end to Pikwàkanagàn.”

Sarazin said he is afraid that Pikwàkanagàn will be turned into a municipality like all others in Ontario, and “municipality designation means extinguishment of constitutionally protected section 35 Aboriginal rights and assimilation of Pikwàkanagàn. There is no indication that there is any plan for community members who will suddenly have to pay taxes on what is no longer Indian reserve lands.”

There have also been statements by the federal government that only heighten Sarazin's fears.

In 2012, in a letter to municipal chief administrators, federal land claim negotiator, Brian Crane, explained the federal government's position on the future of Pikwakanagan after the land claim is finalized.

“12.4.1 reminds the Algonquins that the s.87 Indian Act tax exemption will be discussed in the context of these self-government negotiations. The federal government has made its position clear that according to Canada's policy, after a self-government agreement has been negotiated for Pikwàkanagàn, the Pikwàkanagàn reserve will cease to exist and the s.87 tax exemption will not apply.”

In addition to being a spokesperson for the community group, Greg Sarazin owns one of the dozen smoke shops on the reserve who together employ around 60 community members.

“If Pikwàkanagàn ceases to be a reserve all the smoke shops will be out of business. The entire economy of Pikwàkanagàn will be wiped out,” he said.

According to Sarazin, the community meeting, the petition, which he said has been signed by over 60% of the community, and the grandmothers' protest, all amount to a community decision-making process.

“If council is looking for direction from the community, they already have it,” he said.

There may be a protest on Friday as the Grandmothers of Pikwàkanagàn will be seeking answers from council in advance of Saturday's scheduled vote.

Seven thousand and seven hundred Algonquin electors are eligible for a ratification vote on the Algonquin Land Claim Agreement in Principle between February 29 and March 7. Voting will take place in nine off-reserve communities, including Sharbot Lake, as well as at Pikwàkanagàn First Nation.

The claim has been 25 years in the making, and now that the vote is near, questions that have been put aside for at least the last 10 years are now being raised.

A report commissioned by the Kebaowek First Nation, an Algonquin community in Quebec also known as Eagle Village, which has a substantial territorial overlap with the Ontario claim, has researched the origin of a sample group of 200 Algonquins of Ontario electors. The results surprised the researchers; 72 of the 200 electors they looked at had only one Algonquin ancestor, stretching from four to six generations back.

“If these examples are typical of the AOO list, then it represents a triumph of genealogy over common sense…Call it the homeopathic approach to Aboriginal Title and Rights - a little drop will do you,” concluded the report, according to an account by APTN (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network)

The report goes on to say that “None of these people would qualify as electors for any existing comprehensive agreements or modern-day treaties.”

The Kebaowek First Nation has a reason to be skeptical about the Ontario Algonquin Land Claim. Although they are based in Quebec, they lay claim to about 300,000 hectares on the Ontario side of the Ottawa - land that is included in the Ontario claim.

The revelations about the lineage of Algonquin electors is not a surprise to anyone who has been following the claim over the last dozen years or so. The decision was made to include as an elector any individual who could prove they are a “direct descendant” from an Algonquin individual and could also demonstrate a cultural connection to an Algonquin community.

At a meeting at the Catholic church hall in Sharbot Lake in 2003 or 2004, representatives from the nine non-status communities as well as the entire Pikwàkanagàn Council debated the question of “blood quantum” for beneficiaries of the claim.

At that meeting, the lawyer Robert Potts, who had taken on the role of chief negotiator to the claim just a few months previously, sought common ground between the position taken by the Pikwàkanagàn Council that a minimum “blood quantum” was needed for legitimacy, and the position of the non-status communities, who argued that direct descent, no matter how far back, was sufficient.

The compromise that Potts came up with was to say that direct descendants, as long as they can be vouched for by a community that was already known to the process at that point, was sufficient to gain someone the right to be an elector, giving them the right to vote in the election of their representative to the land claim negotiating table, and the right to vote on an agreement, should one ever be negotiated.

The entire seven-member Pikwàkanagàn Council would sit at the negotiation table, as well as one representative from each of the nine non-status Algonquin Communities.

The further question of beneficiary status was left to future negotiations. Members of the Pikwàkanagàn Council did not make a commitment at that meeting but since the negotiations have proceeded on that basis, it is clear they decided to stay with the process under those terms.

To my knowledge the beneficiary status has never been finalized, but since all the proceeds of the land claim will be going to an Algonquin corporation based in Pembroke and no individuals from those communities will receive a payment of any kind, beneficiary status may not be as important as people envisioned back in 2003.

Potts defended the way electors are verified to APTN this week, saying, “Why is that a problem if people have been practicing their culture over five generations? The Indians that are part of this country are not all status…You don’t ignore non-status people….It is hard for some of the old hard-line status-type people, who feel it is an incursion of their rights.”

As I have written before, there are problems with both sides of this debate. The idea of “blood quantum” leads only to fewer and fewer people having the right to call themselves Algonquin. As an elder from the Alderville First Nation said to me years ago, “We like to think of ourselves as a nation, but what nation tries to limit its membership? Nations need to grow and get stronger, not shrink and get weaker.”

On the other hand, a direct descendant can have nothing more than a forgotten great great grandmother who was listed on a census as of Algonquin heritage in part. The provision for a “cultural connection” is, in practice, a fuzzy requirement. How do you quantify that? When Mr. Potts says people have been “practicing their culture”, what does he mean when the entire culture was underground until very recently? Pride in Indigenous heritage is a pretty recent phenomena in Canada.

Now that this question of blood quantum versus direct descent, which has been lurking for a dozen years, has come to the fore, there are other questions about the Algonquin electors and the nine communities that might be raised as well. A number of communities, including the Ottawa, Bancroft and Ardoch communities, have dissident former members who claim they have been pushed out of leadership roles in those communities by the land claim hierarchy itself, for no other reason than their opposition to the bargaining position that has been taken at the land claim table as the agreement in principle was being negotiated.

We will look at one of these internal issues in next week's paper.

A ratification vote is set for late February and early March concerning the Agreement in Principle (AIP) for the Algonquin Land Claim in the Ottawa Valley.

The Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation (APFN), the only community in the territory made up of “status” Algonquins under the Indian Act of Canada, joined with the Algonquins of Ontario (AOO), which is made up of nine off-reserve “non-status” communities. Together they negotiate the AIP with the governments of Ontario and Canada.

The AIP was presented to the public in early 2014. Both of the governments have now ratified it, leaving the ratification vote among Algonquins as the final hurdle. If ratified by the Algonquins, final negotiations towards a formal land claim treaty will begin. Those negotiations are expected to take five years to complete, which would make the land claim process, which began in 1992, a 30-year odyssey.

Over the last 25 years, a number of people have walked away from the land claim process for a number of reasons, and as the vote nears next month they are starting to come forward with concerns over the legitimacy of the vote, and the process that preceded it.

Jo-Anne Green put out an open letter this week. She writes on behalf of herself and her mother, Elder Eleanor Baptiste Yateman, the great grand-daughter of Chief John Baptiste Keeigu Manitou from Baptiste Lake, northwest of Bancroft, where Eleanor was born and raised.

Green says that her mother, who now lives in Peterborough, was in the closed meetings before the land claim began. “When she found out the way the claim was proceeding and that the non-status were going to be used for head count only, she decided to resign, but that is not to say she had resigned from working on attaining the rights for our indigenous people; it is quite the opposite.”

The letter goes on to say that APFN not only marginalized the non-status population, they created false communities and also downplayed the Nippissing lineage of local people.

One of the nine communities that make up the AOO is the Bancroft/Baptiste community. According to Jo-Anne Green and Eleanor Yateman, “The Bancroft/Baptiste community is not legal. We can say this because we know our lineage and our history ... the Nipissing history is a big part of the rights and title to the land claim.”

Green says that she, along with her mother, “have been exposed to ridicule, silence tactics and intimidation; all this by an institution that purports to represent Algonquin people”. She says there are others who share their concerns.

She also says that, “A great number of pertinent documents support our allegations”; that the “land claim needs to be exposed for what it is”; and that the “claim has many layers of deception.”

For the past 20 years in Ontario, there has been an ongoing land claim with the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan and the Algonquins of Ontario. This claim is rather large and takes in the City of Ottawa.

We have seen some of the issues ongoing like the development of the Chaudiere Falls and the Windfarm, yet the land claim is not even settled yet.

Within this land claim, there are many concerns, with the main one being the non-status Algonquins with set up communities of non-status people.

All of the information is here; http://www.tanakiwin.com/

What I don't understand in this is the governments currently do not accept non-status people in the constitution and refuse to identify them as Indians and actually are fighting this in court, yet 80% of the people getting a vote in this current land claim are non-status. I am status, so is my daughter, yet we do not get a vote as we did not know we had to register with the Algonquins of Ontario and the set up office in Pembroke. Not only us, but many of the status people from the reserve don't get a vote because they were not aware they had to register.

If that is not bad enough, these non-status communities are well funded to negotiate this claim as well as conduct elections and call themselves Chiefs and Councillors, yet when they sign any documents for the land claim, they are NOT allowed to sign them as Chief.

When this is all said and done, their root ancestor that qualifies them for this Ontario claim, comes from Quebec where they were part of the Jesuits mission at Oka.

One thing that seems to be happening, is that the beneficiary criteria for this claim has not been established yet, which could mean that they will not be accepted at that time, so are they just being used for a vote?

There is something seriously wrong here. I currently have an open file questioning these matters with the Ontario Ombudsman, time will tell on that one too.

One of the reasons I have been fighting this land claim is that these people who are CLAIMING to be First Nations people, are out there conducting ceremonies, powwows, teachings and even using fake status cards known as community membership cards for point of sale tax free shopping too.

Now, while this letter may seem that I am against non-status people, I am not. UNTIL the time comes when we are separated from the Indian Act and can control our selves via a true self governed body and control our own memberships 100%, this is the way it is. I didn't make the rules for qualifying people as Indians, but I certainly have the right to ask questions.

There are also very HUGE concerns in this claim going unnoticed. Is this or should this be an Algonquin ONLY land claim? when we know of other court cases that have proven beyond any reasonable doubt the Mohawk, Nippissing. Chippawa and others also have evidence proving their connections to these same lands? Then we also know that the Quebec Algonquins are being left out too even though some of their families are involved in the Ontario claim.

Everyday I ask the Creator to guide people to a better position in this claim, but it seems everyone is either afraid to do something about it for fear they will get cut out of the claim or worse. Either way, its a mess, but it also has cost millions of dollars so far, and promises to cost millions more when its settled.

No politician will get involved because they don't want to cause problems or make it look like they are taking sides....I think its mostly because they don't know our First Nations correct history. Time will tell, but what I certainly don't appreciate is the cultural genocide that goes on because of this claim.

A new Consultation Office for the Algonquins of Ontario was officially opened today by the Honourable Chuck Strahl, Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians, and the Honourable Brad Duguid, Ontario Minister of Aboriginal Affairs. At his final meeting as a member of Frontenac County Council in 2003, former North Frontenac Mayor Stan Johnston handed over a thick set of binders to be given to the next North Frontenac member of county council, who happens to be current Mayor Ron Maguire.

“These are my files about the Algonquin Land Claim, which started in 1991. It won’t likely be completed in any of our lifetimes,” Johnston said at the time.

A bit later, when Robert Potts, a Toronto-based lawyer, took over as principal negotiator for the land claim, he said he was working towards an agreement in principle in two years. A year later he said the same thing, and the next year he said it again.

With the establishment of a consultation centre in Pembroke, the Algonquins of Ontario, which is what the negotiating team on the Algonquin side now calls itself, are marking two things.

Firstly, the negotiators on all sides now expect to reach an agreement in principle next year, in 2011, and secondly, there is a need to resolve issues of concern before an agreement is reached.

Three such issues that were referred to at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new centre on Monday, January 11 in Pembroke are:

Working with the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry to establish new protocols for mining exploration and development activities on land where Aboriginal rights have been asserted;Engaging in consultations with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and other stakeholders in response to the report “Lightening the Ecological Footprint of Logging in Algonquin Provincial Park;” andContinuing discussions with regards to redeveloping the Rockcliffe and Lansdowne Park sites in Ottawa.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony was attended by Chuck Strahl, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs for the government of Canada and his Ontario counterpart, Brad Duguid, as well as Chief Kirby Whiteduck of the Algonquins of Pikwakànagàn First Nation.

The Algonquins of Ontario include the Pikwakànagàn First Nation, the only Ontario Algonquin community whose members have official “status” under the Indian Act of Canada, along with nine other Algonquin communities, including the Shabot Obaadjiwaan, based in Sharbot Lake, and the Snimikobe, formerly known as the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation.

There are other Algonquin communities, such as the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation under Honorary Chief Harold Perry of Ardoch, which remain outside of the Algonquin Land Claim talks. 

Shabot Obaadjiwan Chief Doreen Davis presenting former Ontario minister of Aboriginal Affairs Brad Duguid with a memento of his attendance at the opening of the Algonquin consultation office in Pembroke on January 11th.

The Algonquin Land Claim process is 20 years old. While there are many who think it will never be resolved, the establishment of the Algonquin Consultation Office in Pembroke as well as the fact that the target date for a Memorandum of Understanding has been set for March of 2011, suggests that there may actually be a deal in the works.

Information about the claim that has been released to the media has been so general as to give little insight into the details of the deal that may be in the works.

We do know, however, that the deal will likely include an amount of land, as well as money for economic development that will be shared among the “communities” or “First Nations” that are at the negotiation table. There will also be provisions for hunting rights and a consultation and/or royalty agreement for resource extraction, such as mining or forestry.

Land Claims in general, and this one in particular, are complicated, unruly enterprises. Two of the major contradictions that are inherent in the process are the fact that 'land' itself is not something that can rightly be claimed. It is jurisdiction over the land that is the issue, and there is a complicated set of economic and legal relationships that have developed between governments and individuals related to land use in Ontario and Canada that are not going to be altered by this, or any land claim.

The governments involved in the Algonquin Land Claim are being pushed by Supreme Court of Canada rulings to accomplish a deal that will solidify their jurisdiction over the 8.9 million acres that are included in this particular claim.

The question of who this deal must be done with is problematic because the land was appropriated over a period of time, starting up to 400 years ago, and there are no written records about who used what piece of land for what purpose over the preceding 1,000 years or more.

This reality is underlined by the fact that a treaty was signed in the 1800s with the Mississauga First Nation for much of the land that is now under negotiation as the Algonquin Land Claim – land which turned out never to have been Mississauga territory. That treaty as it pertains to these lands has since been discarded.

Court rulings and government decisions have established the Ottawa Valley as Algonquin Territory for the purposes of seeking an agreement over jurisdiction. The next problem is:

“Who are the Algonquins?”

The Federal Indian Act assigns “native status” to certain people, based on several criteria, the major one being “blood quantum”, the percentage of native blood that courses through the veins of an individual.

Blood quantum is more than problematic. Over time as First Nations peoples marry people of other genetic backgrounds, the blood quantum will continue to thin and the numbers of people who are eligible for “native status” will inevitably decrease.

To paraphrase what an elder from the Alderville reserve near Peterborough once said to me, “Canada is a nation that takes people in and grants them citizenship. That is how a nation grows. How can First Nations grow and prosper if we as First Nations deny citizenship to our children because of who we marry. What other nation on earth does that?”

As far as the Algonquin Land Claim is concerned, the only native “status” community in the territory is the Pikwàkanagàn reserve, which includes about 400 residents and 1500 off reserve members.

All of the other communities, including the Shabot Obaadjiwan, which is based in Sharbot Lake, and the Snimikobe, which also has a number of members in Frontenac County, are “non status” communities in terms of the Indian Act.

Membership criteria in these First Nations is only restricted to “direct descendants” from an individual who is listed on a schedule of names that was developed in 1987.

The schedule, known as “Schedule B”, includes names that were taken from the Algonquin petitions, speeches and Council proceedings that relate to or refer to Algonquin Territory lying in Ontario prior to that time.

Direct descent is a less onerous requirement than blood quantum, and it creates a larger number of people in the Algonquin Nation.

It also does not provide an end of the line and allows for the possibility of a growth in Algonquin population over time.

It does, however, provide for the possibility that people with some pretty tenuous connections to their Algonquin ancestry, perhaps a single great-great grandfather, 1/64 or 1/128 by blood, becoming a beneficiary of the Algonquin Land Claim.

Ultimately the blood quantum criteria and the direct descent criteria each have difficulties associated with them: one is too restrictive and the other may be too open.

These contradictions are not exclusive to the land claims process. Any public discussion that centres on questions of bloodlines and race issues is destined to lead to difficulties, particularly in light of the fact that people in our society are less and less inclined to stay within their own culture when finding a mate.

Recent projections released by Stats Canada say that “visible minorities” will be in the majority in major Canadian cities within 20 years.

It turns out that visible minorities are defined by Stats Canada as “persons who are identified according to the Employment Equity Act as being non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour. Under the Act, Aboriginal persons are not considered to be members of visible minority groups.”

Visible minorities are defined in the report as South Asians, Chinese, Blacks, Filipinos, Arabs and West Asians. Latin Americans, as well as Aboriginals, among others, are not considered visible minorities.

But just as Algonquin communities have seen their “blood quantum” diminish over time, so will all the other ethnic groups in Canada, and around the world.

As societies develop, skin colour and racial backgrounds will inevitably become diminishing issues (at least that is the hope). As we move forward as a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural society that recognizes not only the foreign roots that people have, but the native (Aboriginal) roots as well, racial idiosyncrasies will cease to define anything of importance.

In this context the Land Claim process must be a way of honouring not only the heritage of people who can claim Algonquin roots, but also the cultural legacy of the Algonquins. The genetic connection to the past will inevitably be diluted over time, but the cultural connection need not follow.

Ultimately the success of the Land Claim will be measured not in the amount of money or land or hunting or resource rights that are achieved, nor even in who gets what share of the spoils.

What is at stake in this process, is whether two, three or seven generations down the road there will be any kind of cultural memory of how people lived on this land 500 years ago, what that land meant to them, and how that past can be honoured and what it can teach.

The Algonquin profile in Sharbot Lake, and in the region as a whole, remains fragile even after 20 years of land claims talks and the concerted efforts of numerous people.

If the Shabot Obaadjiwan or the Snimikobe, or the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation (which opposes the land claim for a variety of reasons) are not able to establish themselves as active communities that maintain and foster Algonquin traditions and bring this heritage to the forefront of the local scene, then the Land Claim will be nothing but a legal exercise that expunges Aboriginal rights over this territory forever.

Further information about the land claim can be found at Tanakiwin.com and at http://www.aboriginalaffairs.gov.on.ca/english/negotiate/algonquin/algonquin.asp 

In late April this year a delegation of eight Algonquin chiefs from communities in Quebec appeared at Parliament Hill to present a declaration that was written on a piece of buckskin. The chiefs said they were not making any kind of a land claim; they were just making a statement of fact. "We will not be entering into the current land claim process devised by the government," Grand Chief Lucien Wabanonik said in a statement, "because these lands are ours."

Wabanonik told Newstalk 1010 radio station that the government land claims process is not about recognizing rights but extinguishing them. He did not refer directly to the Ontario Algonquin Land Claim, but the territory that is covered in the statement stretches from Sault St. Marie through North Bay and Ottawa to the City of Montreal, encompassing part, if not all of the lands that are included in the Ontario Algonquin Land Claim.

The Algonquins of Ontario are immersed in land claims negotiaions with the Ontario and Canadian governments and work on an agreement in principle is slated to be completed within a year, as the land claim process reaches its 20th birthday.

The Algonquins of Ontario are represented at the land claims table by the Chief and Council of the Pikwakanagan First Nation an Algonquin Nation Representatives from nine off-reserve Algonquin communities.