Feature Article - September 20, 2007 Feature Article - September 20, 2007

North Frontenac Takes Stand on Uranium Miningby Jule Koch Brison

It came in spite of considerable opposition from Mayor Maguire, but late at Thursday night’s meeting in Harlowe, after almost all the audience had left, North Frontenac Council passed a resolution asking the Province of Ontario to declare a moratorium on uranium exploration and mining.Several people had attended the meeting in hopes of hearing from the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines (MNDM) on the contentious issue of uranium mining. However, the ministry had sent a letter declining council’s invitation to attend the meeting. The letter stated, “Some of the questions [that council had submitted] bear directly on a matter that is before the court and therefore, it would be inappropriate for any party to comment on those.”Council had also received a letter from Mr. & Mrs. Earl Recoskie, property owners on Hwy. 509, next to a proposed uranium exploration and mining site, which said, “We, along with other residents of North Frontenac Township, are withholding our tax payment submissions until Your Honour and each council member makes a stand on whether you support uranium exploration and mining in our area or do not support uranium exploration and mining in our area”. The letter included a picture of the Stanrock Tailings Wall in the Elliot Lake area, and the dead trees close to it. The “wall” is a 30ft. high pile of millions of tons of radioactive mill waste.Mayor Maguire commented, “No taxpayers have the option of not paying taxes without being assessed a penalty... If 3 years pass, the property can be repossessed by the township.” He also said that the letter implied that council was being held to ransom, and, “This council will not be forced into making decisions at any time.”

Maguire was scheduled to give an update on the Ardoch Algonquin First Nations and Allies (AAFNA) later in the meeting, but beyond a comment that their recent Pow Wow was held at the Blues Skies grounds instead of in Plevna, he said he had nothing to report. At that point, most of the audience left.However, at the end of the meeting, after all of the items on the agenda had been dealt with, Councilor Wayne Good brought up the subject of uranium mining.Referring to an article in the Sept. 13 edition of the Frontenac News, which stated that Central Frontenac Council had joined with Lanark Highlands in calling for the Province of Ontario to declare a moratorium on uranium mining and exploration, he said, “It seems like we’re the only ones who aren’t doing anything about this. If everybody is prepared to take a stand, we should be doing something.” He went on to state that he was concerned about the effects of uranium exploration on subsurface water but he had seen no mention of that in any reports – “they just talk about global warming.” He said that although at first the idea of a mine bringing jobs into the area seemed attractive, he changed his mind because of concerns about the bad effects of uranium exploration and mining. He said he was hoping to get more information from the MNDM but guessed they had been told by their superiors not to come. “What are they hiding?” he asked.Councilor Wayne Cole said that he supported Wayne Good’s position. Cole said that while he didn’t support AAFNA’s occupation of private property [at the Robertsville Mine], he supported what they were trying to do in stopping uranium mining. He said that the issue should be resolved at the provincial government level, a comment that was later echoed by Deputy Mayor Jim Beam.

Mayor Maguire stated that it would be premature for council to take a position now and that if council wanted to vote on the issue he would abstain. He said that he has heard from a lot of people who feel that uranium mining is safe and it would be a good thing for the township, “We don’t have to rush to form an opinion until we have all the facts….We’re gathering facts”, he saidCouncilor Fred Perry said that with the information he has right now, he would vote against uranium mining.Councilor Bob Olmstead said that he was in favour of uranium mining, and was disappointed when Frontenac Ventures Corporation had to close down their plans for uranium exploration and send the students they had hired home.Deputy Mayor Beam and Councilor Good both expressed regret that they had not brought up the subject earlier in the meeting, when most of the audience was present.Reluctantly, Mayor Maguire then asked for a resolution to be drafted. It stated, “That the Council of the Township of North Frontenac petition the Province of Ontario to declare an immediate moratorium on Uranium Mineral Exploration and Mining”. In a 4 to 2 recorded vote, with Mayor Maguire and Councilor Olmstead voting nay, the motion was passed. Councilor Watkins was absent.

Feature Article - September 27, 2007 Feature Article - September 27, 2007

Let's Talk About the Weatherby Jeff Green

People who live in the Highway 41 corridor in Addington and Highlands and North Frontenac are being given a chance to do something that Canadians are famous for: talking about the weather.

Robert McLeman is a geography professor at the University of Ottawa who has a research interest in the effects of climate change on rural communities. He has looked at the effects of drought in Eastern Oklahoma, and is working on the Eastern Ontario section of a national study on the effects of climate change on agricultural communities.

He also has a personal connection to Addington Highlands from having a cabin on Sheldrake Lake for several years. From that experience he was aware of how dependent tourist operators on the 41 corridor are on snowy winters.

“My interest was piqued last winter,” he said when interviewed by The News. “The weather stayed warm until mid-January and even when the temperature plummeted there was less than normal snow coverage. Knowing from experience how important snowmobiling and ice fishing are to the local economy, I wondered how people were coping.”

He began to think about doing a localised research project. “Most of the studies done thus far about the impacts of climate change have been done on a very broad-based level; very few have come down to the community level where people live,” he said.

Natural Resources Canada took an interest in the project, and contributed some research money.

“We are not just looking at what the weather is doing, but what are the risks that come from the weather, what are the community adaptation needs. For some people it may even be positive, bringing increased mobility in the winter season. These are the things we are looking at.”

In setting up the project, McLeman has established a website, www.addington.uottawa.ca, which explains the project and enables people to relay their own experiences.

He is also organizing public meetings, where people can come out and share their experiences about how the changing weather affects their working lives, and how they are adapting to change. The first of these will take place in Northbrook at the Lions Hall on Wednesday October 10 at 7:00 pm. Everyone is invited. A meeting in Denbigh will be scheduled for later in October.

A database will be compiled as part of the project, and a written report will be produced. All of this information will be made available locally, through the townships and the library.

Letters - September 20, 2007

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Letters - September 20, 2007

Letters

September 20McGuinty the holiday candidate, Brenda SteeleDear fellow residents..., Mavis HiggsIs one judge wise enough?, Helen GomezIs Education on the Platform?, Donna SmithMcGuinty the holiday candidate

Can you believe it? Our ‘esteemed’ leader wants to promise (and I use the term lightly) us a National Holiday if elected. If this is so important, why not introduce it while he’s in power. This is a man who broke every promise he made in the last election and seems to have no remorse about it. We gave him the power and he did nothing with it. Power for the sake of Power.

What about our ailing Health Care System, lack of doctors, environmental issues, the College of Teachers, our aging population and lack of long term care facilities? This is a leader that has only taken the easy way out addressing soft issues and refusing to address the hard issues and show leadership in solving the BIG PROBLEMS.

Dalton, you’d better wake up if you want even the slimmest chance of winning the next election. I, for one, will not be voting for your party again. Once bitten, twice shy.

Not to say that the Conservatives did such a great job during their reign as the following quote indicates: From the news of that era: ". . . PCSocial Services minister David Tsubouchi, overseeing drastic cuts to the province's welfare system, has already infuriated opponents by suggesting welfare recipients could make ends meet by haggling with shopkeepers over tins of tuna. Now he's published a welfare shopping list that includes pasta without sauce, bread without butter, and the elusive 69-cent tuna can."

I know that we are all beginning to feel that all politicians are wolves in sheep’s clothing. Will there ever be anyone that we can trust to keep their political promises after an election.

This is only one person’s opinion, for what it’s worth.

- Brenda Steele

Dear fellow residents, and vistiors to South Frontenac

I think you will agree that we have the privilege of living in a very beautiful part of the province. Every season is special and brings its own unique feast for our eyes.

HOWEVER, there is something that seems to be around all the time: I'm speaking of garbage.... particularly the kind that people throw out of their vehicles: pop cans, plastic bottles, beer bottles, cigarette cartons, an assortment of fast food containers, plastic bags...the list is endless.

I often drive, and sometimes run, and sometimes walk along Holleford Road. It's a stop/start activity...I constantly stop to collect the garbage. It amazes me just how much there is and how quickly it accumulates.

Please: if you have ever thrown something from your vehicle, next time stop and think, and do the sensible thing: take it home and put it in your own garbage. That way we can all enjoy the countryside, and what naturally occurs there, not the garbage. Please share this letter with your family, friends and neighbours.

- Mavis Higgs

Is one judge wise enough?

It strikes me as absolutely ludicrous that one man, albeit a judge, can be the only one to decide the 'monstrous' decision to allow Frontenac Ventures "unfettered access" to the uranium site. Why should our futures and our fate be decided by one man? Who is to say that he is so "wise" as to know what the outcome of such mining will have on the rest of us? Surely this should be a decision made by a wider body of judges or higher court. What of the rights of individuals, and our environment? It seems to me that all along this judge has shown partiality to the company. Does he own shares? All that aside, he has no business, just one man, to hold the fate of the Ottawa Valley water shed in his hands with his decision.Surely, we and our children deserve better than that.

If an unconfirmed meeting took place with the company and the judge, before the injunction was imposed, maybe the company not only has "unfettered" access to the mining site, but "unfettered" access to the judge!

- Helen Gomez

Is education on the platform?

As we are approaching the Provincial Election and Referendum, I find myself thinking on how I will vote. I am looking forward in reading what the campaign platforms are and hoping to catch any debates that they offer to the public.

Is Education on the platform to make things better for our children in our whole province? Our children in the rural areas deserve what city children have and I find that we are excluded in so many ways when the cut-backs happen. Our children are out any support when it comes to after-school busing to join in any programs that are quite needed in our area. We have the volunteers to run the programs, but here we have been cut 50 % on our bus service, which now eliminates 50% of after-school programs. The bus service is only provided for the high school students, so I guess maybe the children from grade JK to 8 are not important. If they are fortunate to join these programs, how will these children get home? We are in a depressed area and there are many low-income families that cannot support the cost of a vehicle. We do not have city buses or taxis, but yet when the school board divvies up the monies, they don’t seem to think about these children. These rural children have rights too and I find it unfair how our system is dictated.

My other concern is that in our area we have been cut 2 E.A. support. I know this has happened all over our province, but I ask, who is losing here? Our children, the ones that will be running our country some day! Many students that are developmentally challenged will be without extra help. It is not their fault that they may learn at a different capacity, but yet is our government expecting them to sit in a classroom and learn the same as other students? Our children have a right to education, and if that means they need extra support, then we as the people of our province need to make sure that happens. Our low income families cannot afford to spend extra on any tutoring.

Why was one of our rural public schools in Lennox and Addington shut down and the children from that school moved to our school? Was our Education Minister mismanaging the money? What happened? We certainly did not see any of the money come to our school to educate these children and provide them with the education they deserve. Yet the Tory party wants to fund all religious schools and there is not even enough money to support our public schools. Schools are for teaching our children, so I would suggest we have a religious study class and teach our children all the different religions of the world and teach them about the poverty and how these children live in other countries and how they get educated. One thing I do know is that our property taxes doubled in the past few years and a certain percentage is supposed to go to education. The money going to the schools did not double, so where has all the money gone? All I know is that we got cut!

I’ve also been thinking about the referendum regarding the way we are going to vote. I do believe there should be change, but we the people should vote for the List candidate members like we do for the local candidates, based on past performances and election platforms. Will we be offered a list of names with their credentials? We need to be able to make a good choice based on their past achievements; what did they do for our province? As it stands, we are asked to make a choice:

1. The party that gets the most votes and becomes the party in power can decide whom they want to run in office, or

2. Before the election, the political parties prepare an ordered list of candidates they would like considered as List Members.

Look at your referendum voter’s card - do you really see us making the choice? We need to make the choice and keep it out of the party’s hands! Thank you.

- Donna Smith

Feature Article - September 27, 2007 Feature Article - September 27, 2007

An Ontario Referendum, Are We Planning to Separate?by Wima Kenny

For the first time in 83 years, Ontario voters will be facing a provincial referendum question on their October 10 ballot, and this time it won’t be about alcohol, as all the previous ones have been. This one’s asking us to consider a change in our electoral system.

Unfortunately, little information has been easily available until very recently and most voters are puzzled.

What’s a Referendum?

A provincial referendum is a new experience for all of us who are younger than 104. It’s an opportunity for every person of voting age to express their opinion on a matter considered of importance to all.

What’s the Question?

This is the wording of the referendum question:

Which electoral system should Ontario use to elect members to the provincial legislature?

* The existing electoral system (First-Past-the-Post)?

*The alternate electoral system proposed by the Citizens’ Assembly (Mixed Member Proportional)?

Whose Idea Was This?

Contrary to one e-mail I received recently, this is not a plot hatched by feminists and homosexuals to destroy family values. (I’m not making this up: I really did get that e-mail!)

In March 2006, at the direction of the Provincial Government, Elections Ontario created a Citizens' Assembly to examine our electoral system and recommend whether we should keep it or adopt a different one. To form the Assembly, one citizen was selected at random from each of Ontario's 103 electoral districts. (Dianne Carey of Inverary represented our riding.) They met under the chairmanship of Judge George Thomson, were independent of government influence, and did not represent any political party. Between Sept 06 and April 07, they studied the various ways worldwide that votes are translated into seats in a legislature, listened to experts, politicians and ordinary citizens, and after much consideration arrived at the following recommendation:"We, the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform, recommend a new way to vote that builds on the province’s traditions and reflects the values that we believe are important to Ontarians. The Assembly recommends that Ontario adopt a Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system, specifically designed to meet the unique needs of Ontario."

Why Change the Present System?

In our present system, the candidate with the most votes wins. When three or more parties are running candidates in a riding, the representative elected frequently is not chosen by the majority of the voters. (Candidate A gets 40 votes, B gets 35, and C gets 25: A wins, although only 40 people voted for him or her, and 60 people voted for someone else.) This is what "first-past-the-post" means: the one with the most votes wins.

A political party may not be given the chance to speak for people who supported it. (The party that candidate C represents may have received several hundred thousand votes across the province, yet have few if any members in parliament.) Therefore, voters often face the dilemma of whether to vote for a person or a party. The person you want as your representative in government may not belong to the party you would like to see in power, or to the party that has traditionally won in your riding. The MMP system is intended to address these problems by giving voters greater choice, fairer election results, and stronger representation.

How Does the Mixed Member Proportional System Work?

In brief, a Mixed Member Proportional system (MMP) combines members elected in local districts in the usual manner, and members elected for the whole province from party lists drawn up by each party (in proportion to votes received) to serve as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) in the legislature. This combination produces proportional election results that better reflect the wishes of voters. More detail next week about how this might be done.

Where Can I Get More Information Right Now?

By telephone (toll free): 1-800-ONT-VOTE : 1-800-668-8683, weekdays, 8am-9pm and weekends 9-9, to speak to a live person, or by computer: www.yourbigdecision.ca , or, if you want a reply to a specific question, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Feature Article - September 27, 2007 Feature Article - September 27, 2007

Candidates Face the Publicby Jeff Green

Ross Sutherland, NDP; Randy Hiller, PC; Ian Wilson, Liberal; Rolly Montpellier, Green

A crowd of about 125 people filled the gym at Prince Charles Public School in Verona on an unseasonably warm night this week to hear from four candidates who hope to represent Lanark Frontenac Lennox and Addington after the provincial election on October 10.

Randy Hillier from the Conservative Party, Rolly Montpellier from the Green Party, Ross Sutherland from the New Democratic Party, and Ian Wilson from the Liberal Party faced questions about issues such as health care, education, and municipal downloading that have dominated the provincial campaign, and some local hot button issues such as uranium exploration, mining rights and the challenge of serving a geographically large riding.

True to the form they have exhibited throughout the campaign, the representatives from the two largest parties, Ian Wilson and Randy Hillier, presented their contrasting styles. Hillier described many of the problems facing the government as stemming from a Toronto-centred government that is controlled by a bloated bureaucracy.

“There isn’t a bureaucracy that can stand up to the pressure I can exert,” he said at one point.

Wilson presents himself as a more co-operative politician, bent on continuing the incremental reforms his party has been instituting over the past four years.

The largest single number of questions in the debate centred around health care, which is a topic where both Ross Sutherland, a nurse from Hotel Dieu Hospital, and Ian Wilson, the former chair of the Board at Kingston General Hospital, have considerable experience.

Sutherland characterized privatization of health care delivery under both the Liberal and Conservative parties as being a major source of service cuts, specifically in the area of rural homecare in Frontenac County.

Wilson, on the other hand, cited the development of the Local Health Integration Network, and infrastructure improvements that are coming on stream.

Randy Hillier used Kingston General Hospital as an example of bureaucratic overspending leading to insufficient services to patients. He pointed to the back page of the hospital’s annual report, which lists “KGH leaders”. Hiller said there are “Three hundred and seventy five members of various boards listed on this page. Three hundred and seven people run the Province of Ontario, but we need 375 people to run Kingston General Hospital. If we cut some of these people, there would be more money for rural health services.”

(About half of the people listed on the page Randy Hiller referred to are listed under the heading of “KGH Governors”, and that list includes MP Peter Milliken, former Provincial Conservative candidate Barry Gordon, Conservative senator Hugh Segal, and Kingston Mayor Harvey Rosen. Included as well are the 22 members of the hospital’s Board of Governors, and 19 members of the KGH Foundation.)

The liveliest of the evening’s exchanges revolved around uranium exploration and the ongoing occupation at the Robertsville mine.

Ian Wilson said he thought that mining rights should be extinguished in the riding as a solution to the problem, because it is not a use “that is consistent with the enjoyment of the land that we all cherish.” Both Ross Sutherland and Rolly Montpellier expressed support for the Aboriginal occupation, and both supported a moratorium on uranium exploration and mining, which is what the Algonquins are demanding.

Randy Hillier pointed out the municipal councils all want a moratorium on uranium exploration and mining, and said it is time the wishes of “local people are given more weight than those of people who don’t live in the area.”

However, he expressed strong opposition to the occupation, because it is on private land. “We can’t sit back as people take over other people’s property, people’s houses, people’s businesses,” he said.

Feature Article - September 13, 2007

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Feature Article - September 13, 2007

Central Frontenac Calls for a Moratorium on Uranium Explorationby Jeff Green

Central Frontenac has joined with Lanark Highlands in asking the Province of Ontario to declare “an immediate moratorium on uranium mineral exploration and mining in eastern Ontario”.

The issue has been brought to the fore over the past few months by the Ardoch and Shabot Obaadjiwaan First Nations, and by a group called Concerned Citizens Against Uranium Mining (CCAMU). They are concerned that uranium exploration in Central and North Frontenac, and the unlikely possibility of uranium mining in Frontenac County represent an environmental threat to air and water quality in the county and downstream.

“When you consider how careful the government is in regards to our Official Plan, and the kinds of demands we make on people who want to do any kind of industrial work in our township, such as the concrete operation we talked about tonight, it is hard to understand that uranium exploration can be done without any regulation at all,” said Mayor Janet Gutowski in arguing for the motion.

Council also wants surface and subsurface rights to be united so that unwitting property owners would no longer be subject to mineral staking and exploration on their land without their permission.

Council approved the following motion: “That the Council of the Township of Central Frontenac petition the Province of Ontario to declare an immediate moratorium on Uranium Mineral Exploration and Mining so that issues related to “surface rights only”, the environment, health concerns related to uranium mining and native land claims can be addressed in a coordinated and comprehensive manner and further;

That the Province of Ontario proceed in a timely manner with a comprehensive Public Review of the Mining Act, including the combining of surface and mineral rights.”

Councillor Bob Harvey said that, “a big majority of people say that uranium is needed, and much of what people are saying about uranium is groundless.”

He was the only councillor who opposed the motion.

The Ontario Mining Act has been the subject of a recent review by the Minister’s Mining Act Advisory Committee, which has led to a package of reforms that have just cleared the Environmental Bill of Rights Process and is working its way to the Ontario Legislature.

It includes reforms to the way exploration companies must deal with surface rights owners but stops short of uniting surface and subsurface rights.

Feature Article - August 23, 2007.class { BORDER-RIGHT: black 1pt solid; BORDER-TOP: #000 1pt solid; BORDER-LEFT: black 1pt solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: black 1pt solid } .class1 { BORDER-RIGHT: #9f5128 1pt solid; BORDER-TOP: #9f5128 1pt solid; BORDER-LEFT: #9f5128 1pt solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #9f5128 1pt solid } .class2 { FONT-SIZE: 8pt; COLOR: #666 }

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Feature Article - September 6, 2007 Anti-uranium exploration activities entering a new phase

by Jeff Green

It has been more than interesting to watch the politics that have developed around uranium exploration in North and Central Frontenac over the past year.

It all started for us at the Frontenac News early in the summer of last year, when we received an email about a large number of mining stakes in Palmerston and Oso (the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines still uses pre-amalgamation boundaries).

It turned out that most of the claims were being staked for Frontenac Ventures Corporation, and just as had been the case in the 1980s and earlier, the mineral of interest was uranium.

A small item in the Frontenac News in mid-July (’06) brought little or no public response.

At the time the Ardoch Algonquins were heavily involved in cutting and clearing land for heir controversial Pow Wow grounds on Pine Lake. When informed about the staking, Ardoch co-chief Randy Cota just said, “It’ll never happen. We won’t let it. Those are Algonquin lands”

In the fall of last year, Gloria and Frank Morrison found out that their property had been staked, and they began to research and publicize their concerns about the issue of surface and subsurface mineral rights.

Three concurrent issues were coming together: uranium exploration, surface/subsurface rights, and Algonquin territorial claims.

Frank and Gloria Morrison were not the first people in recent years to find their property has been staked against their wishes, but they showed tremendous zeal in fighting their predicament, bringing it to the attention of he national media

Gloria was a lead interview on As It Happens in February this year, leading the program to a week-long exposition on mining rights on private lands. Frank was the subject of a feature article in the Ottawa Citizen and a five-minute news report on CBC Ottawa television later on.

On Good Friday, a group of property owners from the Snow Road area called a public meeting to discuss mineral staking in the area, and to begin talking about the impacts of uranium exploration, and uranium mining on the surrounding region.

People at that meeting included two members of the Shabot Obaadjiwaan First Nation, several township mayors and councillors from the surrounding region, PC provincial candidate Randy Hillier, and Mark Burnham, the chair of the Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority.

Meanwhile, Frontenac Ventures Corporation had begun their program of exploration for 2007. A series of data-gathering flights over the 30,000 acres of claims the company has secured took place in April and May. Work also progressed, using Gemmil’s Construction from Snow Road, on widening an access road from the Robertsville mine and Crotch Lake, and hiring, including local hiring, was taking place.

The company was looking to secure a drill, and by early June plans to commence a $2 million, two-year core drilling program were made. Their intention, in the short term, was to duplicate core-drilling results from the 1970s, which would enable them to take their claim public by listing it on the Toronto Stock Exhange this October.

Meanwhile, the Ardoch Algonquins had been discussing the situation at their monthly meetings, and began talking with the members of an anti-uranium group that was being formed at the time. They were also forging an alliance with the Shabot Obaadjiwaan First Nation over a joint response. This alliance represents a big change in the relationship between the leadership of the two communities, which have been dominated for years by a profound disagreement over the conduct of land claims negotiations.

In early June, the Ardoch Algonquins sent a letter to Frontenac Ventures Corporation, telling the company to leave their leased headquarters at the Robertsville mine by June 28. In effect, the letter constituted an assertion of sovereignty over the mine, which is a privately held parcel of land, and over the 30,000 acres for which Frontenac Ventures possess mineral rights.

Frontenac Ventures Corporation, in consultation with the OPP, decided to vacate the premises before the 28th.

At the time, company President George White was under the impression that he was merely keeping his people away from the site during the Aboriginal days of protest, and they would be returning after the July 1st long weekend.

But the Ardoch Algonquins had no intention of leaving, and when they arrived at the Robertsville Mine on June 28, they were joined by Chief Doreen Davis and other members of the Shabot Obaadjiwaan First Nation, and non-aboriginal anti-uranium activists who were prepared to take a supporting role for an occupation that will be ten weeks old this Thursday.

Their intention was clear; they were committed to stopping uranium exploration on what they consider their traditional lands.

Phase 2 Frontenac Ventures seeks relief from the courts

Soon after the beginning of the Algonquin occupation of the Robertsville mine two things became clear: the Ardoch and Shabot Obaadjiwaan Algonquins were united, and the OPP was not interested in stopping the occupation.

The OPP attitude surprised Frontenac Ventures Corporation and Peter Jorgensen, the owner of the mine, who found he had no access to his own property.

The Algonquins were equally surprised. On Tuesday morning, July 3, the first business day after the beginning of the occupation, all of the children that had been on site during the weekend were gone. A dozen warriors, some of them from other First Nations, decked out in bandanas and camouflage, took up a line at the edge of Highway 509, as a show of force against any attempts by the police to infiltrate.

The OPP, who at that time and since have maintained a visible presence, with four vehicles located along Road 509, never approached.

Two weeks later, Frontenac Ventures met with members of the two First Nations and the non-aboriginal anti-uranium activists to begin consultations.

Lawyers for the Algonquins and the company wrangled over what “meaningful consultation” is. A week later, Frontenac Ventures levied a $77 million lawsuit against the two communities, and persons un-named. The suit now includes the Province of Ontario.

When the suit was brought to court a few days later, on July 30, a three-day hearing took place on a motion to adjourn. On August 15, Judge Thomson ordered all parties off the land until a formal hearing on a company motion for an interim injunction could be set up.

The Algonquins did not leave, and the OPP did not act to make them leave.

A further meeting with Judge Thomson took place on August 23. The Algonquins had already said they would no longer participate in the injunction proceedings, calling the situation a political matter that should be addressed by the provincial government and not the courts. The OPP lawyer was non-committal when Thomson asked why the force had not acted. He implied that the order did not clearly stipulate what they must do.

On August 27, Judge Thomson released a new order, this time ordering all protestors off the land, granting “unfettered access” to the company, and authorizing the police to act.

On the morning of August 31, Provincial Ministers Rick Bartollucci (Mines and Niorthern Development) and David Ramsay (Natural Resources and Aboriginal Affairs) finally responded to a request for a meeting that had been sent to them by the Algonquins on June 14. The letter offered to continue consultation between the communities and Mines and Northern Development, saying meetings could begin as soon as September 10. On the afternoon of Friday, August 31, Judge Thomson’s order was formally served.

What Now?

Everyone is waiting for the OPP to decide on their next course of action. They could arrest everyone at the site in the next few days, risking confrontation and the arrival of outside activists, both aboriginal and non-aboriginal

All of the people on site thus far have made a commitment to non-violence, but the Algonquin leaders have said they cannot control people that may come to the scene later on.

The OPP may also ask all of the protesters to leave, but stop short of arresting anyone, perhaps incurring the wrath of the courts.

They could also seize on the decision of the provincial government to meet with the Algonquins for the first time, and say they don’t want to jeopardise that process by acting.

This would undoubtedly lead Frontenac Ventures Corporation to ask that the OPP be charged with contempt of court for not enforcing a judge’s order.

Then again, the company may have done so already.

The protesters at the Robertsville mine have now forged a firm three-way alliance. They are all anti-uranium activists, aboriginal and settler alike. They have different pasts, but they share a common cause and a may share a common fate.

There is another group of people who have had no voice throughout this process: those in the community who support the mining exploration, either for reasons of their own interest or because they see at as something that could bring benefits and would not likely bring environmental harm. They have remained quiet throughout the past two months, fearing perhaps they would be labelled anti-environmental or anti-aboriginal. The tension felt by some of these people has surfaced a few times over the summer and in recent days.

Feature Article - October 25, 2007 - October 25, 2007 Plevna and Area HauntingsBy Katie OhlkeAn artistic impression of the Weber House.

Many strange occurrences happen within and without our village homes. Several people will speak confidentially about the mysterious presences and activities that happen when they least expect it. Some of these "happenings" are figments of over-active imaginations, while others, are too real and poignant to dispute.

Ghost lore states that spirits attach themselves to properties and objects. Not all spirits are evil and some can be quite mischievous, hiding objects and returning them later in unlikely places. The following are some accounts of local experiences. Read on if you dare!

The first story surrounds the notorious Deacon murder of local legend. Thomas Deacon is said to have poisoned his sickly wife with strychnine in order to pursue a new love interest. He was caught and housed temporarily in the now Manion Hen house. This happened in 1870. Deacon was found guilty and later hanged for his crime. However, he is not the centre of the haunting; Mrs Deacon is! Old timers will tell you if you see a flickering, floating "orb-like" light bouncing out in the field or near the edge of the yard, you have just witnessed Mrs Deacon. A non-threatening spirit, she appears briefly and rarely - and never during firefly season.

Our second tale revolves around a house still inhabited by its former and deceased owner. While this senior gentleman still roams his homestead, he brings with him familiar smells of whisky and strong cologne; aromas he had during his lifetime. A friendly chap, he makes his presence known by smells appearing and then disappearing as he leaves again.

Other residents report the nighttime baking smells, which awaken them from sleep. The general feeling is one of well-being and it is reported that they often go back to sleep feeling content that nothing is amiss. There is a medical condition known as "olfactory hallucinations" for the science minded, but those who spoke to the News were quite convinced of the authenticity of their experiences.

Sounds play the main role in the next hauntings: some people hear old time music from the cellar, while others hear distant voices that cannot be heard clearly. An old tale from the 1920s tells of the old Weber farm house, where phantom sleigh bells could often be heard in the early hours of the morning, without a live horse and cutter passing the house.

Mischievous ghosts have been known to play tricks on local residents, hiding items only to return them later in unexpected places. Of those who spoke to the paper, they seemed content to wait for the inevitable return of missing items. These happenings were not considered frightening, merely inconvenient.

Lastly, but most extraordinary, those who see ghosts, or very pale translucent people, to be politically correct. Numerous sightings report phantom-like visions in period clothing (1900s or 1930s) from the waist up. This may be due to the fact that people who see a translucent being in their home are not going to be checking out the shoes of the visitor, and consequently only register the top half of the guest.

The Plevna area is one with a rich past filled with powerful personalities, past and present. No one interviewed in this article wished to be named, call it taboo - pun intended. The general agreement was that the area contained no malicious hauntings, or any that the interviewees had experienced. The question remains, is it fact or imagination? You decide. Happy All Hallows Eve.

Letters - October 18, 2007

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Letters - October 18, 2007

Letters

October 11 Why There Shouldn't be a Uranium Mine, Devin Kohl Why There Shouldn't be a Uranium Mine

When Frontenac Ventures staked a claim on the land for a uranium mine near Sharbot Lake, it started a major protest on the site. This made me think about the impacts it would have on the community. I believe there shouldn’t be a uranium mine in our community or in any community because: it creates conflict in the community; it harms people’s health; it contaminates the environment and there are alternative energy sources that we need to develop that are not harmful.

If anyone has read a newspaper in the last few weeks, they would have realized that the uranium mine has caused a lot of conflict in local communities. Two months ago the mining company called Frontenac Ventures staked a claim on crown land. The conflict is that the Algonquin people claim it’s their land and the company has no right to be there. It’s become a huge battle because many people are helping the Algonquin to protest the mine. The Algonquin don’t want the mine there because they are worried that it will harm people’s health and contaminate the land and water.

It’s good to know a bit about uranium mining in order to understand why people are concerned. Uranium ore is dug from the ground in open pit mines, and then shipped to where it is going to be processed and used in nuclear reactors to make energy and in nuclear weapons. Uranium mining is one of the most dangerous kinds of mining there is. It’s dangerous because the uranium is radioactive and can escape into the air, water and soil and it takes millions of years to break down and become non harmful.

Atomic radiation can cause serious health issues such as severe burns, anemia, cataracts, cancer, leukemia, damage to unborn babies, and damage to the human reproductive system. From the mining of the uranium to the manufacturing of nuclear power and nuclear weapons, workers are at great risk of being exposed to radiation.

One of the most dangerous parts of the uranium mining process is the leftover waste called tailings. The tailings are the large amounts of excess pulverized rock that are separated from the uranium ore. It takes about one ton of ore to get two pounds of uranium. The tailings contain 85% of the original radioactivity of the ore. In Canada we have over 150 000 000 tons of tailings, most of it exposed to the wind and rain. Radioactive tailings can leach into the water and get released into the air. When it’s airborne, it can travel 1 000 miles in a few days with a light breeze.

There are other ways to get energy instead of using uranium or nuclear power that harms the environment and people’s health. The other ways you can get energy without harming the environment are by conserving energy, energy efficiency and using hydro, wind and solar power.

Now remember, uranium mining and nuclear energy can create conflict in communities, can harm people’s health, and can contaminate the environment. There are alternative energy sources that don’t cause these problems. We should use these instead!

- Devin Kohl, Grade 8, Perth

Feature Article - October 18, 2007 Feature Article - October 18, 2007

Community Supports Deliver Vital Servicesby Jeff Green

Only a government could come up with a title like Community Support Services, which doesn’t capture any of the flavour of the impact that diners programs, meals on wheels, respite services, and visiting programs have on the lives of people in rural communities.

Community supports are a basket of services that help seniors keep on living where they belong - at home with their families and neighbours. In Frontenac County and Addington Highlands there are three community-run agencies that deliver these services: Rural VISIONS which covers most of South Frontenac; Northern Frontenac Community Services, which covers part of South, all of Central, and most of North Frontenac; and Land o’ Lakes Community Services, which covers Addington Highlands and part of North Frontenac.

The programs offered by these organizations vary, but they are all available to help as people get into difficulties through illness or aging.

One such person is Carol Southall of Miller Lake near Parham. Carol and her husband George built a log home in the late 1980s, and they lived part-time in Kingston and part-time in the country until a few years ago, when it became too much work to maintain two households, and they became full time residents of Central Frontenac.

Carol had developed Parkinson’s disease in the late 1990s, and she says she “has been fortunate that it has been more or less controlled by drugs”.

The Southalls ran into difficulties when George began to have seizures and display symptoms of dementia. “I believe it all started when he sustained a head injury after a car accident in 2002,” Carol said, when interviewed from her home.

The stress of caring for George began to take its toll on Carol, and she began to realise that she was having trouble coping. “I’m not sure how the initial contact came about with Northern Frontenac Community Services, but it was either Candace Bertrim or Catherine Tysick who came out and talked to me about what services they could offer”.

Like many independent minded seniors, Carol Southall did not want to think she needed much in the way of support. But as George’s condition worsened and her health was compromised, she took advantage of meals on wheels, respite services, and some support with housework, and occasionally, transportation as well.

“I only got the service that I needed. Occasionally they pushed me, in a gentle way, to get more service, and it was always very appropriate,” Carol said.

By the middle of this year, it became clear that George could not stay at home any more, and he was placed in the Trillium Home in Kingston. He is moving to Fairmount Home this week.

“I was upset when George went into long term care. I was devastated.” The support that Carol received at that time took on a different focus.

“It became a bit personal,” she recalls.

As Carol adjusts to George being in long-term care, the support she is receiving has changed as well. She has a “Lifeline”, which gives her a button to press if she is in distress, and triggers a phone call to a neighbour to check her condition. Carol also gets help with housework at a subsidised rate.

Funding to support the services offered under the umbrella of community support services comes from the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care. For the past couple of years the ministry has been developing a new way to administer its funding, through Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs).

The LHIN in this region has made it clear they are interested in supporting agencies that provide a wide range of services and that work co-operatively with other agencies.

“This is the way we have always worked in the rural area,” said Beth Freeland of the Rural VISIONS Centre in Sydenham.

Rural VISIONS provides 12 different services that are funded by the LHINs, aimed at seniors and disabled adults. Volunteers are critical to the delivery of many of the services that Rural VISIONS offers, and the recipients pay fees for some of them as well, such as meals on wheels, transportation, home help, and foot care services.

Rural VISIONS does a lot of fundraising to keep its services up and running, because funding always seems to lag behind the need for service.

In developing plans for the future, Rural VISIONS has done a study of the people who use their community support services. The average age is 74; 71% of the people are women, and they suffer from a number of health problems: 33% have hypertension, 20% are diabetic, 20% are arthritic, 14% have heart conditions, 6% have cancer, 6% have had strokes, and 6% have breathing difficulties.

This breakdown demonstrates how community supports relate to the healthcare system as a whole. In recognition of the cost savings realised by keeping people in their homes and out of hospital or long term care, the Ontario government committed $700 million in new funding to community support services.

But neither Beth Freeland from Rural VISIONS nor Susan Andrew-Allen from Land O’ Lakes Community Services are out spending any new money just yet. They’ve heard about funding increases before but must continue to scrimp and save in order to keep serving their communities. They both expect that some of the new funding will be tied up in the restructuring that came along with the LHINs.

Land O’ Lakes Community Services, based in Northbrook, provides nine community support programs. In most cases agency staff co-ordinate the work of volunteers, who deliver the programs.

“We have volunteers cooking for our diners program, volunteers delivering meals on wheels, and we have a volunteer hospice program,” Susan Andrew-Allen said. “We do a lot with the little funding that we receive.”

When asked what her first priority would be if extra funding were made available, Andrew-Allen did not hesitate: “Transportation, that’s where the need is greatest. A lot of people have hospital appointments in Kingston or Belleville, and they can’t afford to get there,” she said.

Beth Freeland took a bit of time when asked how she would spend extra money, if some were forthcoming.

“We need more space for programming,” she said, “and money for transportation.” She also mentioned the social recreation programs that Rural VISIONS is offering, such as Tai Chi and Sittercise programs. “These are specialized recreation programs to help address hypertension and diabetes, and we would like to solidify and expand them.”