Peterborough city council urges provincial government to suspend uranium exploration in the province

BRENDAN WEDLEY

City council called Monday night for the province to suspend uranium exploration — the same day the provincial government announced it would build two new nuclear reactors at its Darlington station.

John Kittle, with the Community Coalition Against Mining Uranium, urged council to pass the resolution calling for the moratorium.

Allowing mining companies to explore for uranium in Ontario watersheds is a recipe for disaster, Kittle said.

“They’re not good neighbours,” he said. “The province should treat uranium as a high priority special case.

“We need to make it crystal clear to the province that we don’t want this.”

In addition to the environmental impacts, Kittle said the mining legislation allows companies to stake claims without permission from property owners or municipalities.

“It’s a throwback to the Wild West days and it’s still on the books,” he said of the legislation. “The McGuinty Liberals are determined to allow uranium exploration in Ontario.”

Council unanimously approved the resolution to ask the province for a moratorium untilall environmental and health issues related to uranium mining are resolved.

The gallery erupted with applause after the vote.

Full Story: Peterborough Examiner

Queen's Park to Grassy Narrows: Organizing to win

"I heard it on the television/ All the talking politicians/ Words are easy, words are cheap/ Much cheaper than our priceless land/ But promises can disappear/ Just like writing in the sand/" – Australian musician Yothu Yindi.

For years, every level of Canadian government has made assurances to the First Nations – most never carried out. But in just a couple weeks, we've seen amazing gains for First Nations communities in Ontario. Leaders have been freed from jail. The third largest logging company in North America has been driven away by resistance from the First Nations community that stakes claim on that land. Finally, diverse communities, organizations and individuals who have been hesitant to work together in the past are working hand-in-hand for Native land rights.

Carmelle Wolfsonrabble.ca

Seven aboriginal protesters granted release by Ontario Appeal Court

May 28, 2008 - 6:28 pm

By: Tobi Cohen, THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO - Moments after the Ontario Court of Appeal decided he'd served enough time behind bars, the last of seven aboriginal protesters jailed over disputes with mining exploration companies walked out of court saying he planned to stroll barefoot in the grass.

The overcrowded courtroom, filled mostly with aboriginal supporters, burst into applause and even a court police officer shook the hand of Ardoch Algonquin First Nation's leader Bob Lovelace who spent 3 1/2 months in jail.

"It feels really good. It feels like justice is on our side," Lovelace said on the front steps of the courthouse, his wife by his side.

"I think I'm going to go out and put my feet in the grass. It's been a long time."

The eastern Ontario aboriginal leader was jailed in February for breaching an injunction that allowed Frontenac Ventures to conduct uranium exploration activities on his community's traditional territory unhindered.

While the ruling does nothing to resolve the dispute, Lovelace said he hoped this "exercise" would prompt the Ontario government to engage in "meaningful" discussion and consultation on the matter which ultimately comes down to an archaic Mining Act that allows companies to stake land anywhere they like.

But Lovelace cautioned he must "continue to protect our land," meaning he may be forced to occupy the disputed territory again if the company decides to proceed with exploration activities - a situation that could land him back in jail.

The court also decided six leaders from Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation had served enough time and ought to maintain their freedom.

They had breached a similar injunction involving the company Platinex Inc., which sought to drill on their land some 600 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, Ont.

Chief Donny Morris, deputy KI chief Jack McKay and members Sam McKay, Darryl Sainnawap, Cecilia Begg and Bruce Sakakeep were granted a temporary release last Friday pending the outcome of Wednesday's sentence appeal.

Chris Reid, a lawyer representing the two aboriginal groups, argued aboriginal law dictates the leadership must uphold the wishes of their community, which in this case, is to stop companies from engaging in mining exploration on their land.

"This is not an isolated case," Reid said. "It's something that's going to occur again and again."

He suggested the aboriginal groups are prepared to discuss the matter, but want the right to say no if they don't like what they hear.

The Appeal Court judges ruled that all seven would have their sentences reduced to time served but reserved their reasons for the ruling.

While lawyers representing the two companies supported the release of the KI 6, they contested Lovelace's release, suggesting he had only to agree to abide by the rules of the injunction.

Lawyer Neal Smitheman argued Lovelace's non-status band had a weak claim to the contested land in the first place which makes it a much different case than that of the KI 6.

Another group of Algonquins have been negotiating a land claim that includes the Ardoch territory for more than a decade but negotiations have "failed miserably," he added.

He suggested it's really a matter for the province to resolve, not the mining companies.

"This is not Frontenac's fight. We are not the villains. We are the victim," he said.

"We're just obeying the law."

As for the KI appeal, Smitheman told the court he was "instructed" by Platinex not to oppose it.

"It does not serve any purpose to keep the leaders of KI incarcerated," he argued.

The groups have repeatedly slammed the province for doing nothing on the matter. Aboriginal Affairs Minister Michael Bryant even walked out of a meeting Tuesday with the KI 6 when the conversation turned to Lovelace's fate, Reid said.

Still, the province's lawyer Malliha Wilson, surprised everyone when she spoke out in support of freeing all seven protesters.

She also sparked a waved of laughter and much confusion among the three-judge panel when she suggested a more appropriate punishment than jail would have been to fine them and direct the money to a trust fund to support their communities.

One judge noted the province's original position was to "impose a fine that hurts," and questioned the sudden change in language which was now promoting reconciliation.

"The words 'hurt' and 'reconciliation' are total opposites," Justice James MacPherson said.

Platinex Commences Lawsuit Against Ontario Government

CNW Group Portfolio E-Mail

PLATINEX INC.

Transmitted by CNW Group on : May 22, 2008 10:55

Platinex Commences Lawsuit Against Ontario Government

TORONTO, May 22 /CNW/ - Platinex Inc. (TSX Venture: PTX) today announced
that it had commenced a lawsuit against the Government of Ontario claiming
$50 million of general damages, $20 million of special damages, plus
interest
and costs. The lawsuit arises out of its mining claims in the Big Trout Lake
area. Platinex has been unable to gain access to its mining claims because
of
actions by Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug ("KI").
Platinex claims that Ontario failed to discharge its obligation to
consult KI and that it breached its duty to warn Platinex that it would not
enforce the rule of law around the Platinex mining claims. Platinex has
suffered substantial wasted expenditures and economic harm as a result of
not
being able to access its mining claims.

James Trusler, President and CEO of Platinex, stated, "We felt we had no
choice but to file this lawsuit. Our exhaustive efforts in consultation with
KI over nine years have been rejected by KI despite landmark Supreme Court
rulings which have determined that a First Nation does not have a veto and
also despite recommendations of the recent Ipperwash inquiry. Our court
ordered access to the mining claims has not been enforced."

In addition to the pursuit of access to and exploration of the Big Trout
Lake property, Platinex intends to focus its future exploration efforts on
other areas. On April 22, 2008, Platinex announced that it had staked claims
in Ontario at North McFauld's Lake, South McFauld's Lake, Norton Lake,
Awkward Lake, Core Zone and Tib Lake. Platinex also announced that it had
acquired an option on claims in Churchill, MacMurchy and Asquith Townships,
in
Ontario. Additionally, on March 3, 2008, Platinex announced that it had
staked
claims on the Muskox Intrusion, in Nunavut Territory.

About Platinex Inc.

Platinex is a Canadian exploration company based near Toronto. Platinex
focuses on carefully selected Platinum Group Element targets in settings
analogous to the JM reef (Stillwater Complex, Montana) and the Merensky and
UG2 reefs (Bushveld Complex, RSA). Platinex is determined to find platinum
sources to be used in the campaign to eliminate the threat of global
warming.
Platinex also focuses on opportunistic acquisitions in non-PGE projects
which
show promise of near term improvement in value. Shares of Platinex are
listed
for trading on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol PTX.

Press Release: KI 6 to be Released Today, Bob Lovelace to Remain Incarcerated

Subject: Press Release: KI 6 to be Released Today, Bob Lovelace to Remain Incarcerated

A motion was heard today in Toronto asking for the immediate release of
political prisoners Bob Lovelace, and the KI 6 pending the appeal of the
sentencing for contempt which will be heard on Wednesday May 28.

Members of KI will be released today because Platinex, the platinum
exploration company operating within their lands prior to the blockade,
agreed to no drilling during this week leading up to the appeal.
Frontenac Ventures, on the other hand, refused to make a similar
guarantee to refrain from exploration work in Algonquin territory. Such
a gesture would have allowed Bob Lovelace to be released pending the
appeal under the same circumstances as KI leaders and council members.
Bob Lovelace, therefore is to remain incarcerated and will be
transported to the appeal hearing on Wednesday.

For more information on what transpired in court today, contact Chris
Reid who is legal council for both Ardoch First Nation and KI.

He can be reached at 1-416-466-9928 or lawreid@aol.com

Prepare for road, rail blockades on May 29: Mohawk activist

OTTAWA — The Mohawk protester who helped shut down a stretch of Ontario's
busiest highway last June says Canadians can expect more disruption on May
29.

That's the date chiefs across the country have circled for another day of
peaceful demonstration to push for urgent action on native poverty. Shawn
Brant, who led highway and railroad blockades near Kingston, Ont., last
June, says placard-waving won't cut it.

(Full article at: http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5heaq8ApZNXF-Etl1d06u9TkSZnzw)

Mine opponents petition Leal

By FIONA ISAACSON
Peterborough Examiner

More than 35 people presented a petition to Peterborough MPP Jeff Leal yesterday morning protesting uranium mining operations in Sharbot Lake and the treatment of Trent University professor Paula Sherman and her colleague Robert Lovelace.

About 740 signatures were presented to Leal. Protesters gathered out front Leal's office with signs to raise awareness.

Sherman, co-chief of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation and Trent professor, and Lovelace, a spokesman for Ardoch, aboriginal affairs counsellor at Fleming College and professor at Queen's University, got six months in jail for contempt of court last month in Superior Court of Justice. Sherman opted for a $15,000 fine to be with her children.

Ardoch community members have been angered by mining exploration on their land, which was done without consultation by the provincial government or the mining company, according to their lawyer.

Trent student Paul McCarney, a co-organizer of the petition, said Leal met with the group.

Leal said he will present the petition in the legislature.

"We all agree that there's a need to renew the mining act in the province of Ontario and an act that hasn't been substantially altered in over a 100 years," he said.

fisaacson@peterboroughexaminer.com

3 Sharbot Lake uranium protesters avoid jail

CBC.ca

Tuesday, March 18, 2008
CBC News
Three people accused of protesting at a prospective uranium mining site in eastern Ontario in defiance of two court injunctions will not go to jail.

The three protesters appeared before Justice Douglas Cunningham Tuesday in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to face contempt of court charges in connection with the occupation last year of a property near Sharbot Lake, about 60 kilometres north of Kingston.

Charges against two of the protesters were withdrawn.

A third protester agreed to stay away from the property in question in exchange for avoiding jail time.

Protesters from the Shabot Obaadjiwan and Ardoch Algonquin First Nations began occupying the property last summer, with support from some local protesters who are not aboriginal people. They were trying to stop the mining exploration company Frontenac Ventures Corp. from doing test drilling for uranium at the site, which the Algonquins claim as their land.

The charges were laid after the company successfully applied for court injunctions barring protesters from the property.

In February, Ardoch co-chiefs Paula Sherman and Robert Lovelace were sentenced to six months in jail after being found guilty of contempt of court for defying the injunctions. They were also fined $15,000 and $25,000 respectively.

After being sentenced, Sherman agreed to stop participating in protests to avoid going to jail.

Why Bob Lovelace is in jail; A message is being sent to mining companies: Ontario is open for business

The Kingston Whig- Standard
I know Bob Lovelace as a soft-spoken and self-reliant neighbour, devoted father and dedicated Queen's University teacher admired by his students and colleagues. He's the kind of guy who constructs a log house in the woods north of Kingston with his own skill and sweat; builds a box planter at the local swimming spot and keeps it stocked with marigolds and petunias; and provides venison for a potluck supper. He's as innately confrontational as a panda bear.
Yet much of the public knows Bob Lovelace as a nominally militant aboriginal prisoner now serving a six-month jail sentence and facing cumulative personal fines of nearly $400,000 for contempt of court. His transgression? Refusing to obey a judicial order not to continue his peaceful blockade at a proposed uranium mine site on lands Algonquin First Nations have never ceded title to under any prior treaty or land claim settlement.
Yet, as even the mine promoter's lawyer has admitted in court hearings, there is a vanishingly small chance a uranium mine will ever get built at the headwaters of the Mississippi River northwest of Sharbot Lake. Compared to other deposits in Saskatchewan, Australia, South Africa and Asia, the ore is laughably low-grade, and the cost to mine fatally high.
So how did it come to this?
In effect, Bob is in jail because he has quietly, but implacably, declined to concede that a provincial court has the ultimate authority to decide what happens on lands his Algonquin forebears have used without ecological abuse for thousands of years.
A key point is that these are not private lands in dispute. The collision has occurred because. for more than a century. Ontario governments have blithely assumed that all provincial lands are solely entrusted to it, and are thus subject to mining laws that allow any prospector or com-pany, from anywhere, to stake out land and claim any mineral wealth below. Without asking anyone else's permission.
In this case, the provincial Ministry of Natural Resources handed out the permits to a fledgling outfit called Frontenac Ventures, and the com-pany maintains that it can drill for uranium with the law on its side. Without First Nation approval.
On this, the company, a provincial court and the cabinet of Dalton McGuinty tacitly agree. That's why my neighbour is in prison as a kind of conscientious objector, his impoverished First Nation is facing additional cumulative fines of nearly $400,000, and Frontenac Ventures has the sanction to drill for uranium deposits that will never prove profitable.
This makes no sense at all - unless the real issue here is far larger and more deceptive than a puny, potentially speculative mine play that may capitalize on gullible or greedy investors fixated on the spiking world price of uranium, and the venerable flim-flam tactic of selling them sizzle instead of steak.
My bet is that the Ontario government knows - just as well as Canada's major uranium com-panies know - that eastern Ontario is essentially bereft of profitable deposits. Compared to the mammoth, rich, easy-to mine uranium reserves in northern Saskatchewan, which are known as "elephants" in industry parlance, those from Sharbot Lake to Bancroft to Elliot Lake are like scattered mice.
Perversely, because these Ontario deposits would yield far few ounces of uranium per tonne of ore mined, the volume of radioactively contaminated waste rock and other lethal pollutants would be far greater. So the public pollution risk would be high, and the financial reward small to non-existent for a private company.
The Ontario government is not blind to these facts. Or to the past legacy of uranium mining at Elliot Lake, which left more than 100 million tonnes of dangerous waste tailings for posterity, and desecrated the downstream Serpent River watershed. So what is really going on?
I suspect that the Ontario government is determined to assure the bigger, richer, more experienced mining interests, and international investors, that Ontario is a place where they can come and make serious money by mining not uranium but diamonds, gold, platinum, nickel, copper and zinc - with minimal hindrance. And because most of that potential mineral wealth is in northern Ontario, where most of the population is aboriginal, the right signals need to be sent. To mining companies, the Dalton McGuinty message is: Ontario is wide open for business. To First Nations it is: get on board, or out of the way - or go to jail.
As evidence of this, consider that the lawyer for Frontenac Ventures also represents a different mining company that wants to develop a platinum prospect near Big Trout Lake in northwest Ontario, despite determined First Nation opposition. There, aboriginal leaders are also facing, like Bob Lovelace, potential imprisonment and crippling fines. The lawyer representing Bob Lovelace also acts for the Big Trout community. So the confrontation is identical, except the mineral at the heart of the showdown is different.
There are hints that the platinum mine promoter, like Frontenac Ventures, might be willing to withdraw from that mine play if the Ontario government effectively pays it to go away. If this occurs, then it will be Ontario taxpayers who end up being mined for millions. not uranium or platinum deposits.
This would be bad for everyone except the victorious speculators, and the lawyers collecting Bay Street fees for their artful advice. It would prompt other speculators to try the same trick. And it would leave Bob Lovelace with a contempt of court conviction, facing a lifetime sentence of paying court-imposed fines, and his family wrenched by trauma. (To its great credit, Queen's University has pledged to restore his teaching post when he is released.)
In the end, I believe Bob Lovelace will be vindicated because, largely forgotten in this whole sinister drama, is the likelihood that he has the highest law of the land on his side. The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled, after a century of plaintive petitions from aboriginal leaders from coast to coast to coast, that they collectively hold certain fundamental rights to land and resources, to First Nation cultural preservation, and to be consulted before those may be put at risk.
Uranium ore poses just such a risk. In spades. Once unearthed, it constantly emits invisible but deadly radioactive particles that respect nothing. These can bio-accumulate indiscriminately in countless plants and animals, effectively gaining lethality over time because nothing in nature can destroy them. Many of these radioactive particles mimic beneficial body chemicals like calcium or iodine, are especially perilous to children and women of child-bearing age, and can impair the human gene pool.
And finally, because the only two uses of uranium are for nuclear reactors that covert it into other forms of even more lethal, long-lived radioactive wastes, or for nuclear weapons, a strong case can be made that all uranium, everywhere, is too dangerous to be mined by anyone. Period. And that it is any sensible citizen's civic duty to prevent such future harm.
If it goes that far, I suspect that some day the Supreme Court of Canada will rule that the rights of the Algonquins were violated when the Ontario government issued uranium exploration permits on unceded lands without authentic consultation and consent.
Meanwhile, it is tragic that while my thoughtful neighbour remains in a Lindsay jail an eternity away from his kids, none of these biological, human health and legal facts seem to be troubling the mind of our premier or his minister of aboriginal affairs. Judging by their deafening silence, for them Bob Lovelace apparently does not exist.
- Paul McKay is a former Whig-Standard reporter and the author of a biography of business magnate Stephen Roman and the Elliot Lake uranium industry.

Trent faculty supporting legal defence for native professor convicted of contempt of court

Peterborough Examiner
The Trent University Faculty Association has publicly declared its support for Prof. Paula Sherman and donated $1,000 to her defence fund.
Sherman, co-chief of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation and Trent professor, and Robert Lovelace, a spokesman for Ardoch, aboriginal affairs counsellor at Fleming College and professor at Queen’s University, were both sentenced to six months in jail for contempt of court last month in Superior Court of Justice.
Sherman took a $15,000 penalty instead of going to jail so she could stay with her children.
Ardoch community members have been angered by mining exploration on their land, which was done without consultation by the provincial government or the mining company, according to their lawyer.
The faculty association formally condemned the court decision Monday.
In a release, it stated that “the treatment of its member violates her right to public protest as a citizen and obstructs her academic freedom which includes the right to criticize without the threat of reprisal or discrimination.”
The faculty association also contributed $1,000 to Sherman’s defence fund.
"It's important for us to come forward to support our faculty particularly when they're carrying out their duties that could be interpreted as an extension of what they do as faculty members," faculty association president Susan Wurtele told The Examiner.
The university has also organized a "teach in" for next week, she said. Led by Sherman, it will be an opportunity to update faculty about the situation, so they can better explain it to their students, Wurtele said.
Chris Reid, who represents Sherman and Lovelace, said the faculty association’s support isn’t surprising. Lovelace is also being supported by faculty at Queen’s University, he said.
“The faculty association is a union of sorts and unions have very often been targets of injunctions and contempt of court motions.... They fully understand an order like this and how it’s used to, in some cases, to suppress dissent and muzzle free speech,” he said.
Reid said there are number of fundraising campaigns organized for Sherman and Lovelace.
So far his office has received $2,500 in trust, he said.
The money is primarily going to families who have been fined for protesting, Reid said.
Reid also said an announcement will be made next week regarding an appeal.
“There is an ambivalence about the Ardoch Algonquins.... It’s not a simple issue of whether to appeal or not because they don’t even feel they should be in the Ontario Court system,” he said.
A rally in support of Sherman and Lovelace, scheduled for tomorrow, is expected to draw hundreds of people.
Organized by the Ontario Public Interest Research Group Peterborough, the rally starts at noon in Confederation Square. It will go through downtown, with a stop at MPP Jeff Leal’s office.
Wurtele said she and other Trent faculty members plan on attending.
For more information about the rally contact nicolemcrae@trentu.ca.
Sherman could not be reached for comment yesterday.
fisaacson@peterboroughexaminer.com

Uranium & Sharbot Lake on Trent Radio

These links will only be good for a week so check out these shows if you missed them live:

Peterborough Women's Hour
KWIC Radio