[R-G] Native Leader Serving Six Months for Opposing Mine

[Anthony Fenton]

Native Leader Serving Six Months for Opposing Mine
Supporters call Algonquin leader a "political prisoner"
by Chris Arsenault

The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca


The blockade was erected in the summer of 2007 to stop Frontenac  
Ventures
from drilling for uranium on unceded First Nations territory. Photo:  
Megan
Hughes
Algonquin community leader Robert Lovelace had never been charged with  
an
offence, but when a uranium company began prospecting for radioactive  
ore
on unceded First Nations land without engaging in consultation, he  
decided
to take action and organized a non-violent blockade.

On February 15, Judge Cunningham of Ontario's Superior Court sentenced
Lovelace to six months in jail for contempt of court and fined him  
$50,000
for his involvement in the peaceful protest.

Chief Paula Sherman, elected leader of the Ardoch Algonquin First  
Nation,
a small community about 110 kilometres southwest of Ottawa, where the
controversial uranium prospecting is taking place, calls Robert Lovelace
"a political prisoner."



"It seems like a very heavy sentence," said Jamie Kneen of Mining Watch
Canada, a non-governmental watchdog. "If the court had issued a
trespassing charge, there could have been an argument about who was  
really
trespassing."

The territory in question involves mainly Crown land that is subject to
ongoing land-claim negotiations between First Nations and the provincial
and federal governments.

In September 2007, an Ontario provincial court issued Frontenac  
Ventures,
the mining company, an interlocutory injunction ordering protestors from
Ardoch and Sharbot Lake First Nations, along with their non-native  
allies,
to vacate the Robertsville camp. The camp is the only feasible entry  
point
to a 30,000-acre wilderness tract in Frontenac County, where the company
has its prospecting license. Lovelace and other activists violated that
order.

"The source of this conflict is the Ontario Mining Act, which allows
companies to stake land and prospect without consultation with private
land owners or other users, including First Nations," said Kneen.  
Lovelace
and other activists argue their constitutional rights were violated by  
the
lack of consultation.

People living on or near the exploration site discovered their land was
being taken almost two years ago. There were no community meetings or
information sessions about the uranium exploration. "It started on  
private
land when a cottager saw trees being cut and started protesting the
development," said Kneen. A few months later it became clear that some  
of
the land being staked was disputed territory.

"Uranium mining has no record other than environmental destruction and
negative health issues," said Doreen Davis, chief of the Shabot Lake  
First
Nation. "Uranium can't be stored safely," said Davis, who will be
sentenced on March 18 for participating in the blockade. She is under
court order not to talk about the dispute with Frontenac.

"I do know that we have communities from Kingston to Ottawa on our side
against uranium mining in this district," said Davis. "A huge group of
settlers, that's what they call themselves, have been working with us,
pounding the pavement and educating people about this. I think it is
unique to have aboriginal and non-aboriginal people standing
shoulder-to-shoulder like this."

The federal government has yet to get involved in this case and  
Ontario's
provincial government has only been reluctantly and peripherally  
involved,
according to Kneen.

Not much is known about the company at the centre of the dispute.
"Frontenac is a private company, so they don't have to file any
disclosure," said Kneen. "Aside from the president and their lawyer, no
one knows who they are or where they get their money."

The company's website has only one page and a press release. Frontenac's
president, George White, did not return calls. The website says the
company "is committed to participating in any efforts of Ontario and the
First Nations' to consult in good faith," but Ardoch Chief Paula Sherman
isn't convinced.

"No consideration was given to the circumstances leading to our  
actions,"
said Sherman in a statement following Lovelace's sentencing. "The
testimony given under oath by Robert Lovelace outlined Algonquin Law and
the corresponding responsibilities of Algonquin people with respect to
human activity in our territory," wrote Sherman, who was fined $15,000
during the court case for breaking the injunction that prohibited  
protests
on land being explored by Frontenac.

Because the company obtained a court order against protestors rather  
than
filing trespassing charges, the judge was not required to consider
arguments regarding historical precedent or Algonquin legal codes when
making the decision. "It's a way of avoiding the core issues," said  
Kneen.

After a decade of low prices, the spot price of uranium has increased
drastically in recent years, from $43 per pound in 2006, to $75 today.

As oil prices rise, countries have re-started old nuclear reactors and
countries like South Africa, India and China have ambitious nuclear- 
power
plans on the horizon. UBS, a financial services company, predicts  
uranium
will hit $110 per pound by 2010.

These developments don't sit well with Dr. Mark Winfield, a Canadian
nuclear expert. "Existing [uranium] mines in northern Saskatchewan have
caused severe contamination through heavy metals like arsenic, and
long-lived radionuclides, along with conventional pollutants," said
Winfield.

In 2004, Health Canada concluded that effluent from uranium mines meets
the definition of a toxic substance under the Canadian Environmental
Protection Act.

Canada is the world's largest supplier of uranium and Conservative Prime
Minister Stephen Harper wants to increase exports in his bid to  
transform
the country into an "energy superpower."

"The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was very clear that  
nuclear
[energy] can't compete economically," said Winfield. "The potential  
health
and environmental impacts of uranium mining are not worth the risks."

A version of this article appeared on Inter Press Service