Noront Resources

Hi Peter Marshall,

"This is why he will make the "human" negotiations with all parties involved work. Peter"

Again respectfully, we admire your faith in the man and we wish him well in his endevours to "make" FN's comply by mid October while he budgets for the $32 billion currently assessed to Ontario for past resource extraction.

"Stan Beardy presented the Ontario government today with an invoice for $127-million for benefits derived from natural resources extracted from Nishnawbe Aski Nation territories. The annual billing invoice is calculated over 100 years at current day values and represents only a portion of the $32 billion owed. A NAN Chiefs Resolution was passed in May 2012 where the Chiefs authorized NAN to set up a negotiation committee with a clear mandate to negotiate a resource-revenue sharing agreement on behalf of all NAN First Nations "

Some weekend reading to which I have bolded some comments for thoughtful consideration.

http://www.bcafn.ca/files/breaking-news-2012-07-06.php

"1-Canadians need to learn about aboriginal issues, native leaders say

Teresa Smith, Postmedia News, July 5 - Provincial education ministers will meet with a prominent First Nations representative Friday to discuss better ways of educating Canadians about aboriginal issues, amid what some call a continued widespread ignorance of the challenges facing First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples. A Postmedia News poll released earlier this week suggested most Canadians think aboriginals are both well-treated and well-funded by the federal government, a view not held by many aboriginal leaders who routinely grapple with poverty and social problems among their people. "After a while you just have to shake your head and not go into despair," said Beverly Anne Sabourin, the vice-provost for aboriginal initiatives at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ont. "We have so much more work to do with our Canadian population." Justice Murray Sinclair, chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), will meet with the education ministers in Halifax Friday. As head of the TRC, set up by the federal government in 2009 with a five-year mandate, he is charged with documenting the history of Canada's residential school system, which forced 150,000 native children away from their communities and families into government-funded, church-run institutions where many were gravely abused.He is also mandated to educate the general public about that legacy. Saskatchewan's minister of education, Russ Marchuk, told Postmedia News his government has focused on educating young people as a way to help improve the relationship with aboriginals. "As our children learn, I believe that's transferred to their parents and will make us all more engaged with First Nations people," he told Postmedia News. Sinclair was unavailable for comment. But his commission released an interim report in February that discussed the need for provinces to alter their public school curriculums so Canadians learn about treaties, the residential schools, the contribution of Aboriginal Peoples to Canada and can study important documents such as the Indian Act. While the Northwest Territories and Manitoba are both in the process of developing material for use in classrooms from kindergarten through grade 12, as of January 2012 Saskatchewan remains the only province with a mandate to teach non-aboriginal students about residential schools as well as the importance of treaties. The poll commissioned by Postmedia found about two-thirds of those asked felt aboriginals received too much support from taxpayers, and were well-treated by the federal government. But former auditor-general Sheila Fraser repeatedly concluded that on-reserve services are under-funded by the federal government, with dire consequences. In fact, the federal government is currently defending itself in front of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal against allegations that it discriminates against First Nations children on-reserve by under-funding services to such an extent that native children have been driven into foster care.National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Shawn Atleo, told Postmedia News that 80 First Nations communities need schools and more than 100 communities don't have access to safe drinking water. The federal government, through the Indian Act, is responsible for ensuring that First Nations people on-reserve have access to education, health care and safe drinking water. Atleo said the poll results show there's a "major gap" between the realities First Nations people are facing in their communities and the beliefs of most Canadians. It is everyone's responsibility, he said, "to overcome the myths and the stereotypes that have for far too long characterized the relationship between First Nations and Canada."In a recent interview with the Aboriginal People's Commission Sinclair said at the government-funded, church-run residential schools, "aboriginal children were being taught that their cultures were inferior, their languages were inferior, their relationships were not worthy of protection, that they didn't have a history that was worth talking about." At the same time, generations of non-aboriginal children were receiving "the very same messaging . . . in the public schools of this country," he said. Years of indoctrination have contributed to the inherent belief by many Canadians that they are superior to Aboriginal Peoples, he said. Lakehead University's Sabourin, whose 35-year career has focused on fostering cross-cultural relationships, said "we have to come to a place where we have a relationship with each other based on common understanding and trust, not on fear or the baggage that people carry on both sides . . . It's going to be a long process." Atleo said changes can't come soon enough. As the government pushes to exploit natural resource in First Nations territory, he sees the possibility that a crisis - such as the standoff that happened in Oka, Quebec in the 1990s — will happen again. "If we're not careful, with the exploding youth population - coupled with Canada's interest in developing natural resources, we're sitting at a very critical moment of reckoning," he said.

2-First Nation fights for control in Ontario's 'oil sands'

CBC News, July 5 - Ontario's Mining and Lands Commissioner will hear arguments Thursday about a road to be built in Ontario's so-called Ring of Fire. The nickel and chromite deposits in a vast area of the James Bay lowlands have been compared to Alberta's oil sands in terms of economic potential. Tuesday's case is a critical battle in the long fight by First Nations to control the pace of development in the most isolated part of the province. U.S. mining giant Cliffs Natural Resources hopes to build a 340-kilometre road to truck its raw ore south for processing. It would snake across an esker — a long ridge — rising out of the muskeg, cross 85 waterways and three major rivers, and run right through the traditional lands of Neskantaga First Nation. Chief Peter Moonias, wants a say in how — and even if — the road is built. “We're not just stakeholders,” Moonias said. “We are people that live on the land that came from the land.” Moonias said Cliffs's economic clout shouldn't trump his community's treaty rights. The entire economy of Neskantaga is less than the $6 million Cliffs’ president makes in a year, he said. Moonias said once there's a road to the mine site, it'll be too late to halt development and put environmental protections in place.“It's going to be huge,” Moonias said. “It's something that has a national interest, like the Alberta oil sands. This is the same thing, if not worse.” He's not the only one drawing comparisons to the oilsands. Ontario politicians use the comparison in a more flattering light, while promoting the area's economic potential and seeking federal help to develop the area. Provincial mining minister Rick Bartolucci said Ontario is already in private talks with Cliffs about building the road. “Once the agreement is finalized — then obviously the parameters of the agreement will be made public,” he said. But Ontario's Mining Commissioner has the first say on whether Cliffs can go ahead. Cliffs needs permission from the commissioner to build the road along a route already staked by another mining company. Canada Chrome Corporation (a subsidiary of KWG) planned to build a railway to the Ring of Fire. The Mining Commissioner is a little-known administrative tribunal that has ruled on mining issues since the 1800s — but rarely have First Nations had a say. The commissioner will hear arguments on Thursday about whether that should change.First Nations are making other moves to assert control. Six communities issued eviction notices to 22 mining companies operating in the Ring of Fire, claiming their desire for a full, public environmental assessment of the project is being ignored. Moonias said government and mining companies claim they want to include First Nations in the development, but they don't really mean it. “We're being told [by mining companies and government] we'll take this from you, but we want to sit down and talk to you about it and then we'll take it anyways," Moonias said. "We have nothing in return." The evictions inform mining companies they have 30 days to leave the area. One mining company executive expressed concern about the move and said it's clear First Nations are dissatisfied with the status quo. A spokesperson for Ontario's mining minister said he is trying to set up meetings with First Nations and "hopes that all communities will want to see the prosperity that can result from participation" in mining activity. A lawyer who specializes in treaty rights and mining disputes said Thursday's hearing is just the first of many court battles ahead. Bill Gallagher said the dispute about the environmental assessment process is also headed to court. “This is just a stick in the spokes as the main action heats up," Gallagher said. "That, too, is going to court and that will be another major sign post in the road to resources." Gallagher added the delays could be avoided if the province and mining companies viewed First Nations as partners, rather than rivals. “There are competing agendas with totally different consequences,” he said. “The fundamental one is the native rights issue — but it would appear that [development of the Ring of Fire] is further off down the road than perhaps people had hoped for.”

Best