Editorial
Turtle Island News - North America's #1 Native Weekly Newspaper
*First Nations paying tax payers bills for services*
The Chiefs of Ontario are meeting in a special assembly in Toronto this
week to take a look at what they believed would be a collective push to
get Ontario to recognize First Nation resource and benefit rights. The
basic plan to act collectively and push for Ontario First Nations rights
is a good plan and goes a long way to growing and fostering First Nation
relationships and protection of rights. But Premier Dalton McGuinty’s
one pot serves all premise with a meagre $30 million a year given to
First Nations communities that don’t even have decent water supplies is
an insult to the very communities from whom Ontario is taking its riches
from. And these are resource riches that have nothing to do with
taxpayer ’s dollars. In fact these First Nation resource riches are used
to offset taxpayer dollars that build the infrastructure in towns and
cities that surround First Nation communities, while those communities
suffer without the same services, but they are p aying for them for t he
cit y of Toronto, or Ottawa, or any other town and village. The Chiefs
who have expressed concerns that while McGuinty may say the $30 million
is just a start they are right to fear that will be the only crumb First
Nations will see as Ontario digs in to take more than $97 billion in
resources riches from the lands that belong to the First Nations of
Ontario. From the Ring of Fire’s chromite and golds to Six Nations
aggregates and gypsum and water loss First Nations deserve not only a
better deal, they deserve the respect owed as treaty partners in a land
that has become overridden with visitors who have failed to live up to
their end of the treaty. With a provincial election just months away,
Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty is already in election mode and looking
for a successful First Nations issue to hang his hat on. And securing a
motherlode of mineral riches for Ontario’s economy taken from the
traditional lands owned by First Nations will win that election for him.
First Nations have a right to resource and benefit agreements, the
Supreme Court has ruled they have to be consulted and Ontario doesn’t
get to write the rules. But they do get to sit at the table.
It's about time we got to touch the brass ring. Especially since the materials were stolen from our lands.
Turtle Island News - North America's #1 Native Weekly Newspaper
*First Nations paying tax payers bills for services*
The Chiefs of Ontario are meeting in a special assembly in Toronto this
week to take a look at what they believed would be a collective push to
get Ontario to recognize First Nation resource and benefit rights. The
basic plan to act collectively and push for Ontario First Nations rights
is a good plan and goes a long way to growing and fostering First Nation
relationships and protection of rights. But Premier Dalton McGuinty’s
one pot serves all premise with a meagre $30 million a year given to
First Nations communities that don’t even have decent water supplies is
an insult to the very communities from whom Ontario is taking its riches
from. And these are resource riches that have nothing to do with
taxpayer ’s dollars. In fact these First Nation resource riches are used
to offset taxpayer dollars that build the infrastructure in towns and
cities that surround First Nation communities, while those communities
suffer without the same services, but they are p aying for them for t he
cit y of Toronto, or Ottawa, or any other town and village. The Chiefs
who have expressed concerns that while McGuinty may say the $30 million
is just a start they are right to fear that will be the only crumb First
Nations will see as Ontario digs in to take more than $97 billion in
resources riches from the lands that belong to the First Nations of
Ontario. From the Ring of Fire’s chromite and golds to Six Nations
aggregates and gypsum and water loss First Nations deserve not only a
better deal, they deserve the respect owed as treaty partners in a land
that has become overridden with visitors who have failed to live up to
their end of the treaty. With a provincial election just months away,
Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty is already in election mode and looking
for a successful First Nations issue to hang his hat on. And securing a
motherlode of mineral riches for Ontario’s economy taken from the
traditional lands owned by First Nations will win that election for him.
First Nations have a right to resource and benefit agreements, the
Supreme Court has ruled they have to be consulted and Ontario doesn’t
get to write the rules. But they do get to sit at the table.
It's about time we got to touch the brass ring. Especially since the materials were stolen from our lands.
