Mission to Grassy Narrows

Tree stand in Grassy Narrows traditional territory

Credit: David Sone / Rainforest Action Network

Respect the Rights of the People of Grassy Narrows:
Open Letter to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty

April 16, 2007

Dear Premier McGuinty:

The land rights of Indigenous peoples are human rights.

Expert bodies of the United Nations have repeatedly affirmed that all governments are obliged to respect and uphold the right of Indigenous peoples to maintain and pass on to future generations their unique ways of living on the land.

For example, the expert committee responsible for the interpretation and oversight of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination has called on states that have ratified this convention to:

  • ensure that members of indigenous peoples have equal rights in respect of effective participation in public life and that no decisions directly relating to their rights and interests are taken without their informed consent;
  • ensure that indigenous communities can exercise their rights to practise and revitalize their cultural traditions and customs;
  • recognize and protect the rights of indigenous peoples to own, develop, control and use their communal lands, territories and resources and, where they have been deprived of their lands and territories traditionally owned or otherwise inhabited or used without their free and informed consent, to take steps to return those lands and territories. [1]

As an independent organization investigating human rights violations around the world, Amnesty International has observed time and again that the failure to uphold the land rights of Indigenous peoples leads inevitably to the erosion of other rights essential to human dignity, well-being and survival. These include the rights to subsistence, health, livelihood, and cultural identity.

As we have commented before, the situation of the Asubpeeschoseewagong Netum Anishinabek (Grassy Narrows) First Nation stands as a stark example of the inadequate safeguards for the land rights of Indigenous peoples in Canada.

Since the 1950s the people of Grassy Narrows have had lands and wild rice beds flooded out by hydro-electric development, their rivers poisoned by pollution from a pulp and paper mill, and their trap lines destroyed by clear-cut logging. All this has taken place for the purposes of economic activities whose benefits the people of Grassy Narrows have not shared.

This week I am travelling to Grassy Narrows as part of a team of Amnesty International researchers from across Canada and around the world. The purpose of this mission is to see first hand how the course of industrial development in their traditional territories has impacted the enjoyment of human rights at Grassy Narrows.

One thing, however, is already apparent: the Government of Ontario is failing the people of Grassy Narrows.

Decisions with a profound impact on the community’s use of the land have been made with little or no meaningful consultation, much less consent. Clear demonstrations of community opposition to provincial decisions have been ignored.

While the federal government has the primary responsibility to uphold Canada’s obligations under international human rights treaties, the standards affirmed by bodies such as the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination apply equally to all levels of government.

On January 17, 2007, members of the Grassy Narrows community issued a call for “a moratorium on further industrial activity in our Traditional Territory until such a time as the Governments of Canada and Ontario restore their honour and obtain the consent of our community in these decisions that will forever alter the future of our people.” The call for the moratorium was issued by the Grassy Narrows Chief and Council, along with the Clan Mothers and Elders, the Trappers Council, the Environmental Committee, the Youth Committee and community members involved in a long-standing blockade against logging. This is only the latest demonstration of the community’s concern and opposition to Government of Ontario’s handling of resource management in their traditional territory.

Given this, Amnesty International is calling on the Province of Ontario to work with the people of Grassy Narrows so that a land use management plan can be developed that addresses their concerns and protects their rights. In the meantime, we urge the Government of Ontario to call an immediate halt to issuing or reallocating licenses for logging or other resource extraction within the traditional land use territory of Grassy Narrows.

Such measures would send an important message that your Government intends to honourably and justly fulfill its obligation to respect and uphold the rights of Indigenous peoples.

Yours sincerely,

Alex Neve
Secretary General
Amnesty International Canada

[1] Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, General Recommendation XXIII concerning Indigenous Peoples, CERD/C/51/Misc.13/Rev.4, (adopted by the Committee on August 18, 1997).