CPTnet
May 31, 2003
ASUBPEESCHOSEEWAGONG,ON: Thanks for the Blockade
by Matt Schaaf
The _Kenora Enterprise_ published an article on April 6, 2003, entitled
"Whiskey Jack harvest plan emulates natural disturbance." In the article,
the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Area Supervisor Shawn Stevenson
said, "The government of Ontario believes [that the Whiskey Jack Forest is]
Crown land and it's to be managed for the benefit
of all Ontarians, not the exclusive right of First Nations' interests. The
province has made it clear they're not open to the concept of revenue
sharing."
On May 15, 2003, CPT's Matthew Schaaf replied in a letter to the editor:
After spending last week on a trap-line in the Whiskey Jack, I have to agree
that the forest should be shared among all Ontarians--non-native
and native.
This is what I saw: a duly licenced trap-line crisscrossed with cutovers in
which I photographed twelve empty oil containers and filters on the ground,
a seven-year-old oil spill, 381 wasted aspen and jackpine logs, an abandoned
rusting machine part, exposed clay and eroded soil--soil so compacted by
machines that not even grass can take root, and illegally shortened buffer
zones between cutovers and waterways.
I saw several reforested areas where spruce plantations were doing well. I
saw several plantations where five + year old seedlings were burned brown
and choked out by willows and grass. You can see the photos at
www.clubphoto.com, password cpt@igc.org.
Few fur-bearing animals thrive in this habitat of garbage strewn tree farms
-- bad news for trappers. Current forestry practices, we must all admit,
are a new experiment in a 10,000 year old boreal environment in which fires,
budworm and blowdowns were part of its cycle. Cutovers mimic natural
disturbances in size, but the parallel ends there.
Our overharvesting and willingness to break our own rules are only symptoms
of a crisis that concerns every Canadian. People outside the forest are
deciding how to "manage" the trees, while those folks who live (and, in the
case of First Nations, have always lived) in the forest are ignored and
shuffled aside with false consultation processes.
The power imbalance between native and nonnative communities is at the heart
of the forestry conflict and the reason for road blockades by Grassy Narrows
residents. Mr. Stevenson accurately describes the problem when he tells us
that the province is not open to revenue sharing. However, Treaty #3
guarantees the right of both native and non-native people to share the lands
and resources.
I witnessed the effects of Abitibi Consolidated monopolizing the forest to
the exclusion of white and native trappers.Frustration in Kenora (due to
increasing difficulty of making a living in forestry) and Treaty #3 First
Nations (shut out of the decision-making process) could plunge into a spiral
of violence as we saw in 1990 at Oka. Or, we can seize this opportune
moment to balance power fairly among our communities and work out a stable
economy together.
We should thank those at Grassy Narrows who peacefully blockade logging
operations in order to confront us with this opportunity.
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