CPTNet
February 6, 2004
ASUBPEESCHOSEEWAGONG URGENT ACTION: Stop the Clear-Cutting of Traplines at
Anishinabe Lake

Logging contractors working for Abitibi Consolidated Inc. have recently
begun clear-cutting timber near Anishnabe Lake, sixty km north of
Asubpeeschoseewagong (Grassy Narrows, ON.) This week, Grassy Narrows trapper
Alex Fobister reported to his community that the loggers had destroyed most
of the access trail he had cut on his trapline, and the pine marten traps he
had set along the trail were all gone.

In response, on Feb. 4, 2004, the community erected a blockade on the Deer
Lake Road leading to Anishnabe Lake and are stopping all logging trucks from
entering the area.

The community asks that CPT supporters contact the government leaders listed
below to call for an end to clear-cut logging on Grassy Narrows' traditional
territories.

Background

Abitibi-Consolidate Inc. holds a Sustainable Forest Licence from the
Province of Ontario for a large area of forest north of Kenora in
northwestern Ontario. This area includes the 6,500 sq km traditional land
use area of Asubpeeschoseewagong Netum Anishnabek (Grassy Narrows First
Nation). Grassy Narrows is a party to Treaty #3 with Canada which promised
that they would retain access to their traditional hunting and fishing
grounds. However clear-cut logging, such as that done by Abitibi, and
encouraged by Ontario, is destroying the animal habitat needed by Grassy
Narrows people to sustain their community, and therefore violates the
treaty. After years of frustration in meetings with government officials and
court cases, Grassy Narrows took direct action in December 2002 by
blockading Jones Road, the main logging road leading into their traditional
territory. That blockade remains in place. They have also, on occasion,
blockaded other logging roads on their territory.

Alex Fobister is a 60-year-old full-time trapper from Grassy who has always
sustained himself from the forest. His great-grandfather, grandfather, and
father had always trapped in the same area that he does near Anishnabe Lake.
He holds a licence for this trapline from the same Ontario government
department that licences Abitibi's logging on that land. Earlier this year,
he hand cut a new trail in part of the remaining mature forest on his
trapline, and placed boxes for trapping the fur bearing pine marten. When he
returned to inspect his trapline in late January 2004, he found that a
logging contractor working for Abitibi had clear cut most of the mature
forest on his trail and that all his marten boxes were missing. He, and the
community, are extremely upset, because he had understood that there would
be no logging of the forest that remained on his trapline.

In November 2003, Abitibi finally entered a dialogue with the community
about the blockades and the concerns behind it. The company tabled a one
page "Proposal for Partnership," and the community has been preparing its
response. Abitibi's destruction of yet another trapline is seen by the
community as negotiating in bad faith and a poor basis for establishing a
partnership.

Urgent Action
Both the federal and Ontario provincial governments are new. Both have
promised a new way of doing things. The federal government is responsible
for upholding Treaty #3 and its guarantee that Grassy Narrows people will be
able to hunt and fish on their territories. The Ontario government is
responsible for forestry practices and licences, and is also obliged to
respect treaty rights, all of which are protected in sec. 35 of Canada's
constitution, which is the highest law in Canada.

Please contact the new Canadian government leaders listed below, making the
following points. Telephone calls, personal written letters, and faxes are
generally more effective than e-mail.

- congratulate these leaders on their new positions and their promises of a
new way of doing things

- let them know that the treaty rights of Grassy Narrows people are being
violated by the logging activities of Abitibi-Consolidated operating under
licence from Ontario

- inform them that yet another trapline has just been destroyed by Abitibi's
contractors

- ask that they intervene to stop the treaty violations and destruction of
Grassy Narrows' means of livelihood caused by this clear-cut logging.

Addresses

Rt. Hon. Paul Martin
Prime Minister of Canada
House of Commons
Ottawa ON K1A 0A6
tel 613-992-4284
fax 613-992-4291
email pm@pm.gc.ca

Hon. Andy Mitchell
Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs
House of Commons
Ottawa ON K1A 0A6
tel 613-996-3434
fax 613-991-2147
email Mitchell.A@parl.gc.ca

Hon. Dalton McGuinty
Premier of Ontario
R. 281, Main Legislative Building
Queen's Park
Toronto ON M7A 1A4
tel 416-325-1941
fax 416-325-7578
email dmcguinty.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org

Please send a copy of any written messages to Grassy Narrows at
fobister@voyageur.ca and to CPT Asubpeeschoseewagong at
guest.308627@MennoLink.org. For Canadian residents, also send a copy to your
own Member of Parliament, and Member of Provincial Parliament (Ontario
residents).