Video, APTN, National News Prime Time (Friday, 23 May 2008):
Canadian Press, "Algonquins at Barriere Lake, Que., suspend logging operations" (Friday, 23 May 2008)
Algonquins at Barriere Lake, Que., suspend logging operations
Written by THE CANADIAN PRESS
Friday, 23 May 2008
MONTREAL - As aboriginals across Canada prepare for a so-called "National Day of Action" next week, Algonquins from Barriere Lake have taken their own protest to Montreal.
About a dozen members of the community located five hours north of Montreal staged a noon-hour protest in front of Quebec Premier Jean Charest's downtown office.
The Barriere Lake caravan was passing through the city on its way to Toronto and Ottawa where the natives plan to join a huge demonstration next Thursday.
Under the watchful eye of officers in two police cruisers, the protesters told supporters they were unhappy with the attitude of both governments.
Spokesman Michel Thusky says Canada walked away from a trilateral natural resources management agreement in 2001 and Quebec has been sitting on it for 22 months.
Thusky says until the agreement is settled, forestry operations on the territory by logging companies will not be tolerated.
He also complains that Ottawa has ousted the customary chief and council and illegally appointed a small faction as the leadership.
Thusky says he was arrested twice by provincial police in 1995 and again last March during protests in the native community.
Brantford Expositor, “Algonquins take protest to Montreal (Friday, 23 May, 2008):
Algonquins take protest to Montreal
Updated 9 days ago
As aboriginals across Canada prepare for a so-called "National Day of Action'' next week, Algonquins from Barriere Lake have taken their own protest to Montreal.
About a dozen members of the community located five hours north of Montreal staged a noon-hour protest in front of Quebec Premier Jean Charest's downtown office.
The Barriere Lake caravan was passing through the city on its way to Toronto and Ottawa where the natives plan to join a huge demonstration next Thursday.
Under the watchful eye of officers in two police cruisers, the protesters told supporters they were unhappy with the attitude of both governments.
Spokesman Michel Thusky says Canada walked away from a trilateral natural resources management agreement in 2001 and Quebec has been sitting on it for 22 months.
Thusky says until the agreement is settled, forestry operations on the territory by logging companies will not be tolerated.
He also complains that Ottawa has ousted the customary chief and council and illegally appointed a small faction as the leadership.
Thusky says he was arrested twice by provincial police in 1995 and again last March during protests in the native community.
Montreal Hour, “Broken Promises lead to Montreal Promise” (May 22, 2008):
May 22nd, 2008
Broken promises lead to Montreal protest
Algonquin action in Montreal
Stefan Christoff
Algonquin protest broken promises
In Quebec, the Algonquin community of Barrière Lake, located about five hours north of Montreal, is currently engaged in a protracted struggle with both the provincial and federal governments. In 1991, a trilateral agreement was signed between Canada, Quebec and the Barrière Lake local council, a co-management and sustainable development agreement that included protections for Algonquin land use, as well as a plan to conserve the local forest and wildlife.
"This agreement sets a precedent for relations between First Nations communities and the government in that the community would have a decisive say on the way that their territories were used," explains Martin Lukacs from the Barrière Lake Solidarity committee in Montreal. "Also, this agreement would mean that the community would be given their share of the revenue from the logging industry and resource extraction done on their land."
Canada, as represented by the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, unilaterally walked away from this agreement in 2001. The Quebec government has also reneged. The dispute surrounding the groundbreaking 1991 agreement stems from the share of profit revenues from natural resources harvested within the 10,000 square kilometres that the agreement spells out. Today, industrial logging continues within the territory as the small community is stepping up both a grassroots protest campaign
with allies across Canada and legal efforts to address Canada's failure to recognize the binding contract.
Representatives from Barrière Lake will be travelling to Montreal to stage a protest with supporters outside the offices of Jean Charest on Friday, May 23, at noon at the corner of McGill College and Sherbrooke Street.
--
Montreal Mirror, “Algonquins Roll In” (May 22, 2008):
Algonquins roll in
Back in 1991, the small Algonquin community of Barriere Lake, five hours north of Montreal, signed a pioneering resource co-management and sustainable development agreement with Canada and Quebec. The agreement was designed to protect Algonquin land uses, conserve the forest and wildlife, and give the indigenous community a share in resource revenue from the logging and hydro projects on their territories.
“It was a precedent-setting agreement,” says Martin Lukacs of the Barriere Lake Solidarity Collective, “and because of that, the government is afraid to honour it. In 2001 the Canadian government walked away from the agreement while Quebec has been delaying its implementation for years. In the meantime, the Department of Indian Affairs has ousted the Customary Chief and Council and, in its place, illegally appointed a small faction that lacks legitimacy in the community. It’s outrageous, and it’s all because they don’t want to share resource revenue with the impoverished Algonquins, revenue that represents $100-million a year.”
The Barriere Lake Caravan will protest outside of Jean Charest’s office (McGill College at Sherbrooke) at noon, Friday, May 23.
For more information, go to barrierelakesolidarity.blogspot.com.
by CHRIS BARRY
CKUT 90.3FM, Solidarity with Barriere Lake (May 20, 2008):
An Interview with Martin Lukacs of Barriere Lake Solidarity and Russell
Diabo, Policy Advisor to Barriere Lake
For twenty difficult years, the small Algonquin community of Barriere
Lake, 5 hours north of Montreal, has been struggling to hold the
government to their word. In 1991, they signed a pioneering resource
co-management and sustainable development agreement with Canada and Quebec
to protect Algonquin land uses, to conserve the forest and wildlife, and
to give them a share in the resource revenue from the logging and hydro
projects on their traditional territories.
The Canadian government walked away from the agreement in 2001. And the
Quebec government has sat on recommendations for implementing its side of
the agreement since 2006. Instead of fulfilling their obligations, the
Federal Department of Indian Affairs, with the support of the Quebec
government, has been playing divide and rule in Barriere Lake, wreaking
havoc in the community by ousting the Customary Chief and Council and
illegally appointing a small faction as the leadership.
For more information contact:
http://barrierelakesolidarity.blogspot.com
For more information about the tuesday morning after contact: news@ckut.ca
http://mostafah.wordpress.com
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I heartily support the actions of Barriere Lake as they struggle to keep their heads above water, and battle to get the governments to fulfill the many promises that have been made to them over recent decades. - Boyce Richardson, Order of Canada, journalist, author and filmmaker. (July, 2008)