Duane Hicks
“Our jobs. Our trees. Our forest. Our future.”
It was the chant heard loud and clear in downtown Fort Frances at noon yesterday as 200 people of all ages took to the street with signs in hand to fight for the right to have a share of the Crossroute wood supply and to keep the local mill heated over the winter.
Signs read “Resolute = Destitute,” “Don’t Let Resolute Freeze Us Out,” “You Took Our Jobs, Give Us Back Our Forest,” and “Kathleen Wynne: The heat is on for you to do something before it is too late.”
The procession made its way down Scott Street to the parking lot across from shuttered mill, where Fort Frances Mayor Roy Avis, Couchiching First Nation Chief Sara Mainville, and local MPP Sarah Campbell delivered messages of strength, unity, and hope.
“I know last week we were able to muster support to take a plane to Queen’s Park,” said Mayor Avis.
“It was a very, very good rally that we had down there and this one here just tops it off.
“I can see that we do have support and we’re going to go forward,” he pledged.
“Yesterday [Tuesday], I had a disappointing phone call,” the mayor added. “Expera has purchased a mill in Maine.
“But believe me, don’t give up,” he stressed, adding that he spoke with Expera CEO Russ Wanke earlier yesterday and was told that Expera “still has an interest in this mill.”
“It’s our forest, our future, and we must continue this fight,” Mayor Avis reiterated.
“We’re fighting the provincial government, especially the Ministry of Natural Resources as they control this wood,” he noted.
“We need to get the wood base back so we can get this mill started.”
Chief Mainville said Couchiching First Nation and the Town of Fort Frances “have no boundary.”
“We have a shared economy but we have to work together to strengthen our ability to keep our youth at home,” she remarked.
“Our youth have no future here if we don’t do something now, and I think that’s what we’re committed to do with the Town of Fort Frances,” Chief Mainville added.
“We’re not putting our environment at odds with our plans,” she stressed. “We’re concerned with our environment.
“That’s why we’re excited with this company, Expera,” Chief Mainville noted.
“Expera is not Resolute. The compare and contrast is quite stark.
“Expera is a company that is a willing to work with First Nations, willing to do things sustainably, is pro-union, and is also very committed to the future of the local economy that they operate in,” she remarked.
“I think they’re an amazing fit for all of us and I think we should try to make this work.”
Chief Mainville said the economy in this part of Ontario has been all but ignored by the Liberal government.
“I know that Premier Wynne has gone to China looking for jobs and investments for southern Ontario, always forgetting about anything past Thunder Bay,” she charged.
“And I think we have to hold [her] to account for ignoring and abandoning us.
“We really need to work together,” Chief Mainville stressed. “We have a stronger voice if we work in unity.
“I hope we can all do that and commit to that, and work in the next few days to really make our strong voice heard in Toronto. . . .
“We’re going to work together and we’re going to make our economy that much stronger,” she vowed.
Campbell, meanwhile, said “it is sad” that the situation has come to the point where the people have to take to the streets to make their voices known to the province, but was pleased to so many come together for the rally.
“We have an opportunity right now. Things are looking a little bleak but we have an opportunity,” she remarked.
“We have a mill, we have wood, and we have an interested buyer.
“What we need is for the government to come to the table, to live up to their responsibility, and to make sure that, with the stroke of a pen, that we can make this deal happen,” added Campbell.
“And I am going to continue to put that pressure on the government and am asking for your help, too.”
Campbell’s assistant
circulated a petition, collecting signatures she will be reading in the House every single day. The petition is available online at: facebook.com/Sarah4NWO
“I’m going to continue with the questions, I’m going to continue with the fight and the pressure,” Campbell vowed.
“Collectively, I know that we can do it, and we can save this mill.
“We can save the future of Fort Frances and the district.”
Mayor Avis reiterated he has been overwhelmed with the support the town has been getting, especially from area First Nations, to present a unified front.
“I know that, going forward, we’re gonna win,” he pledged.
The rally was organized by members of the local ENGAGE young professionals network in just four days.
RRFDC intern Jamie Petrin, lead organizer of the rally and who led the procession with megaphone in hand yesterday, said the rally was “undoubtedly a success.”
“We, as a group, are so appreciative to each and every one of you who showed up, or sent their messages of support,” she posted on Facebook.
“We definitely got the attention of the media and hopefully we make a splash for Bill Mauro and Kathleen Wynne.
“Today, we, as a community, fought for our forest and our future,” Petrin added. “Thank you again and congratulations for making your voices heard.
“Today, we made a difference.”
Petrin later told the Times she was “very happy” to see such a range of participants, including quite a few former mill employees.
“It reached a different demographic than we thought it would,” she admitted.
“I thought we would get a lot less ‘baby boomer’-age people, but they were the bulk of who we had there.”
Yesterday’s rally also was covered by regional media, as well as the Globe & Mail from Toronto.
Petrin urged the public to keep the pressure on the Wynne government, be it sending e-mails, writing letters, or tweeting @BillMauroMPP and @Kathleen_Wynne using the hashtags: #fortfrances #onpoli
For more information on the letter-writing campaign, visit www.fort-frances.com
