Press Release
The new minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing will be conflicted when dealing with land claims as minister of Aboriginal Affairs, Couchiching First Nation charged in a press release yesterday.
“We need an advocate, not a conciliator, “ said Couchiching Chief Chuck McPherson.
“The most valuable undeveloped land in our region, [the] Agency 1 reserve, is not for sale or lease, and the new minister of Aboriginal Affairs needs to stand up to municipal interest in our land,” he stressed.
Don Valley West MPP Kathleen Wynne yesterday was appointed as both minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and minister of Aboriginal Affairs, meaning the Ontario government now has a cabinet minister who will struggle to uphold the honour of the Crown, the release said.
“Former ministers of Aboriginal Affairs have asked us to try to work with the Town of Fort Frances, but how can we work with someone that is contesting our ownership of [the] Agency 1 reserve?” questioned Chief McPherson.
“We wonder how a dual portfolio involving both municipal and aboriginal affairs will alter the reconciliation we have been trying to achieve in the Agency 1 matter,” he added.
The Agency 1 reserve had a 99-year lease that benefitted the Town of Fort Frances by giving it access to a sand beach and shoreline along Rainy Lake and the Rainy River.
The lease expired in 2007, but the Town of Fort Frances has spent significant money contesting who owns the shoreline because of a surveying error by the federal government in 1875, the release noted.
“As we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in litigation, the minister of Aboriginal Affairs must advocate for justice,” explained Chief McPherson, who is one of four chiefs representing First Nations that own the Agency 1 reserve.
“We have discussed very simple and inexpensive ways to resolve the matter, and what we need is a minister in Ontario to take a strong stand against a municipality who is literally attempting to take Indian land without our consent and without a legal right to do so,” he charged.
Chief McPherson warned his community is running out of both financial resources and patience to continue fighting for land that is clearly reserve land for the four Agency 1 First Nations to develop and benefit from.
