Madahbee applauds Chippewas of Kettle & Stony Point land settlement

April 14, 2016

National Defence Minister Harjit S. Sajjan, Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett and Kettle & Stony Point Chief Thomas Bressette at the final settlement signing after 74 years.

UOI OFFICES (Nipissing FN) April 14, 2016 – Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Patrick Madahbee says he was honoured to attend the historic ceremony for the return of Stoney Point lands wrongly taken 74 years ago.

“Sadly, Dudley George paid with his life and did not live to see this day,” says Grand Council Chief Madahbee. “I congratulate the leadership & citizens of Kettle & Stony Point as they enter into a new chapter of their lives. One of our major struggles is about the land. Thankfully This one was finally successful.”

The former Camp Ipperwash lands, once part of the First Nation’s reserve land base, were taken under the War Measures Act in 1942 and used as a military training base until 1995.

The negotiated settlement provides the First Nation with $95 million – capital that can be invested in new opportunities for community renewal and economic development. It also sets out a clear process for remediating the former Camp Ipperwash lands and returning them safely to the First Nation.

Recommendations from the 2007 Report of the Ipperwash Inquiry included the call for federal and provincial governments to update their policies on First Nation policing to recognize that self-administered First Nation police services in Ontario are the primary police service providers in their communities. Forty of the 100 recommendations involved policing in Ontario. The inquiry was called by the Ontario government after unarmed First Nation protester Dudley George was shot and killed by an Ontario Provincial Police sniper at the former Ipperwash Provincial Park.

To learn more about the events surrounding Ipperwash, visit www.anishinabek.ca/ipperwash.

The Anishinabek Nation established the Union of Ontario Indians as its secretariat in 1949. The UOI is a political advocate for 39 member communities across Ontario, representing approximately 60,000 people. The Union of Ontario Indians is the oldest political organization in Ontario and can trace its roots back to the Confederacy of Three Fires, which existed long before European contact.