Premier of Ontario Kathleen Wynne visits the Union of Ontario Indians

By Laura Barrios

NIPISSING FIRST NATION—Time was of the essence for Premier of Ontario Kathleen Wynne during her brief stop at the Union of Ontario Indians (UOI) on Nipissing First Nation on August 12, 2016, as part of her tour of northern Ontario. The nature of her visit was to meet with a number of representatives to discuss an itemized agenda which included: hydro and delivery fees, respectively; Upper York Sewage; aerial spraying; and resource revenue.

The meeting included Premier Wynne and her team; Michael Gravelle, Minister of Northern Development and Mines; Deputy Grand Council Chief Glen Hare; Chief Scott McLeod of Nipissing First Nation; Ontario Regional Chief Isadore Day; Chief Operating Officer of Union of Ontario Indians Gary Dokis; UOI Lands and Resources Director Jason Laronde; Political Advisor Val Minogue; and UOI Policy Analyst Rhonda Gagnon.

Scott McLeod welcomed the Premier and her team to Nipissing First Nation, but quickly moved to the first matter of business: hydro fees and delivery charges. “I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t mention…the issue of some of the hydro charges.”

The hydro fees alone are already burdensome on citizens in Ontario, but those living on Reserves are feeling the financial pinch, more specifically some of the Elders who are on a fixed income. The grievance is not just that the hydro lines themselves are encroaching traditional land, but the fact that charges are being incurred for the delivery of the service in addition to the consumption fees. “[During] certain times of year, I’m told that the delivery charges supersedes the actual amount of hydro being used,” noted McLeod .

Hydro lines are going through the communities and ultimately on traditional territory, but not receiving any money for that trespass.  Essentially, those on Reserve are being charged to have their hydro delivered, but using the resources of the First Nation to provide that service. McLeod drew the comparison of “getting taxi service, but using your car to get you around,” as a way to simplify the issue.

“So I’ll just be perfectly frank with you… the reality is that they’re all over the province and they’re on traditional territory; by definition they are on traditional territory of some Indigenous people and I get that. And how we are going to resolve that in the end, I don’t know,” responded Wynne.

“I know you separate the rates from the delivery charges. But what I’ve have heard in the north since I’ve been travelling the last seven days and before, is that electricity prices have gone up and I know that, because we’ve been making the investment and there’s a cost associated with that. We’ve put programs in place; I know that the Ministry of Energy is trying to look at how to mitigate those costs. We know what we have to do,” continued Wynne.

“Our challenge is that we have more infrastructures to build into remote communities where the delivery charges are going to cost again, and building the infrastructure is going to cost and a lot of that is connecting remote First Nation communities…” stated Wynne. “So there’s still more that we have to do; we have to do more investments, but I think that it’s more important for people to be connected and have access to the grid, than to not to do that.”

Deputy Grand Council Chief Glen Hare proceeded to the issue with the Boil Water Advisory (BWA) Assessment report. “When it comes to water, everybody drinks it. We all have to fight for our water. We have to do this together. Lots of promises were made by the Prime Minister and we have yet to see them,” stated Hare, referring to the promises made to help with the water crisis.

There are currently 18 First Nations within the Anishinabek Territory that are steadily under Boil Water Advisory, which violates the human right to a basic necessity. The takeaway assessment was provided by Val Minogue.

“I don’t think there’s anything for us to study or discuss, it’s a matter of let’s get the work done, let’s get the proposal due from each of the [First Nations]. Let’s figure out what the challenges are. So, I’m not against the task force, but I’d sure rather have your support on getting the federal government to the table so that we can actually get the work done,” stated Wynne when conducting additional studies was suggested as a way to further prove the need for action with respect to the BWA.

“You can help us,” stated Wynne as she proposed working together to address the federal government. “We’re ready to go, and you can help us by calling on our federal partners—we will continue to do that—but to say look, we have 18 communities…let’s prioritize these, and let’s figure out where we can start acting. I think we can push together on this. It’s not that they’re unwilling to do this, the Prime Minister wants to do this, but we’re going to have to show the mechanisms.”

Regional Chief Day followed up by adding that he would “make sure that this becomes a priority at leaders in the legislature. I’ll do the work then follow up.”

Lands and Resources Director Jason Laronde and Policy Analyst Rhonda Gagnon brought up the issue of herbicides being used via aerial spray and the negative repercussions that not only affect ecosystems, but the effect that it is having on First Nations as a whole. Aerial spray herbicides are used in the underbrush in the forest which contains a chemical called glyphosate which has proven to not only remove the unwanted weeds to let desired plants grow without obstruction, but to also cause long-term issues in surrounding plants, and amphibians and animals who ingest the plants seasoned with herbicides.

First Nations heavily rely on their environment for things such as medicine, vegetation, or even community events, such as blueberry festivals. Another facet of the issue of herbicide use is the lack of forewarning or advisories to make citizens aware of the usage of the toxic chemicals. “They do not receive [consistent] advisories. Excursions take place with communities, yet are told to stay out of the site for one year. It’s [also] the location of the signs, [they are] only posted for 3 months when they should be posted for the whole year,” noted Gagnon.

“This is the first time I’m hearing about this…so what I’m being told is that the herbicides we’re talking about are the same ones that are used in agriculture. And they’re used twice every seven to nine years in the forest,” responded Premier Wynne. “I guess the question is: what would be a better way to make sure that the seedlings can grow? If the problem is the under brushing, and we need that wood to grow, how do we get the seedlings to grow?”

Gagnon poignantly stated that the issue boils down to dollars. “The cost—that’s the whole argument. It’s cheaper to get the spray than it is to get the people to do the underbrush.”

“There’s a beautiful opportunity to think about how can we examine our brush clearing practices and look at finding ways to find a better balance between having human beings do it and have a chemical do it…it would be interesting to examine” concluded Wynne.

The meeting concluded with gifts being presented to the Premier by way of a hand-made tapestry, and the We Are All Treaty People teachers kit on behalf of the Union of Ontario Indians.