MPP Mamakwa addresses realities and future hopes with northern Ontario business association
By Sam Laskaris
FORT WILLIAM FIRST NATION— Grim realities and hopes for a better future. Those topics were both raised by Sol Mamakwa, the MPP for the Kiiwetinoong riding, during his opening remarks at an Anishinawbe Business Professional Association (ABPA) panel.
The panel followed ABPA’s inaugural annual general meeting held online on September 24.
“It’s an honour to be able to speak to business-minded people in our communities,” said Mamakwa, whose parliamentary roles include being the NDP critic for Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation.
Mamakwa is also a member of the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs.
He has been serving the Kiiwetinoong riding since the last provincial election, held in June of 2018.
“I know one of the things I always think about when I’m at Queen’s Park is I’m always advocating for basic things such as water, access to clean drinking water,” Mamakwa said. “And sometimes it’s certainly frustrating when you ask for these things and governments start playing the jurisdictional hot potato of our issues.”
Mamakwa said it is frustrating that he has made numerous recommendations on how to improve the lives of Indigenous people in northern Ontario, on such topics as policing, child welfare, education and access to clean drinking water.
But this advice is often ignored.
Mamakwa said news headlines involving northern Ontario tend to be made with respect to resource development, including mines and forestry.
“You see the abundance or how rich we are in our communities,” he said. “And then, when you go into the communities and start visiting the homes, when you start visiting the conditions of some of the infrastructure, it’s almost like we were put in a place where we’re supposed to be. That’s colonialism at its best. That’s the way the systems are built.”
Mamakwa said he has come to realize why Indigenous communities and people are being neglected.
“I used to think they were broken,” he said of provincial structures. “But they’re not broken. They’re working exactly the way they’re supposed to which is to take away the rights of our people through the lands and resources that are up there.”
Mamakwa added equally frustrating is the fact the current provincial administration tends to ignore recommendations to improve situations.
“It’s difficult sometimes when you’re trying to work with a government, especially that is not particularly friendly with Indigenous people or Indigenous policies,” he said.
Mamakwa, however, praised those involved with the ABPA. The organization’s mission is to improve opportunities for Anishnawbe businesses in the northern parts of the province through
strategic relationships, advocacy, education and leadership.
“I think what you have started here is something that we can gain momentum on,” Mamakwa
said about the ABPA. “I say that because one of the things I see in our communities when we talk about unity, when we talk about nationhood, when we talk about economic development, we are broken as a nation. We are not like this when we talk about economic development.”
Mamakwa believes organizations like the ABPA can continue to take steps forward and provide a major impact.
“Just imagine if we were united and we separated the economic development, the business side against the politics of it,” he said. “Just imagine how powerful we would be. It would be the industries; it would be the governments coming to us saying to us we want to work with you – not the other way around where we kind of ask the government for funding.”
Mamakwa is hoping Indigenous communities can move forward and become self-sustaining.
“I think we are rich enough with the lands that we have,” he said. “We’re rich enough in our identity and with the lands and resources that are there and we just want our share.”