Brock Harrison
Friday, July 13, 2007 - 00:00
Kingston Whig-Standard
The smell of campfire and fresh coffee hangs low in the afternoon heat here at this abandoned tremolite mine where about a dozen Algonquins have been hunkered down in protest for the last two weeks.
A small child rides his bicycle in the gravel, the sound of crunching rocks fading as he weaves between trailers and outhouses, while the grownups chat in the shade underneath a dark tent. A towering grey structure, used during the mine's operational days, now bears the Algonquin's red flag, as does the wire-mesh gate guarding the site. The words "No Surrender" hang over the gate on a wooden panel in neon-orange spray paint.
This land has been claimed.
"We aren't going anywhere," says Doreen Davis, the Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nations chief. "As Algonquins, we have a duty to protect the land. We have no choice."
They're protecting it against further mining. Over the past year, Frontenac Ventures, a local mining company, has staked more than 400 claims on about 8,000 hectares of land in North and Central Frontenac.
The company wants to mine uranium from the vast deposits some 200 metres below the surface. The 40-year-old abandoned mine site where the Algonquins have set up their permanent protest and makeshift village, about 85 kilometres north of Kingston, is exactly where the company wants to take samples.
George White, owner of Frontenac Ventures, has been turned away at the site twice already, Davis says. The Algonquins say they have also rebuffed the property owner.
The land parcels Frontenac Ventures has claimed are a mix of private and Crown property, the latter being the subject of negotiations between the Algonquins and the Ontario government.
But unlike most other land claim disputes flaring up across the province, this one has a peculiar and harmonious twist. "The settlers," as the Algonquins call the local non-aboriginals, have joined them in the fight against the uranium mine.
The Algonquins see it as a threat to the natural habitat on land they say is under their stewardship. Local residents say the radioactive substance poses a serious health and environmental threat, a claim that is supported by watchdog groups such as MiningWatch Canada.
"They're standing shoulder-to-shoulder with us on this," said Davis. "We're hoping they scream loud enough that the government will listen to them. They won't listen to us."
What the protesters want from Queen's Park is a declared moratorium on mining. Asked how long they'd be willing to wait, Davis immediately says "forever."
The site is full of evidence that the Algonquins have secured a loyal ally in the locals. A 60-foot construction trailers that lies just past the entrance, where food and supplies are stored, was donated by a local construction company. The outhouses and two power generators were also brought in free of charge. The group accepts deliveries of cold meat, honey, maple syrup, bacon and eggs daily from the local residents. Drop-off points have also been established.
"They've been so good to us," says Bob Lovelace, a spokesman for the Ardoch Algonquin First Nations. "They're behind us 100 per cent."
In return for the support, the Algonquins will join the residents in a protest march tonight. It starts at 7 p.m., at the junction of Highway 7 and Highway 509. (The protest site is about 10 km north of that junction.) They will walk to Sharbot Lake high school along Highway 38. A similar march on Sunday attracted more than 300 people.
Phone calls by the Whig-Standard to White were not returned yesterday, but in speaking earlier with the online publication Land O'Lakes NewsWeb.ca, White said his proposed uranium mine is completely safe.
"Ninety-eight per cent of what is being said by people who oppose what we are doing is completely false," he said in the June 21 edition.
Once uranium is mined, it leaves behind radioactive tailings. White vowed those tailings would be capped. He also said his mine would bring upwards of 600 jobs to the region. But that is not going to dissuade the Algonquins, who say their responsibility is rooted in their history and goes beyond dollars and cents.
"We didn't inherit this land from our ancestors, we borrowed it from our grandchildren," said Earl Badour, standing guard at the gate.
On the highway
A protest rally tonight is expected to disrupt traffic on Highways 7, 509 and 38, when hundreds of people opposed to uranium mining in the area plan to march along highway 38 to Sharbot Lake High School. The march starts at 7 p.m.