But one holdout group calls plan to allow mine drilling a 'sellout'
By JENNIFER PRITCHETT, Sun Media
December 2, 2008 Ottawa SUN
KINGSTON - After a year and a half of protests against proposed uranium mining north of
Yesterday, representatives for the Shabot Obaadjiwan, the Snimikobi Algonquins, the Algonquins of Ontario, Frontenac Ventures Corporation and the province appeared in Superior Court in
Frontenac Ventures' lawyer, Neal Smitheman, said the agreement means that "some exploration work can be commenced in the future" and that the work "is subject to input from a steering committee being set up as part of the agreement involving both representatives of Frontenac and the Shabot Obaadjiwan."
Another aboriginal group involved in the longstanding protests against the mining proposal is calling the deal a "sellout."
"This is a really good example of how some people sell out," said Bob Lovelace of the Ardoch Algonquins.
The native leader also said people are still concerned about the health and environmental affects of the proposed uranium project and they won't give up efforts to protect the land.
"We'll do what we can to protect our land," Lovelace said.
"We have grave concerns about the environment, health, safety of the people in the area, the local economy, as well as our own uses of that particular land."
Lovelace, a former Ardoch Algonquin First Nation chief and Queen's University lecturer, was jailed for 3 1 /2 months earlier this year for refusing to back down from protesting at the site north of
In June 2007, aboriginal groups, including the Shabot Obaadjiwan and the Ardoch Algonquins, camped outside the gates of an abandoned tremolite mine to protest the fact that Frontenac Ventures had staked claims on an expansive property, located about 90 kilometres north of
Frontenac Ventures, an Oakville-based company, plans to mine uranium from the vast deposits some 200 metres below the surface.