Supreme Court rules Ontario aboriginal leader won't have to return to jail

December 9, 2008

By The Canadian Press

OTTAWA - An Ontario aboriginal leader who was imprisoned earlier this year for interfering with a mining site says a Supreme Court ruling that he won't have to return to jail is an important victory for civil rights.

Robert Lovelace, former chief of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation, was sentenced in February to six months in jail for refusing to obey a court injunction to stop interfering with a project by Frontenac Ventures north of Sharbot Lake, about 80 kilometres north of Kingston.

The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled in May that he should be released after spending 3 1/2 months in jail, but Frontenac Ventures appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada.

The Supreme Court last week dismissed Frontenac's application for leave to appeal.

On Tuesday, Lovelace said he and other protesters will continue to resist uranium mining and exploration on their traditional lands and keep pushing the government to consult with First Nations.

A few weeks after Lovelace was jailed, six leaders from the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation were imprisoned for breaching a similar court injunction involving Platinex Inc.

Those six were also freed by the Appeal Court decision that got Lovelace out of jail.