Letter to the Editor – Responding to the article ‘Road to Ring of Fire must be green national priority’

From: Charles Hookimaw, Member of Attawapiskat (Kattawapiskak) First Nation

Date: November 10, 2021

A recent op-ed in The Sudbury Star said  there needs to be a better approach on green energy projects from Canada and Ontario, also from the mining industry. However, the views, purported facts and opinions expressed by the columnist are insulting, one-sided, narrow-minded, and misleading.

The columnist has no understanding of our history, culture, and the significance in and around the so-called “Ring of Fire” where we have strong ties to the Land. Our past and current land-users (hunters), Elders, and KattawapiskaK people continue to harvest and live-off upstream of the Attawapiskat River and within our watershed.

The community members who continue to harvest 150 miles upriver, in an area known as Little-Attawapiskat River (not Muketei River). This is an area of the river that branches off into the Ring of Fire mining claims, the Attawapiskat River,  Misissa Lake, and beyond. Members also used this land to travel throughout the James Bay coast and inland areas. This is just the tip of the land where the Kattawapiskak Cree People have and will continue to harvest and practice their way of life.

As stewards of the Land, we as the Kattawapiskak Cree People have a duty, as well as inherent and title rights to our Traditional Homelands. This duty, our culture and way of life will not change – it will be passed down as our past and current Elders have done for years.

Ongoing colonial attitudes are perpetuated by comments like we “have no legitimate claims on the traditional territories in the region “. It concerns me to hear such comments being made, that question our origins, where we harvest, and whether we have never been upriver to practice our way of life. Making these statements is not only misleading to the public but insulting to the Kattawapiskak Cree People. And I take that to heart.

The allegation that opposition to the Ring of Fire is being led by “environmental NGOs and a cadre of left-leaning lawyers,” is also false. A decision to challenge any proposed permits, or proposed exploration projects is the voices of our community and elected First Nation officials. We have a right to protect and defend our homelands, violated by the mining industry, and for this message to be amplified by our allies.

Before any proposed exploration projects and mining claims can be decided in the Traditional Territory of the Attawapiskat First Nation, they must first receive our Free, Prior and Informed Consent.