Editorial: KI is right to ask for time

Three years later and it looks like it’s business as usual in Kitchen­uhmay­koosib Inninuwug First Nation.

For the people who live there, it’s not a good thing.

Earlier this week band leaders publicly demanded the province – in the midst of an election campaign – force mining companies to stop exploration work on their traditional territory.

The community has set aside about 13,000 square kilometres of traditional land and said no exploration will be allowed until they’ve finished identifying where sacred burial sites are located.

All they’ve asked for at this point is time.

Instead, it appears they have another junior mining company encroaching on their territory.

Three years ago Chief Donny Morris and five of his KI councillors spent months in prison while fending off Platinex.

It cost the province $5 million in legal fees, says KI spokesman John Cutfeet, who, when interviewed, also asked how southern Ontarians would feel if Aboriginal “explorers” came to Thunder?Bay and started digging up cemeteries in search of gold or diamonds.
He’s got a point.

While no one wants to halt development of Ontario’s north, First?Nations do have the right to be consulted and negotiate before companies are allowed to stake their land. It’s the right thing to do.