AT SHARBOT LAKE JUST NORTH OF KINGSTON ONTARIO.
MNN. July 14, 2007. The standoff over uranium mining at Sharbot Lake just north of Kingston Ontario is not a conflict between “natives and non-natives” as the Globe and Mail suggests. The dispute is between the Indigenous landowners and the mining companies and their colonial government puppets.
Non-natives who want a peaceful and healthy future for their children are rallying in support of the Indigenous owners of the land. In this instance nobody with any sense is supporting uranium mining and the kind of activities that turns the earth into a toxic waste dump. In the past week Highways 509 and 7 were blocked to protect our lands and the Ottawa/Mississippi rivers watersheds from radioactive contamination.
A mysterious private company called “Frontenac Ventures Corporation” FVC has been trespassing on our land so it can extract our resources. Its board is made up of Dr. K. Sethu Raman, former Vice-President of “Campbell Chibougamau Mines” and “Royex Gold Group of Companies” (now “Barrrick Gold”); George White at 613-479-2936, the front man (who looks something like Mr. Burns of “The Simpsons”, the owner of the nuclear reactor that Homer works at), former vice president and general manager of “Westburne Industrial Enterprise Limited” that distributes oil and gas all over Turtle Island; William J. Radvak is co-founder of “Response Biomedical Corporation” which develops and commercializes rapid “immunoassay diagnostic” tests; Anthony Deweth previously of the private banking sector of “CIBC Wood Gundy”; and Doris Meyer, former vice-president and financial officer of “Queenstake” which negotiated the acquisition of the “Jerritt Canyon Mine” in Nevada and other publicly traded mining companies. Her own company is “Golden Oak Corporate Services”.
Does anyone have any information on how these colonial exploitation companies treated Indigenous people in the other “ventures” they’ve been involved in?
FVC is being “reverse” bought out by Sylvio Ventures to be traded on the Ventures Exchange Sector of the Toronto Stock Exchange. This means that the rules for scrutinizing their activities is less stringent than a publicly traded company. They plan to form a new company “Amalco” which will be a wholly-owned operating subsidiary of Sylvio.
It appears that besides mining uranium, they are trying to make a profit by creating nuclear weapons and other instruments of mass destruction in violation of international law.
FVC and their cohorts are furious at the Algonquins for denying them access to our land, minerals and the site to dig our uranium and make their bombs. George White even called us “Eco Terrorists” even though there hasn’t been one incident of violence, except for the mosquitoes and deer flies that are wicked this year!
FVC is a “private” company that develops uranium properties in Canada. Their website has three paragraphs with no names, addresses, phone numbers or links for more information. It states they operated “four mines between 1957 to 1964 [in that area] which produced 15 million pounds of uranium from pegmatite ore”. Open pit mining is one of their favorite methods. They presently have 400 claims for almost 8,000 hectares on Algonquin territory. They also have claims on property occupied by non-native cottagers who feel totally voiceless. According to their website FVC plans “to start aggressive exploration and development immediately”. The main settler opposition is associated with the “Green party” which is gearing up the Ontario provincial election. Their focus is to change the Ontario Mining Act and are using this issue for their own ends.
George White of FVC is concerned that the situation is similar to Niger in Africa where companies use armed security to carry out theft of resources there. Yes, George, your project is similar to Niger. A foreign corporation is taking somebody else’s resources and the bandits need armed forces to get away with it. In the meantime the land is being devastated and making it uninhabitable for good.
The Ontario government is developing nuclear power that could create the same kind of devastation that happened at “Chernobyl” in the Ukraine. The Soviet Union thought they had the greatest energy generating facility in the world. They did not foresee the catastrophic explosion of the nuclear plant in 1986 that killed thousands of people and destroyed the land for thousands of years. This once beautiful part of the Ukraine was turned into a waste land that will not be safe to live on for hundreds of years. It was the worst accident in the history of nuclear power. The fall-out drifted over western Soviet Union, Europe and eastern Turtle Island. It exposed 6.6 million people to radioactivity. The number of deaths that resulted cannot yet be told. It affected rivers, lakes, reservoirs, ground water, fauna and vegetation and continues to cause grass and forest fires.
FVC has been ground to a halt. FVC, Mining Resource Engineering Limited MREL, Ministry of Natural Resources, Department of National Defense, Indian Affairs and the Ontario government are uninvited crooks who sneaked into Sharbot and Ardoch Lakes without telling the Algonquin people. It is being done for the benefit of private shareholders and investors who want to profit from the theft of our resources that we never surrendered.
Private corporations like FVC are not listed on the stock exchange. We cannot find out who the real owners are. They could be a front for secret investors. They appear to have something to hide. There is a legal separation between the private investors and the corporation. In this case it is almost impossible to pierce the corporate veil and get at the scoundrels who hide behind such corporations.
Only the federal or provincial environment ministries can chose to become involved in their activities. They can act secretly without regard for the welfare, laws, elders and future generations of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous. Should a catastrophe happen they could declare bankruptcy and disappear. No one will ever know who the secret culprits were. Even if they were caught, found to be negligent or criminal and the company is charged, a judgment could go in their favor against us.
On the other hand, a “public” company is highly regulated and has to tell the shareholders what they are doing.
The Algonquins are sovereign and independent who never surrendered their lands. They are not part of Canada because they never agreed to join the colonial state and come under the Indian Act. They remain independent under their own traditional law and the rules of international law apply.
Should a squatter build a house on your land, they would be trespassing. Even if a buddy of theirs gave them the rights or deed. At Sharbot and Ardoch Lakes neither Canada nor Ontario has legal jurisdiction to grant mining licenses to Algonquin territory and resources. It’s trespass and theft.
Indian Affairs usurped Indigenous sovereignty by declaring themselves as the “trustees” that these foreign agencies have to deal with. Indian Affairs pretends that we and our lands are under their jurisdiction. They don’t want anyone to deal directly with us under our laws.
In the Guerin and Sparrow decisions, the Supreme Court of Canada found that the Crown has a fiduciary obligation to act in our best interests. Indian Affairs has notoriously breached this duty.
On top of this breach, they allow foreign interests to conduct munitions manufacturing, target practice and experimentation which is devastating and destroying our land. Uranium tailings are being made into nuclear bombs. Under international law it is illegal to use weapons of mass destruction or to even use force to solve disputes. We don’t know why these guys are making weapons that cannot be used legally. This must be why they are keeping their operations a big secret. It takes 10,000 years for uranium to lose its “half life”.
Non-natives formed the “Community Action Coalition Against Mining Uranium” to raise money for food and other necessities. The three issues the Algonquins are facing are: unsettled colonial claims to our land; colonists are giving permission for foreign entities to stake claims to our unsurrendered land; and the danger of uranium mining.
Journalists are worried about being fired if they write the truth. The mining activities and nuclear experimentation is so dangerous that it is putting the lives of the public at stake.
It freezes our mind to think of the consequences. We have to help the Algonquins at Sharbot and Ardoch Lakes. Write your members of parliament, the prime minister and the international community. Ask who has bought off the government and why? Is any amount of money gained in one lifetime worth jeopardizing the lives of humans for 10,000 years to come? We are demanding “No uranium mining whatsoever”. The Big Trout Lake and Nishnabe Aski and three other Indigenous communities have declared an indefinite moratorium on uranium mining and they’re enforcing it. The Algonquin’s Coalition is waiting for the September negotiations with the Ontario government!!! The fighters are getting tired and need your help immediately. [To help contact: Chief Paul Sherman 613-279-1970 paulasherman@trentu.ca; Bob Lovelace at 613-374-5598, Cell 613-532-2166; Harold Perry 613-479-5534; Lynn Daniluk 613-268-2746 Cell 614-267-0539; Ormond Lee of the settler committee 613-267-7584]. In the meantime George White sits in his cottage waiting for them to get tired and leave.
[For more information contact: Explosives Regulatory Division, Natural Resources Canada inspector@nrcan.gc.ca Phone 613-948-5200.] [[MREL Bill Bauer Phone 613-545-0466 (111) Cell 613-530-0777 bbauer@mrel.com]. [Prime Minister Stephen Harper harper.s@parl.gc.ca] [Anyone else you can think of to stop this madness.]
Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News
Non-natives who want a peaceful and healthy future for their children are rallying in support of the Indigenous owners of the land. In this instance nobody with any sense is supporting uranium mining and the kind of activities that turns the earth into a toxic waste dump. In the past week Highways 509 and 7 were blocked to protect our lands and the Ottawa/Mississippi rivers watersheds from radioactive contamination.
A mysterious private company called “Frontenac Ventures Corporation” FVC has been trespassing on our land so it can extract our resources. Its board is made up of Dr. K. Sethu Raman, former Vice-President of “Campbell Chibougamau Mines” and “Royex Gold Group of Companies” (now “Barrrick Gold”); George White at 613-479-2936, the front man (who looks something like Mr. Burns of “The Simpsons”, the owner of the nuclear reactor that Homer works at), former vice president and general manager of “Westburne Industrial Enterprise Limited” that distributes oil and gas all over Turtle Island; William J. Radvak is co-founder of “Response Biomedical Corporation” which develops and commercializes rapid “immunoassay diagnostic” tests; Anthony Deweth previously of the private banking sector of “CIBC Wood Gundy”; and Doris Meyer, former vice-president and financial officer of “Queenstake” which negotiated the acquisition of the “Jerritt Canyon Mine” in Nevada and other publicly traded mining companies. Her own company is “Golden Oak Corporate Services”.
Does anyone have any information on how these colonial exploitation companies treated Indigenous people in the other “ventures” they’ve been involved in?
FVC is being “reverse” bought out by Sylvio Ventures to be traded on the Ventures Exchange Sector of the Toronto Stock Exchange. This means that the rules for scrutinizing their activities is less stringent than a publicly traded company. They plan to form a new company “Amalco” which will be a wholly-owned operating subsidiary of Sylvio.
It appears that besides mining uranium, they are trying to make a profit by creating nuclear weapons and other instruments of mass destruction in violation of international law.
FVC and their cohorts are furious at the Algonquins for denying them access to our land, minerals and the site to dig our uranium and make their bombs. George White even called us “Eco Terrorists” even though there hasn’t been one incident of violence, except for the mosquitoes and deer flies that are wicked this year!
FVC is a “private” company that develops uranium properties in Canada. Their website has three paragraphs with no names, addresses, phone numbers or links for more information. It states they operated “four mines between 1957 to 1964 [in that area] which produced 15 million pounds of uranium from pegmatite ore”. Open pit mining is one of their favorite methods. They presently have 400 claims for almost 8,000 hectares on Algonquin territory. They also have claims on property occupied by non-native cottagers who feel totally voiceless. According to their website FVC plans “to start aggressive exploration and development immediately”. The main settler opposition is associated with the “Green party” which is gearing up the Ontario provincial election. Their focus is to change the Ontario Mining Act and are using this issue for their own ends.
George White of FVC is concerned that the situation is similar to Niger in Africa where companies use armed security to carry out theft of resources there. Yes, George, your project is similar to Niger. A foreign corporation is taking somebody else’s resources and the bandits need armed forces to get away with it. In the meantime the land is being devastated and making it uninhabitable for good.
The Ontario government is developing nuclear power that could create the same kind of devastation that happened at “Chernobyl” in the Ukraine. The Soviet Union thought they had the greatest energy generating facility in the world. They did not foresee the catastrophic explosion of the nuclear plant in 1986 that killed thousands of people and destroyed the land for thousands of years. This once beautiful part of the Ukraine was turned into a waste land that will not be safe to live on for hundreds of years. It was the worst accident in the history of nuclear power. The fall-out drifted over western Soviet Union, Europe and eastern Turtle Island. It exposed 6.6 million people to radioactivity. The number of deaths that resulted cannot yet be told. It affected rivers, lakes, reservoirs, ground water, fauna and vegetation and continues to cause grass and forest fires.
FVC has been ground to a halt. FVC, Mining Resource Engineering Limited MREL, Ministry of Natural Resources, Department of National Defense, Indian Affairs and the Ontario government are uninvited crooks who sneaked into Sharbot and Ardoch Lakes without telling the Algonquin people. It is being done for the benefit of private shareholders and investors who want to profit from the theft of our resources that we never surrendered.
Private corporations like FVC are not listed on the stock exchange. We cannot find out who the real owners are. They could be a front for secret investors. They appear to have something to hide. There is a legal separation between the private investors and the corporation. In this case it is almost impossible to pierce the corporate veil and get at the scoundrels who hide behind such corporations.
Only the federal or provincial environment ministries can chose to become involved in their activities. They can act secretly without regard for the welfare, laws, elders and future generations of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous. Should a catastrophe happen they could declare bankruptcy and disappear. No one will ever know who the secret culprits were. Even if they were caught, found to be negligent or criminal and the company is charged, a judgment could go in their favor against us.
On the other hand, a “public” company is highly regulated and has to tell the shareholders what they are doing.
The Algonquins are sovereign and independent who never surrendered their lands. They are not part of Canada because they never agreed to join the colonial state and come under the Indian Act. They remain independent under their own traditional law and the rules of international law apply.
Should a squatter build a house on your land, they would be trespassing. Even if a buddy of theirs gave them the rights or deed. At Sharbot and Ardoch Lakes neither Canada nor Ontario has legal jurisdiction to grant mining licenses to Algonquin territory and resources. It’s trespass and theft.
Indian Affairs usurped Indigenous sovereignty by declaring themselves as the “trustees” that these foreign agencies have to deal with. Indian Affairs pretends that we and our lands are under their jurisdiction. They don’t want anyone to deal directly with us under our laws.
In the Guerin and Sparrow decisions, the Supreme Court of Canada found that the Crown has a fiduciary obligation to act in our best interests. Indian Affairs has notoriously breached this duty.
On top of this breach, they allow foreign interests to conduct munitions manufacturing, target practice and experimentation which is devastating and destroying our land. Uranium tailings are being made into nuclear bombs. Under international law it is illegal to use weapons of mass destruction or to even use force to solve disputes. We don’t know why these guys are making weapons that cannot be used legally. This must be why they are keeping their operations a big secret. It takes 10,000 years for uranium to lose its “half life”.
Non-natives formed the “Community Action Coalition Against Mining Uranium” to raise money for food and other necessities. The three issues the Algonquins are facing are: unsettled colonial claims to our land; colonists are giving permission for foreign entities to stake claims to our unsurrendered land; and the danger of uranium mining.
Journalists are worried about being fired if they write the truth. The mining activities and nuclear experimentation is so dangerous that it is putting the lives of the public at stake.
It freezes our mind to think of the consequences. We have to help the Algonquins at Sharbot and Ardoch Lakes. Write your members of parliament, the prime minister and the international community. Ask who has bought off the government and why? Is any amount of money gained in one lifetime worth jeopardizing the lives of humans for 10,000 years to come? We are demanding “No uranium mining whatsoever”. The Big Trout Lake and Nishnabe Aski and three other Indigenous communities have declared an indefinite moratorium on uranium mining and they’re enforcing it. The Algonquin’s Coalition is waiting for the September negotiations with the Ontario government!!! The fighters are getting tired and need your help immediately. [To help contact: Chief Paul Sherman 613-279-1970 paulasherman@trentu.ca; Bob Lovelace at 613-374-5598, Cell 613-532-2166; Harold Perry 613-479-5534; Lynn Daniluk 613-268-2746 Cell 614-267-0539; Ormond Lee of the settler committee 613-267-7584]. In the meantime George White sits in his cottage waiting for them to get tired and leave.
[For more information contact: Explosives Regulatory Division, Natural Resources Canada inspector@nrcan.gc.ca Phone 613-948-5200.] [[MREL Bill Bauer Phone 613-545-0466 (111) Cell 613-530-0777 bbauer@mrel.com]. [Prime Minister Stephen Harper harper.s@parl.gc.ca] [Anyone else you can think of to stop this madness.]
Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News
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