By Matt Cicero

AOOlandclaimmapParliament sits on a hill that overlooks the Ottawa River; the hill, the river behind it, and the entire Ottawa River watershed was stolen from the Algonquin people and remains their territory. It has taken Canadians and the Canadian government centuries to acknowledge the reality that we are on Algonquin land.

The Algonquin Land Claim (ALC), described on the Government of Ontario’s website as an attempt to create “the province’s first modern-day constitutionally protected treaty,” covers these areas and, according to the department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada website, “approximately 36,000 square kilometers” of Eastern Ontario.

In 1992, the federal government entered into Comprehensive Land Claim (CLC) negotiations with the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan (AP) for all the Crown land in the Ottawa River watershed below the Mattawa River. The federal decision to negotiate stemmed from a petition delivered in 1983 by the AP, which was signed by almost all its adult band members. The ALC does not cover privately owned property, however.

“The big thing that [the federal government] want[s] from Golden Lake [Pikwakangan] is [for them] to surrender the title to their lands,” explains Algonquin Chief Harry St. Denis of Wolf Lake in YouTube video “Algonquin Rights and Title.” “The big thing there, too, is that…Parliament Hill, the Supreme Court, the Senate, all of those major institutions sit on unsurrendered Algonquin territory which is probably…an embarrassment to [the federal government] internationally.”

In 2004, the Algonquins of Ontario (AOO) was created to represent the nine non-status area committees and the AP in negotiations with the Governments of Ontario and Canada.

In 2015, the AOO and these governments signed an Agreement-In-Principle (AIP). The AIP proposes that the Algonquins would keep 117,500 acres of their land, 1.3 per cent of the total land base, and receive a one-time payment of $300 million from Canada and Ontario. The AIP has not yet been ratified. A vote is required and is expected in late 2015.

While the AP and AOO have entered into the CLC process, the Algonquin communities of Eagle Village, Barriere Lake, Timiskaming First Nation, and Wolf Lake have not. They have also been highly critical of the CLC policy and the ALC.

In a presentation made to Mr. Douglas Eyford, Special Federal Representative regarding Canada’s Interim CLC Policy, the Chiefs criticize the policy wherein Canada loans tens of millions of dollars to First Nations in an effort to negotiate. These are amounts that these First Nations cannot then repay unless they agree to a settlement as defined by the federal government. Even then, the government refuses to provide reserve lands, territorial overlap with the AP and AOO is ignored, and there is no compensation for prior infringement of their Aboriginal Rights and Title. Considering the situation they are forcing upon these people, it seems that the government’s aim is to extinguish the rights and title of these Indigenous groups.

The Chiefs of Wolf Lake, Barriere Lake, Tamiskaming First Nation, and Eagle Village have also asserted their Indigenous rights over Akikodjiwan (Chaudière and Albert Islands) in an effort to preserve them. They are opposed to the construction of condominiums (the proposed Windmill Development “Zibi” construction) on the islands, as well as the expansion of the hydro dam along the Chaudière Falls. Long Point First Nation and the Anishnaabe Nation of the Ottawa River Watershed also want this sacred area protected and safe from urban expansion.

When asked if there was a connection between the AP and AOO’s Land Claim and their support for the Windmill’s “Zibi” condominiums, Lynn Gehl, Algonquin Anishnaabekwe and author of The Truth That Wampum Tells: My Debwewin on the Algonquin Land Claim Process, told the Leveller, “Of course. Of course they are going to sanction [the construction].  It’s right in the land claim policy, we’re not allowed to touch private lands.”

On Aug. 20, 2015, Windmill and the AOO signed a letter of intent whereby Windmill committed to “pay respect to the Algonquin history and create opportunities for the Algonquin people.” They also agreed to “hiring Aboriginal tradespeople…and generating business opportunities.”

Windmill is offering jobs and business opportunities to the AP and the AOO as a way to buy sanction. This is just a song and dance that Indigenous people are all too familiar with, as Windmill is seeking a token of permission to make use of what it already considers to be its private property. Guy Freedman, the pro-Zibi President of the First Peoples’ Group, put it like this during a panel at Arboretum 2015: “The land [Chaudière and Albert islands] is private property and so Windmill can do what they like with it.”

Rodney Wilts, Windmill Development representative said that despite opposition, Windmill will not stop construction. The AP and AOO are in favour of the condominiums and, compared to the other Indigenous groups that take issue with the development, “they are closer.” At least, geographically.

However, Albert Dumont, an Algonquin activist and spiritual advisor, suggests in his laments that attachment to the land is not based solely on proximity.

“How can our sacred space be privately owned by anyone other than Algonquins,” he asked, “if it’s never been given up?

This article first appeared in The Leveller Vol.8, No.2 (October 2015).