THE SUDBURY STAR

Aboriginal leader takes land battle to Toronto

June 23, 2006

Deputy Chief Steve Fobister of Grassy Narrows First Nations took the community's complaints to Queen's Park Tuesday as part of an on-going struggle to end clearcutting in their traditional lands.

"We have watched Abitibi Consolidated and Weyerhaeuser clearcut our land, destroy our traditional ways of life and had our trap lines disappear," said Fobister. "The Ontario government just looks the other way and refuses to address our concerns."

Grassy Narrows has been blocking a logging road north of the reserve for more than three years, and band members are getting support from international environmental groups.

ForestEthics supporters joined Fobister in Toronto, and they have already sent interns to the community for the summer, in an effort to help the First Nation with its fight against logging companies.

"There is a crisis in Ontario's Boreal Forest. This government is mismanaging the last of our great northern forests and ignoring First Nations rights and title. To add insult to injury, they are sitting back and watching the last caribou habitat disappear," said Tzeporah Berman, program director of ForestEthics. "We have reached a crucial moment in Ontario where political leadership is grossly overdue."

The California-based Rainforest Action Network has also provided its help, and activists from across North America have been invited to converge on the Slant Lake blockade site next month, as a show of support.

While Abitibi-Consolidated manages the forest, and acts as a supplier of wood for Weyerhaeuser mills, they argue they are following the rules laid down by the province.

The Earth Justice Gathering is scheduled for July 10-16 near Grassy Narrows.