Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Zimmer promised Treaty 3 First Nations a complete reboot in the treaty relationship between their communities and the provincial government when he spoke at the grand council’s fall assembly on Thursday, Oct. 23.

 

Zimmer traveled to Treaty 3 Grand Council’s semi-annual meeting being held in Seine River First Nation to meet with local chiefs and announce the Liberal government’s “new treaty strategy,” which he said was meant as a complete overhaul on how the treaties will be interpreted and applied by the provincial government.

“Premier Wynne has given me direction as Aboriginal Affairs Minister to get a serious conversation going about a new treaty strategy,” said Zimmer. “The treaties have been an issue over the years and now we’re going to sit down with First Nations and see what we can do to engage in a dialogue on how we can work together and meet our respective obligations under the treaties in such a way that everyone benefits.”

The articles of Treaty No. 3 have been the source of a great amount of conflict between local First Nations and the provincial government in recent years. The apparent contradiction between the treaty rights regarding hunting and fishing for First Nations and the government’s right to take up land for resource development was the catalyst for the decade-long legal fight between Ontario and Grassy Narrows over logging in the Whiskey Jack Forest. Although the First Nation lost its case at the Supreme Court of Canada, the community says the issue is far from settled.

Zimmer said the new treaty strategy the government is proposing would seek a solution to the Whiskey Jack logging issue and all other treaty-based conflicts inside the Treaty 3 area and across Ontario.

“We want to have a look at how the treaty is working and how all parties can be more productive and be good treaty partners,” the minister said.

Another part of the proposed strategy is to raise awareness of the importance and relevance of First Nation treaties in Ontario, specifically in Southern Ontario.

“Southerners have no idea that we are all treaty people here,” said Zimmer.

To raise that awareness, Zimmer said elementary schools across the province are being issued new maps of Ontario with the treaty area boundaries and every one of the First Nation communities marked on them. The province plans to launch a social media campaign using the hashtag #TreatyON.

The beginning of this new treaty strategy is in its earliest stages, but Zimmer said the process began with his 10 one-on-one meetings at the fall assembly with Treaty 3 chiefs and their delegations.

“All in all, my feeling is that it was a good meeting, and I had a sense that the First Nations chiefs and their delegates felt that it was a productive meeting.”