Minister steps in to resolve issue

June 1, 2011

JON THOMPSON

Miner and News 

The Minister of Natural Resources stepped in Wednesday morning to douse a flare in the conflict between her local ministry staff and Grassy Narrows First Nation. 

Less than 24 hours prior, local MNR officials leapt a road blockade in a helicopter to demand a company contracted by Grassy Narrows stop work on a bridge embankment, which had washed out and severed an dirt road leading to Red Lake the community said it required for emergency evacuation. The alternate road was last used a decade ago when a bridge on the Jones Road leading to the First Nation was washed out. 

Grassy Narrows leaders said the ministry threatened to charge the company $10,000 and seize heavy equipment for fixing a washout on a bridge. Deputy chief Randy Fobister said Grassy had met with the ministry four or five times to attempt to get the washout fixed, which has left the road out of commission for two years. In those meetings, he claimed the ministry would not grant a work permit unless the First Nation agreed to for forestry use of the road.

Frustrated with the response, the band contracted Nor-Quip Construction to repair the bridge and women from the community blockaded the road at its western entrance.

On Wednesday morning, Minister Linda Jeffrey held a conference call with the leadership of Grassy Narrows and committed her ministry to repairing the bridge in a "timely manner" at no cost to the First Nation. A spokesman for Jeffrey promised no fine would be laid against the construction company, nor would its assets be expropriated for Tuesday's action. Fobister said Wednesday's work will be ensuring those commitments are met as the leadership of the First Nation deals directly with the minister's office. 

"The way I see it, it's communication," he reflected. "They try to deal with it locally but they don't recognize that this is a serious issue. They don't recognize that we're a government. Our biggest issue is safety. They (local staff) just see we have to get a work permit. That's what Linda Jeffrey sees. She sees the importance of the safety of our people. The smaller departments don't see that. They need to see how First Nations governments are the same as them."

Judy Da Silva is a Grassy Narrows mother and traditional healer who is still standing at the blockade among Grassy Narrows women. 

"We're still going to be out there and we'll be monitoring the situation until we can make sure it's completed," she said.