The Globe and Mail

Forestry firms under fire at Grassy Narrows

February 28, 2006

Grassy Narrows, Ont. — The Grassy Narrows First Nation is demanding that forestry companies Weyerhaeuser Co. Ltd. and Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. stop logging on its reserve or face a fierce campaign of international protest.

In a letter to the companies, advocates for the reserve say decades of unsustainable logging have poisoned waters with mercury and other toxins, interfered with economic opportunities and nearly eliminated the ability to practice an aboriginal way of life.

The people of Grassy Narrows say the letter follows failed negotiations, lawsuits, environmental assessment requests, public protests and a three-year logging blockade.

They cite a report by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society that says Abitibi has clear-cut huge tracts of their land, sprayed the land with pesticides and replanted it in a way that serves only their own economic interests.

They say plans filed with the Ontario government indicate that Abitibi- Consolidated and Weyerhaeuser will continue their existing operations through 2009, with a requested extension through 2024.

The people of Grassy Narrows First Nation have lived on land north of Kenora, Ont., for thousands of years. Nearly half of the community's members still get their sustenance from the land by hunting, trapping, and gathering medicine and berries.

“The clear-cutting of the land and the destruction of the forest is an attack on our people,” Roberta Kessik, a Grassy Narrows grandmother and trapper, said in a release.

“The land is the basis of who we are. Our culture is a land-based culture and the destruction of the land is the destruction of our culture.”

Joseph Fobister, a Grassy Narrows business owner and community leader, said his people have been taken advantage of.

“We have participated fully in planning for many years, and our concerns are never properly considered,” he said.

“We are never treated as equal partners in the process. What's worse, our attendance at the information sessions and open houses is misconstrued as participation or approval.”