Sarwat Viqar, Kelti Cameron and I visited the site of the blockade at Sharbot Lake in Ontario on the Thanksgiving weekend .
This is a blockade set up by the Shabot obaadjiwan and Ardoch Algonquin First Nations to try to stop a planned uranium mine from being set up there. We spoke to settlers who have formed a support group for the First nations people, and we talked with the chief of the Shabot Obaadjiwan people, Doreen Davis or Eagle Cloud Woman.
There was a court hearing today, Tuesday, October 9, 2007. The Algonquin were asking for mediation but it was refused: the government is only willing to discuss unstaked (i.e. surveyed for mining purposes) land, and already 30,000 acres have been staked. This is unceeded land, in an area which is the watershed for eastern Ontario and western Quebec. The Algonquin are asking for a moratorium on uranium mining, similar to what already exists in Nova Scotia.
They asked us to speak to people in Quebec about this issue.
There are two websites to check out: www.aafna.ca and www.ccamu.ca.
Sarwat and I are available to be interviewed or to speak about our experience more extensively. Contact me by email at capcpc[at]web.ca. Also, the struggle was covered on Ecolibrium on CKUT radio this morning and is available on the archives -- Tuesday Oct. 9, at 11 a.m.
Eileen Young
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