MITCHIKANIBIKOK INIK Algonguins of Barlere Lake {ees Algonquin Lae Rarriere KITIGANIK “Rapid Lake ~ Lae Repide ucbee ww 20 Ter @1y 82171 January 13, 2010 Mr. Pierre Nepton Regional Director-General Indian & Northern Affairs Canada Place Jacques-Cartier Complex 320 St. Joseph Street East Québec (Quebec) GIK 932 By Fax: (418) 648.2266 RE: Notice of Information to the Algonquins of Barriere Lake Dear Mr. Nepton: We are writing to tespond to the above noted notice you sent to our First Nation dated December 18, 2009, regarding the community meeting in Rapid Lake on December 15, 2009, First of all, we would like to thank you for taking the time to come to Rapid Lake to listen to the concerns of our community. It was important for tne people to express their concerns to you directly. This is because departmental officials often wrongly assume that what we tell you as a Chief and Council is not reflective of our community. Moreover, the department often places undue emphasis on disagreements or disputes which we may have within our community, What you observed during the meeting of December 15" is that it was attended by supporters of both ‘our Council and supporters of the Casey Ratt group. What you also observed is that despite the differences between us, both groups are adamantly opposed to the Minister either issuing or threatening to issue an order under section 74 of the Indian Act, to put us under the elective system, There is a broad consensus in our community in favour of retaining our customs and against a section 74 order. Your Notice say’ that you have “heard the concems expressed during the meeting” we now hope that you will act on those concerns in good faith. Your Notice also says that you “took note of the resolution”, which was read to you in the meeting. We are pleased to transmit a copy ofthat resolution, which indicates clearly that our Elders and our people are opposed to a section 74 order. Before moving to the substance of this leter, we wish to clarify Tony Wawatie’s role in the meeting of December 15, 2009. Your Notice says that “it became apparent to me that Tony ‘Wavwatie was not interested to provide me with the opportunity to address the people.” You are mistaken. Tony Wawatie’s role was to moderate the discussion, He asked the people if they ‘wanted to hear you and they told him, in no uncertain terms, that they did not want to hear from you. Their only purpose was to give you a very clear message that they were opposed to the ‘Minister either issuing or threatening to issue an order under section 74 of the Indian Act, Once this message was delivered, many people walked out. As a courtesy, some people stayed to listen to your presentation. ‘Your Notice deals with two main subjects, which we would like to respond to at this point: "The Minister's decision” and "Living Conditions’. ‘The Minister's decision; We take issue with a number of the points that you make under this heading: 1. The INAC Notice states that our community “has been through leadership disputes and once again is involved in another one;" and says that “factions in your community are now involved in various lengthy and costly court proceedings”. This is the rationale you provide for the Minister’s letter of October 30, 2009, which threatens an order under section 74 of the Indian Act. ‘© [tis untrue to suggest that factions in our community are engaged in numerous court proceedings against each other. We wish to point out that our community is involved in four court proceedings at the present time. Three of those are against your Minister. Only one is between our Council and the Casey Ratt group, and that is scheduled for an early hearing on February 1 and 2, 2010. * Wealso wish to point out that under Canadian law the Federal Court of Canada has jurisdiction to address custom leadership disputes. By all accounts, itis the proper venue for us to settle our leadership dispute with the Casey Ratt's group. We fail to see why we should be denied recourse to this Court or why we should be penalized for taking our dispute to a Court that claims jurisdiction to address these matters, particularly when the Minister has admitted to not having jurisdiction to address these disputes. ‘© Itis also untrue for you io suggest that our community has been involved in endless leadership disputes over the years. There was a leadership dispute in our community in 1996, and we are in the middle of one now. But, it has been at least ten years between these occurrences ~ we consider that quite infrequent considering the frequency of leadership disputes within the current minority Parliament in Ottawa. © Finally, we wish to point out that our leadership disputes inevitably involve or have been caused by actions by your department. In 1996, for example, the Minister recognized a‘group calling itself the “Interim Band Council”. This decision was based on a so-called modem custom of leadership selection by petition, which tumed out to be wrong, according to the report of Justice Rejean Paul. More recently, the late Chief Harry ‘Wawatie, was forced to resign when he became engaged in a dispute with your department over the imposition of a third party manager on our First Nation, and the refusal by your department to honour the Trilateral Agreement it signed in 1991, the ‘Memorandum of Mutual Intent it signed in 1997, and the Special Provisions Agreement which was annexed to all the Contribution Agreements it has signed since 1997, 2. The INAC Notice states that “the Minister does not know anymore who the duly selected ‘council is in Barriere Lake.” ‘© Aswe indicated above, the Federal Court is scheduled to hear the judicial review application which has been brought against our Council by the Casey Ratt group on February | and 2, 2010. The Minister should know within a short while after the hearing who the duly selected council is in Barriere Lake. ‘© But, we do not believe that it is a matter of the Minister not knowing who to deal with; we believe it is more a function of “who he wants to deal with.” It is clear that INAC is adverse to dealing with a council which refuses to comply with INAC’s agenda. The INAC Seeret Document, dated February 18, 2008, which was disclosed in Federal Court, confirmed this when it recommended against recognizing the Matchewan-Nottaway Council. As you will recall, the Matchewan-Nottaway Council opposed the imposition of a third party manager on our First Nation. It also insisted that INAC honour the Trilateral Agreement it signed in 1991, the Memorandum of Mutual Intent it signed in 1997, and the Special Provisions Agreement which was annexed to all the Contribution Agreements ithas signed since 1997. * The Secret Document recommended recognizing Casey Ralt’s group on the basis that they would be more cooperative. But now, the department has decided to de-recognize that group because they have been unable or unwilling to advance the INAC agenda. 3. You suggest that our customs, the Mitchikanibikok Anishinabe Onakinakewin, are to blame for our leadership disputes. Your Notice of December 18” states: “In light of this and the ambiguity of the Mitchikanibikok Anishinabe Onakinakewin, the Minister has come to the difficult conclusion that the community must establish a transparent, democratic and accessible leadership selection process in order to address those long-standing governance disputes ...” ‘© You have given us no evidence to indicate that our leadership disputes have been caused by ambiguity in out customs. Please identify the ambiguity and explain how it may be causing leadership disputes. We have stated that our leadership disputes often involve or are often caused by INAC interference. We gave you the specific example of the Minister wrongly recognizing the Interim Band Council in 1996 ~ this was later proven to be a mistake and the decision was reversed, From our perspective, our customs are not the problem; the problem is INAC’s interference. However, if you can identify any ambiguities, we would be more than prepared to address the problem.© You insist that we must adjust our customs to make them more transparent, democratic and accessible, Yet, you have also not given us any evidence to indicate that our “long~ standing governance disputes” are caused by our customs being deficient with regard to these principles. Nor for that matter have you established that our customs fail to meet these principles. Our customary leadership selection process is very transparent, democratic and accessible. If you had accepted our invitation to attend and observe the June 24" leadership selection you would have been able to witness this for yourself. ‘* As.we said, we codified our customs in 1996; this was at the insistence of INAC. INAC accepted and was involved in the process under which those customs were codified in 1996. This process was documented in a report prepared by Messrs. Gratton and Maltais, ‘who were jointly appointed by INAC and the Elders in our community. Moreover, the leadership selection that occurred under those customs in 1997, wherein Chief Wawatic's Council was chosen, was accepted by INAC as transparent and legitimate. It is highly inappropriate for INAC to now challenge the principles underlying our customs as, codified and approved by INAC. * To conclude on this point, we wish to highlight that when we codified our customs in 1997, we also amended them to meet contemporary circumstances. For example, our customary governance code was amended to establish a board of directors. The board, which is chosen by regular elections, is authorized to deal with the administration of programs and services of our First Nation. This is a new institution of governance for us, ‘which has not been fully implemented yet. It needs to be murtured. We believe this aspect of our governance system may address any concems you may have regarding, principles of democracy, Rather than trying to force us to change our customs further, we urge you to work with us in helping us to develop the capacity to implement the board of director structure. 4. Your Notice insists that we make adjustments to our customs, which are in conformity with the principles in INAC’s Conversion to Community Election System Policy. And that we have until March 31, 2010 to make these changes otherwise, the Minister will force our First Nation under the electoral provisions of the Jndian Act. ‘* We find it inappropriate for INAC to expect us to adopt the principles of this Policy, which is obviously intended for communities who are already under the section 74 Indian Act elective system. It is clearly not meant to apply to our situation. ‘© At best, this policy is ambiguous to the extent that it applies to our situation, You will agree that it is rather ironic for INAC complain about the ambiguity of our customs, when ‘you insist on forcing policies upon us that are either inapplicable or ambiguous with respect to their application to us. ‘+ Forcing us to comply with an inapplicable policy would be illegal, unconstitutional and inconsistent with the international standards now prescribed by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We urge the Minister to reconsider the actions contemplated in his letter of October 30, 2009.ving jons: This section of the notice fails to mention the various Agreements the governments of Canada and Quebec signed with our First Nation, which are as follows: 1991 Trilateral Agreement (Canada, Quebec & ABL); 1997 Memorandum of Mutual Intent & Global Proposal (Canada & ABL); 1997 Special Provisions in Federal Funding Agreements (Canada & ABL); 1998 Bilateral Agreement (Quebec & ABL); 2006 Ciaceia-Lincoln Joint Recommendations (Quebec & ABL). The failure of the December 18, 2009, Notice to mention the above agreements speaks for itself. ‘The Notice refers to constructing a new community building, expanding the land base and connecting our community to the Hydro Quebec grid. This INAC statement of good intentions is now 12 years old! All of the investments and projects mentioned in the December 18, 2009 Notice were negotiated by our legitimate customary Chief and Council in the context of the Agreements we referred to above. These agreements were negotiated by Chief Jean Maurice Matchewan and our late Chief and Elder Harry Wawatie. By way of this letter we are giving you notice that for our First Nation the provisions of these above noted Agreements remain paramount. Moreover, our First Nation stands firm in our resolve to make sure that Canada and Quebec honours these agreements. Your department's refusal to recognize our legitimate leadership and your efforts to manipulate our community's administration, through your third party manager, has only reinforced our resolve. We should also make clear that if there are any community meetings on our land, it wil be our community that organizes and chairs them, subject to agreement on the agenda, Consequently, ‘we will reject any unilateral calls for any meeting in our community. ‘We remain ready to negotiate with you and your department on the outstanding issues between our First Nation and yourselves, provided our leadership mandate is respected and that the negotiations are within the context of the Agreements our First Nation has already signed with the govemments of Canada and Quebec.‘We trust you will understand our position even if you do not agree Yours Truly, GoajnE A ag emi cee Benjamfa Nottaway, Councillor Ka rcramas Coulio Cant ‘David Wawatie, Councillor ce. All Eligible Members, Algonquins of Barriere Lake Grand Chief Norman Young, Algonquin Nation Secretariat Chief Conrad Polson, Timiskaming First Nation Chief Harry St. Denis, Wolf Lake First Nation Algonquin Chiefs Regional Chief Ghislain Picard, AFNQL National Chief, Shawn Atleo, AFN Minister Chuck Strahl, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada Minister Lawrence Cannon, Foreign Affairs, Canada, M.P. for Pontiac Riding Minister Leona Aglukkag, Health Canada Minister Diane Finley, Human Resources & Skills Development, Canada Minister Robert Douglas Nicholson, Justice & Attomey General of Canada Minister Peter Van Loan, Public Security, Canada ‘Minister Pierre Corbeil, Responsible for Aboriginal Affairs, Quebec Minister Nathalie Normandeau, Natural Resources & Wildlife, Quebec ‘Minister Line Beauchamp, Sustainable Development, Environment & Parks Minister Jacques Dupuis, Public Security, Quebec Mr. John Ciaccia, Special Representative, Quebec Mr. Clifford Lincoln, Special Representative, Algonquins of Barriere LakeMITCHIKANIBIKO'INIK Algenguis of Barsere Lake ‘Les Algouguins du Le Barrere KITIGANIK Rapid Lake ~ Cac Rapice ‘QacheeJBW 200 Tele (a1 aas-2171 RESOLUTION OF. Re: Rejection of Minister of Indian Affairs Plan to Impose Section 74 Elective System ‘WHEREAS our Elders have discussed the October 30, 2009, letter from the federal Minister of Indian Affairs, Chuck Strahl, wherein Minister Strahl has vaitten indicating his intertions to place our First ‘Nation under the Indian Act Section 74 Elective System by April 1, 2010, if our First Nation doesn't develop a new leadership Selection code, which is in accord with the DIA "Conversion to Community Election System Policy"; WHEREAS Leadership selection within our First Nation is already conducted according to our custom, which has been codified and updated. Our codified customs are entitled Mitchikanibikok Inik Anishinabe Onakinakewin; ‘THEREFORE IT IS RESOLVED that we the undersigned Elders hereby reject any attempts by, the federal government to impose the Indian Act Section 74 Elective System, of DIA's " Conversion to Community Election System Policy” over our First Nation. ADOPTED within Algonquin Traditional Territory, this 14" day of December 2009. BY THE MITCHIKANIBIKO'INIK ELDERS RESOLUTION OF THE ELDERS Too WE GET Z00z/2T/T0MITCHIKANIBIKO'INIK ITIGANIK Rapid Lake— Lac Rape Quebec OW 3C0 ‘Te: @1m)aas.2i7 RESOLUTION OF THE ELDERS Re: Rejection of Minister of Indian Affairs Plan to Impose Section 74 Elective System WHEREAS our Elders have discussed the October 30, 2009, letter from the federal Minister of Indian Affairs, Chuck Strahl, wherein Minister Strahl has written indicating his intentions to place our First ‘Nation under the Indian Act Section 74 Elective System by April 1, 2010, if our First Nation doesn't develop a new leadership Selection code, which is in accord with the DIA “Conversion to Community Election System Policy"; WHEREAS Leadership selection within our First Nation is already conducted according to our custom, which hes been codified and updated, Our codified customs are entitled Mitchikanibikok Inik Anishinabe Onakinakewin, THEREFORE IT IS RESOLVED that we the undersigned Elders hereby reject any attempts by the federal government to impose the Indian Act Section 74 Elective System, of DIA's " Conversion to Community Election System Policy" over our First Nation. . ADOPTED within Algonquin Traditional Territory, this 14° day of December 2009. BY THE MITCHIKANIBIKO'INIK ELDERS z00Q AVE S6:8T t00z/Z1/T0MITCHIKANIBIKO'INIK ‘Algonquns of Bazvere Lake ‘Les Algonqains du Lac Barrere KQTIGANIK -Rapid Late = Lae Rapide ‘Quen s0W 200 Tek (19) 05:2171 RESOLUTION OF THE Re: Rejection of Minister of Indian Affairs Plan to Impose Section 74 Elective System WHEREAS our Elders have discussed the October 30, 2009, letter from the federal Minister of Indian Affairs, Chuck Strahl, wherein Minister Strahl has written indicating his intentions to place out First ‘Nation under the Indian Act Section 74 Elective System by April 1, 2010, if our First Nation doesn't develop a new leadership Selection code, which is in accord with the DIA "Conversion to Community Election System Policy"; WHEREAS Leadership selection within our First Nation is already conducted according to our custom, which has been codified and updated. Our codified customs are entitled Mitchikanibikok Inik Ani be Onakinakewin; THEREFORE IT IS RESOLVED that we the undersigned Elders hereby reject any attempts by the federal government to impose the Indian Act Section 74 Elective System, of DIA's " Conversion to Community Election System Policy" over our First Nation, ADOPTED within Algonquin Traditional Territory, this 14" day of December 2009. BY THE MITCHIKANIBIKO'INIK ELDERS ERS / 00m VE 96:87 To0z/ZT/T6MITCHIKANIBIKO'INIK Algonquins of Barrer Lake ‘Les Algonquin du Le Bariere KATIGANIK -Rapld Lake~ Lac Raplde uevee sow 2c0 ‘Tels 619) 495.2171 SOL THE EL) Re: Rejection of Minister of Indian Affairs Plan to Impose Section 74 Elective System WHEREAS our Elders have discussed the October 30, 2009, letter from the federal Minister of Indian Affairs, Chuck Strahl, wherein Minister Strahl has written indicating his intentions to place our First Nation under the Indian Act Section 74 Blective System by April 1, 2010, if our First Nation doesn't develop a new leadership Sclection code, which is in accord with the DIA "Conversion to Community Election System Policy"; WHEREAS Leadership sclection within our First Nation is already conducted according to our custom, which hes been codified and updated, Our codified customs are entitled Mitchikanibikok Inik Anishinabe Onakinakewin; THEREFORE IT IS RESOLVED that we the undersigned Elders hereby reject any attempts by the federal government to impose the Indian Act Section 74 Elective System, of DIA's " Conversion to Community Election System Policy" over our First Nation, ADOPTED within Algonquin Traditional Territory, this 14" day of December 2009. BY THE MITCHIKANIBIKO'INIK ELDERS SOLI oF THE 00 XWa pe:9T Zo0z/zT/T0MITCHIKANIBIKO'INIK ‘Algonguns of Barrier Lake {Les Algonquin Lae Beriore KATIGANIK Rapid Lake Lae Rape Quebec 6 200, ‘Tee (819) 45.2171 RESOLUTION OF THE ELDERS Re: Rejection of Minister of Indian Affairs Plan to Impose Section 74 Elective System WHEREAS our Elders have discussed the October 30, 2009, letter from the federal Minister of Indian Affairs, Chuck Strahl, wherein Minister Strahl has written indicating his intentions to place our First ‘Nation under the Indian Act Section 74 Elective System by April 1, 2010, if our First Nation doesa't develop a new leadership Selection code, which is in accord with the DIA "Conversion to Community Election System Policy"; WHEREAS Leadership selection within our First Nation is already conducted according to our custom, which has been codified and updated. Our codified customs are entitled Mitchikanibikok Inik Anishinabe Onakinakewin; “THEREFORE IT 15 RESOLVED that we the undersigned Elders trereby'teject any-attenipts byte" > federal government to impose the Indian Act Section 74 Elective System, of DIA's " Conversion to Community Election System Policy” over our First Nation, ADOPTED within Algonquin Traditional Territory, this 14" day of December 2009. BY THE MITCHIKANIBIKO'INIK ELDERS RES OF THE ELDERS 2008 Vd ag:8T zooz/zt/To91/43/2002 18:42 FAL Qovs MITCHIKANIBIKOK INIK tienes ce mga Meera ana rae mH bee LUTION OF 7 Wo rrisc08 ‘Re: Support of Elders Resolution to Reject the Minister of Indian Affsis Plan to ‘Impose Section 74 Elective System WHEREAS the Elders and the Mitchikinnbikok Inik have discussed the October 30, 2009, eter ‘rom the foderal Minister of Indian Affairs, Chuck Stal, wherein Minister Strahl bes written ‘ndiestng his intentions to ploce our First Nation ander the Indian Act Section 74 Elective ‘System by April 1, 2010, if ou First Nation doesn't develop a new leadership Selection code, ‘which is in accord with the DIA "Conversion to Community Eletion System Policy"; and, WHEREAS the Biers adopted Resolution No.12-15.09 to reject any attempts by the federal ‘government to impose the Indian Act Section 74 Bective System, of DIA's “Conversion to (Coramunity Blection System Policy" over our Fast Nation; and, WHEREAS we, the Mitchikinabikok Ink, have read the Resolution No.12-15-09 Regarding Rajecton of Minister of indian Affairs Plan to Inpose Section 74 Elective System and hereby confirm our support of the Elders Resolution to Reject the imposition of Section 74 Elective Systems; and, WHEREAS we, the Mitchikinabikok Ink, vow to continue the efforts of our Ancestors to protect our identity, our Culture, our language, cur testory and our Onakinakewin against acts of assimilation, marginalization and éiseririnatin such as the Ministers decision of October 30, 2009; and, WHEREAS our Elders rect the plan ofthe Department of India Affairs o impose Section 74 on our First Nation as it is soen as en stack to the Customary practices of aur Anishnabe People; ond, WILEREAS we, the Mitchikinabikok Ink, confiam our commitment to protect our faherext "ghts to practice and maintain our Custotnery Traditions ax they were passed down frm the Creator, ‘THEREFORE IT 18 RESOLVED that we the undersigned Mitchikinabikok Inik hereby confi our support af Elders Resolution No. 12-15-09 zogarding Rejection of Minister of Tuas Affairs Plan to Imposa Section 74 Elective System AFR Ue Ho GORA» GoueRARDeTATECATONEU LAC IEE a ovanvanee rom 1649 (398 30. 8822) BOOSo/se/t0os 28:41 PAK oor ADOPTED within Algonguin Traditions) Tersitory, this 15! day of December 2009. BY THE MITCHIKANIBIKOK INIK Tom gWamel afigenn bles J, 28 Manian Catt — ramen, Cactt Koper: Pas alate Like Rares rscomcryge Sgn Roce Ws, Senieri Jatt host Tea = Rewclation ef Meiknabtok ik 2-18.08-2 ei/az/zone sun agen [son mo. $922] eetcae Derg hewoke augersDongbu oygilithein 43 (yom 39. 5622]“Louie Deaurce Nagi Raetene Ale Natroway th Mobley Raseation of tcikncb tok 1275-00. 4 (308 MO. E22] @eOE04/19/2002 08:53 FAX ITED NAME ATURE FRNTEONAME——S*~*~*~*~*~*~S*«éSENATORE HODNRE "onan FONEDNME———"__ SGNTURE FENTED NAME FRNTEDTANE SONATE FENTEDNANE STRATE FRNTED NAME SGRATORE FRED AME SaaS FENEDNAME ————————— sonATOR ‘Resolution of Mitchikinabikok Inik 12-15-09-801/19/2002 08:54 FAX laoo2 Fa sterenon of Motown : : ules Je Ca Gale Ge Wentle- aed § t bez ribet hs fg bile /STORATUS WY SIGNAT ee ‘Resolution of Mitchikinabitok Inlk 12-15-09-8