Judge seals Fontaine letter on custody battle
OTTAWA – The National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations has drawn public criticism for a Sept. 11 letter from his office asking a judge to consider the heritage of two Native children in an ongoing legal fight over their adoption by non-Native foster parents.
Fontaine asked Justice George Czutin in the letter to consider the Squamish heritage of the two children, both girls in foster care in Southern Ontario, when deciding if they should remain in their current placements or to honor a formal request by the Squamish to have the children placed in the custody of the British Columbia First Nation. Fontaine’s letter is being called an attempt to exert undue political influence on the judge.
Fontaine’s press secretary Nancy Pine said the National Chief and the AFN respected the judge’s decision to seal the letter and maintained that he had done nothing wrong in an interview with Indian Country Today.
“This adoption issue is very complex and is being taken seriously by the First Nations and the AFN,” said Pine. “This is an issue of cultural integrity and the National Chief’s actions were completely appropriate.”
The case has set off an emotionally-charged debate over what is in the best interests of the children and the rights of First Nations to exercise legal control over their members on social issues. The Squamish said they plan to place the children with a non-Native family close to their reserve to facilitate the girls’ reintegration into First Nation society. The current foster parents have filed for adoption of the children with the blessings of the Hamilton, Ontario Children’s Aid Society, the protection agency that rescued the children from their cocaine-addicted mother in 2001.
In a similar case in British Columbia, two Sto:lo First Nation sisters in foster care are resisting efforts by the band to have them reassigned to its control and removed from their current placements. The sisters have said in the press they are willing to relocate to the Sto:lo territory in the summers to reconnect with their culture and blood relatives, but are happy in their current homes and do not want to be moved.
Lobster dispute inspires documentary
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia – A recently-released documentary on the ongoing and bitter lobster fisheries dispute between the Shubenacadie Band and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has provided proof of the aggressive enforcement tactics employed by enforcement officers and the history of the Mik’maq struggle to have their rights respected by Ottawa.
“Treaty Tribulations” was independently produced by Shubenacadie band member April Mahoney who is also the daughter of the current chief Reg Maloney. One of the opening scenes in the film depicts the Aug. 5, 2000 seizure of two Shubenacadie lobster boats based on a technicality involving the traps the Native fishermen were using. The DFO officers are seen armed and unwilling to answer any questions on why the boats were being taken and who gave the order. Following the seizure, one enforcement officer is even seen making subtle but menacing actions with a knife sheathed in his vest.
At no time in the film do band members make any kind of provocative or aggressive actions, but there have been several scuffles between the Shubenacadie and DFO officers.
“It’s important for people everywhere to know what’s going on here,” said Maloney of her motivation to make “Treaty Tribulations.”
The film also examines the historical development of the dispute that the Shubenacadie have maintained is an organized effort to ignore, limit and control their treaty and constitutionally protected rights to hunt and fish as they see fit when they see fit by inconsistent harvest limits, media manipulation on conservation and unfair enforcement practices.
Chief Reg Mahoney told Indian Country Today the band’s lawsuit contesting the seizure of its fishing boats and over 850 lobster traps is still winding its way through the courts with arguments to end later this month. He added that a decision in the case expected later in October.
According to Chief Maloney his nation’s property has not yet been returned from what he said was a DFO attack on his people.
Another sweeping seizure of 345 lobster boats took place in November 2002 when DFO officers used Parliamentary action limiting the Shubenacadie lobster harvest to what constituted “a reasonable living” as justification for the action.
New ruling limits Mi’kmaq logging victory
FREDRICTON, New Brunswick – The New Brunswick Court of Appeals issued a decision on Sept. 11 restricting the right of First Nations loggers to harvest logs on Crown land in the Maritime province.
The court ruled that Native loggers may only harvest logs on Crown land that had been originally inhabited by their tribal ancestors and did not extend to areas not originally inhabited by their ancestors. In addition, the court ruled First Nations loggers must prove they are only making “a modest living” from the harvest. The latter restriction is similar to federal court rulings limiting the rights of First Nations fishermen in the region to fish and lobster harvest that represent a modest living and for cultural and social purposes.
This ruling upheld an Aug. 28 decision by same court confirming the right of the First Nations in New Brunswick to harvest logs from Crown land. The earlier decision involved the conviction of Mi’kmaq logger Joshua Bernard who was arrested for harvesting spruce logs on Crown land. Bernard’s conviction was overturned based on the argument that he was an inheritor or had a historical right by treaty to harvest logs on Crown land because the Mi’kmaq had never surrendered legal title to the territory.
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