Sault Online – Open Letter from Batchewana First Nation – outlining numerous grievances with the government of Ontario for their ongoing failure to uphold the “honour of the crown” by continuing intrusions of our inherent sovereignty and unextinguished jurisdictions over the lands in Eastern Lake Superior and the lands in direct proximity.

In direct response Batchewana First Nation declares that: “As of May 1, 2021, BFN Loggers will commence operations in its original territories outlined in our historically founded documentation and accepted by the courts. BFN will be issuing logging permits based on BFN’s inherent law and unextinguished sovereignty. Given the above information, it is our expectation that BFN Loggers will be logging without the fear of prosecution by Ontario. If BFN’s logging operations are met with prosecution, then BFN will take further next-steps as necessary.

BFN has been on the outside of the logging industry looking in, at Ontario’s endorsed loggers, which includes clear-cutting forests for corporate interests. Ontario promotes a flawed, illegal assertion of jurisdiction over logging and the remedy for Ontario is for us to enter into their illegal regime and seek a license from a settler government to manage BFN forests. BFN cannot condone this course of action any longer.
This action follows on a series of ongoing issues such as:

Specifically:

• Allowing benzene – a recognized carcinogen – to be discharged over their lands next to Algoma Steel for another year
• Implementing forest management systems that endorse and promote clear cutting and utilizing harmful aerial spraying of glyphosate to the detriment of the flora and fauna, trees, big game population, fish, and many more areas
• As recent as 1944, Ontario illegally developed and imposed Lake Superior Provincial Park; forcibly removing the Indigenous People of Batchewana. The Court in R v. Dean Sayers and Batchewana First Nation of Ojibways, 2015, OCJ, provided an expectation that Ontario adhere to the “honour of the Crown”. Ontario has not followed up nor shown any initiative in having these legal issues resolved.
• Ontario has also removed BFN from fulfilling our inherent rights to protect and work with all of the animals that are currently being eradicated under Ontario‘s trapping regulations.