News from the Nations

PROTESTERS MARCH ON WYNNE’S HOUSE OVER MERCURY LEVELS IN FIRST NATION’S WATER

Protesters descended on Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Toronto home on Sunday to draw attention to mercury levels at a Northern Ontario First Nation. Over 100 brightly dressed demonstrators attended, most of whom were carrying musical instruments and playing lively tunes. Unfortunately for the group, Wynne wasn’t home, but the supporters marched from North Toronto Collegiate School, shutting down Yonge St., to Wynne’s house.

Water around Grassy Narrows First Nation has been contaminated with mercury since a local paper mill poured an estimated 10 tonnes of neurotoxins into the system between 1962 and 1970. Wynne has said she would work to address the issue, but protesters claimed no progress has been made. And they say the problem has been aggravated by logging in the region that compounds the problem.

Ontario’s Minister of Aboriginal Affairs David Zimmer sent out a statement regarding the government’s work in Grassy Narrows. “Ontario and Grassy Narrows First Nation are working together to address the community’s concerns,” said Zimmer, who pointed to working group tables that have been put together.

US OVERHAULS PROCESS FOR RECOGNIZING INDIAN TRIBES

The U.S. Interior Department plans to overhaul its rules for recognizing American Indian tribes. The rules floated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, intended to streamline the approval process, are seen by some as lowering the bar through changes such as one requiring that tribes demonstrate political continuity since 1934 and not ‘’first contact’’ with European settlers. Across the country, the push is setting up battles with host communities and already recognized tribes who fear upheaval.

The new rules were proposed in June by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which invited public comment at hearings over the summer in Oregon, California, Michigan, Maine and Louisiana. President Barack Obama’s administration intends to improve a recognition process that has been criticized as slow, inconsistent and overly susceptible to political influence.

Federal recognition, which has been granted to 566 American tribes, is coveted because it brings increased health and education benefits to tribal members in addition to land protections and opportunities for commercial development. Tribes have been pushing for years for Congress or the Interior Department to revise the process.

The new rules will create tensions for host communities and some recognized tribes, according to Richard Monette, a law professor and expert on American Indian tribes at the University of Wisconsin. Tribes along the Columbia River in Washington state, for instance, will be wary of a new tribe at the river’s mouth gaining recognition and cutting into their take of salmon. Tribes elsewhere fear encroachment on casino gaming markets.

ARTIFACTS IN NORTHERN QUEBEC COULD BE 7,000 YEARS OLD

Archaeologists start dig after finding rare arrowheads on Waskaganish territory

A Quebec archaeological team will begin its work at an extraordinary site this week, as it explores a settlement that could be as old as the invention of the wheel.

The Saunders Goose Pond discovery, which could date back 7,000 years, was found last summer on Waskaganish territory in northern Quebec.

The James Bay community, located near Fort Rupert, is known as the birthplace of the Hudson’s Bay Company and has historical significance for the local Cree as a traditional fishing site.

When archaeological crews were digging near the Smokey Hill rapids last summer, they expected to find relics and pottery dating back about 150 years.

So it came as a surprise when one discovery was linked to pre-European times.

The rough-looking stone blades and arrowheads were found by a local community member, who brought them to the Waskaganish Cultural Institute.

“It was very obviously quite different and quite old,” says James Chism, the curator of archaeology at the institute. He says the tools could be between 4,000 and 7,000 years old. “It’s pretty exciting, because we don’t have a lot of sites in Quebec that are that old, if it’s as much as 7,000 years,” Chism says.