From August 24 to September 7 a team of paddlers from Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) Indigenous Nation, ventured 300 km beyond the nearest road to paddle the ancient route from the KI village to the Arctic Ocean at Hudson's Bay along the free-flowing Fawn and Severn Rivers. Along the way they documented and promoted this wild watershed and the deep connection the community has to their life-giving river.
KI has suspended talks with Ontario intended to come to agreement on the future of KI Homeland. KI cited a lack of resources to enable the community to fully inform itself, and refusal by Ontario to adjust the March 2012 mining withdrawal boundaries to properly reflect all of KI Homeland. The letter notes that parts of KI Homeland, including half the KI Watershed Declaration area, are still open to mining under Ontario law. This policy appears to invite further crisis like the Platinx and GLR disputes. But KI is open to renewing dialogue on a meaningful path to recognition, restoration, and reconcilliation.
KI is calling for resumption of government to government talks in the month of June in the wake of the Ontario buyout of God’s Lake Resources mining claims and leases in the KI sacred landscape at Sherman Lake.
“The decision is bittersweet,” said Chief Donny Morris. “KI has a sacred duty under KI Law to assert its jurisdiction, care for the land and protect and honour sacred landscapes and graves of our ancestors. That is why we went to jail in the past and that is why we will defend our lands in the future.” he said.
