L ac Seul Band No. 20 P.O. BOX 100, HUDSON, POV 1X0 Telephone (807) 582-3503

ADDRESS OF THE FIRST NATION

TO:

THE 1991 SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS WORKING GROUP ON INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS

PRESENTED BY:

ROGER SOUTHWIND CHIEF, LAC SEUL FIRST NATION On behalf of the three communities of Kejick Bay, Frenchman’s Head and

Whitefish Bay whose members form the Lac Seul First Nation, I offer my

greetings as Chief of the Lac Seul First Nation to the members of the Working

Group and to all participants at the 1991 session of the United Nations

Working Group on Indigenous Populations.

Boojoo. I am here today together with other representatives of indigenous

First Nations from Northwestern Ontario, . We come a region of y the country noted for the beauty of its lands and waters. As Anishinaabe

people, we often refer to the place we live on Lac Seul as Obiishikookang.

This means the strait of the white pines.

Let me describe to you a little about Lac Seul. This lake which is in the heart

of the Lac Seul First Nation territory is some 120 kilometres long and is fed

by rivers rich in fish and wildlife.

|lik e many other First Nation communities in the region of

Northwestern Ontario, th ^ Lac Seul First Nation territory forms part of a

region that is at a watershed point^Given the powerful forces that have been

developed for resource exploitation, our customary territories and our

communities, which are at the frontier of this exploitation, will be the

communities which mus; have the greatest influence in developing models of

sustainable resource use or they will be communities which suffer dislocations

that First Nation communities have rarely seen before in Canada. 2.

■^We hear of plans for the massive diversion of water from to

the Southern United StatesT^Our Lac Seul First Nation is located in a

watershed which has already felt the first impacts of a pattern of development

which we know is unsustainable.^ ______J

In our longer presentation for consideration by the Working GroupjWe indicate ip I the severe dislocation that our First Nation has suffered as a result of hydro

electric dams, water diversions, clear cut forestry and other forms of resource

exploitation carried out by non-indigenous people. Without compensation, our

First Nation membership has had to bear the brunt of the dislocation which

has resulted f-.m this pattern of development. We were the ones who bore

the brunt of the effects of flooding on Lac Seul( as it was First Nation people

who were the ones to make their permanent homes on the shores of Lac Seul.

We were the ones to suffer the effects of massive industrial clear cut forestry

practicgsjwhcn no offer of consultation or compensation, let alone offer for

partnership involvement in harmony with our customs was made to us

regarding the pattern of this forest exploitation. We were the ones who have

had to watch as our commercial fishery was expropriated from us to make way

for the development of tourism industries controlled by non-indigenous pe ople

with power to influence the decisions of non-aboriginal governments^ We are the ones who must now face the challenges from non-indigenous

governments as they increase their efforts to completely control the

management of resources in the Lac Seul watershed according to Euro-

Canadian structures and forms of development.

^No one has ever sought out our knowledge of the land in order to determine

what the effects of these types of resource exploitation would be. No one ever

offered our people compensation when their livelihoods were taken away from

them. We have been the last ones to be consulted on natural resource

exploitation initiatives in our territories. And when this consultation is

attempted^ we can not respond in our own language using our own ways to

describe issues of importance to us.

But we know our knowledge of our land. And we know the effects that non*

aboriginal development is having on our land. And we know that inevitably

our knowledge and our ways will be sought if there is ever to be a hope of

preserving these lands for future generation|^Jke' United Nations Working

Group on Indigenous Populations can speed up the process of ensuring that

non-indigenous governments respect us and seek to work in partnership with

us, respecting our authority, when they develop initiatives for resource

extractionf^In so doing we can re-build self-sufficiency which must be the

foundatfénof our First Nation economy. 4.

In this regard, we of the Lac Seul First Nation urge the United Nations to ensure:

1. That provisions are established in the Draft Universal Declaration on

Indigenous Rights that confirm the vital importance and legitimacy of

indigenous systems of resource use, stewardship and management and

the right of indigenous peoples to practice them in their territories;

2. That the Declaration confirm the value of our indigenous resource use,

stewardship and management practices and systems in todays context;

3. That the Declaration confirm that indigenous resource use, stewardship

and management is not primitive but is unique in its soda! and cultural

aspects to indigenous society and remain important to indigenous

societies with the appropriate adaptation of technology to them;

4. That the Declaration prohibit non-indigenous governments from

engaging in resource extraction and management without the express

consent of the indigenous peoples involved; 5. That the Declaration confirm that indigenous resource use, stewardship

and management practices be given priority whenever there are

proposals brought forward by non-indigenous parties for extractive

activities in indigenous lands.

In some case^the Working Group has already begun to grapple with the issues that we have brought forward. But, together with other in our region, we feel that the value of customary indigenous systems of resource use,' stewardship and management can be expressly stated within the Declaration, either in its preamble or in its substat&e provisions or both. We urge the

Working Group to consider such strengthening of the Declaration provisions in this regard. And we extend an invitation to all of the representatives here to meet with us to discuss ways of linking together to accomplish this. Our own networks and our own work can be our best strength in this struggle.

Thank you.