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On May 28, just a day before the second annual
Aboriginal Day of Action across the Canadian state, an Ontario Court of
Appeal judge released native leader Bob Lovelace and six members of the
Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI).
The appeals court reduced the sentence to the 100 days
he had spent in jail and scrapped a $25,000 fine on Lovelace, 60, leader
of Ardoch Algonquin First Nation and a professor at Queen's University.
On Feb. 15, Lovelace was sentenced to six months for
protesting uranium mining on traditional Ardoch land. On March 17, six KI
leaders were sentenced to six months after they violated an injunction,
protesting against drilling for platinum on traditional land north of
Thunder Bay, Ontario.
The Ontario Mining Act, enacted in 1873, is based on a
free entry system. Anyone 18 or older can get a prospector's licence and
stake mineral claims on any land in Ontario. Lovelace said the mining act
has no provisions for aboriginal people and the government has to
understand aboriginal people's concerns.
Asked if he would block the mining again, Lovelace
said he would protect his land. "If you don't have the right to say,
'No', you have no right at all," he said.
Right on!
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