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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).
On May 28, 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 the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation and a professor
at Queen's University.
Lovelace was sentenced on February 15 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.
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