Mining Company sues anti nuclear activists

By Gena Gibson, The Perth Courier August 1st 2007 www.perthcourier.com

Lawsuit, injunction hearing moved to September
The people who have camped out near Robertsville for more than a month say they won't leave until Frontenac Ventures Corporation gives up its quest for uranium.

Lawyers for the Ardoch Algonquin and Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nations met in Kingston court on Monday with Neal Smitheman, the legal representative for the uranium exploration company. The company has served the groups, their leaders and "unknown persons" with a $77 million lawsuit, and would also like an injunction to allow it to begin exploration on thousands of acres of land near Robertsville, in North Frontenac Township.

"Our position and stance haven't changed," said Paula Sherman, who shares co-chief duties of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nations with Randy Cota. "We're staying, anyway."

She said the injunction hearing is set for late September, but the company, and the judge who heard arguments on Monday, want to get together tomorrow (Thursday) to find a compromise.

"Our stance on that is they won't have access here," Sherman stressed, pointing out that officials with Frontenac Ventures Corporation are concerned with losing financial backing for the project. "We consider that to be a ploy."

Sherman said the people, both native and non-native, who have blocked access to the property plan to stay until the provincial government resolves the issue of land jurisdiction.

"The hearing now is not to determine whose land it is," she pointed out, saying the judge would like to know what Frontenac Ventures can do that won't compromise the land.

"We don't recognize anything (that can be done)," she added. "Anything they can do leading up to exploration and mining (is not acceptable)."

She said the native community believes the $77 million lawsuit is posturing on the part of Frontenac Ventures.

The main issue, for Sherman and her group, is their claim to more than three billion acres of land for the Ardoch Algonquins. The Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nations, under Chief Doreen Davis, are in the midst of a land claim that has gone on for years.

"We don't need to use that process," Sherman explained. "We already have jurisdiction over our land.

"It was never ceded."

Sherman, who teaches aboriginal studies at Trent University, said the hearing in September and early October will have no bearing on what is happening at the potential mining site.

"They can just do the injunction, because our minds are not changing," she said. "The issue needs to be dealt with once and for all."

Many of the protesters lined Hwy. 7 in Perth on Saturday afternoon, handing out pamphlets on uranium mining to drivers. While most people were receptive, Sherman said, "There are a few who obviously don't care that they're going to be vacationing or living in areas with uranium contamination."

Smitheson did not return a call to his office yesterday (Tuesday).