Vol.16 No.12

Page 1

Yourway

March 24, 2016

Vol. 16, No. 12

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Flyers give it their all at final home game by Julie Druker

T

he stands were overflowing for the Novice Rep Flyers’ third game of the all-Ontario Novice CC finals. The Flyers, coming off back-to-back 6-1 losses to the Sturgeon Lake Thunder in Fenelon Falls, were back home at the Frontenac Community Arena on March 18 for the “do or die” game 3 of the series. The amazing turnout of fans fired up the seven and eight-year-old players, who were looking for a win on Friday night. The event opened with Ava Ludlow performing Oh Canada. Then, each team introduced their players to the enthusiastic, mostly orange-clad crowd who cheered, blew horns, rang whistles and bells, and banged tambourines in support of their home team. Early in the first period, the Flyers came on strong, scoring the first goal just eight minutes in. After a tripping penalty was called on the Flyers, their defense kept the puck put of their zone and prevented the Thunder from tying up the game. Some very exciting back and forth play resulted in the Thunder scoring their first goal with just 50 seconds left in the period. But the Flyers, not wanting to go to the dressing room with the score knotted at 1, scored again a mere 15 seconds later, win-

ning back their lead. Early in the second, the Thunder skated hard and tied up the game 2-2. Four and a half minutes later, they snuck another one by the Flyers’ posts and took the lead for the first time in the game at 3-2. The Thunder then poured on the offense, and though the Flyers' goalie made a number of great saves, the Thunder offense persisted and scored, doubling their lead to 4-2 with just over nine minutes left in the period. The Flyers managed to keep possession of the puck, but with under a minute left, the Thunder scored their fifth, leaving the Flyers further behind and desperate to turn the game around in the final frame. The Flyers got a few great shots early on in the third and took advantage of a number of chances their shots went wide. The Flyers then took their second penalty of the game but held the Thunder at bay, winning them a round of applause from the crowd. The Flyers’ goalie made another great glove save, and with six minutes left in the third, the crowd started chanting “Go Flyers Go!” The Thunder finally managed to get another in the net, taking a four-goal lead with just minutes remaining in the game and the Flyers’ chances

fading. The Flyers still fought hard right to the end never letting up until the final buzzer sounded. In the end, although the Thunder swept the

Algonquin Land Claim hits a snag I

f the Algonquin Land Claim were a train, you might say it went a bit off the rails last week, just it was rounding the corner towards its destination after a long, arduous journey. The snag that caused the Council of the Pikwàkanagàn First Nation to “take a step back” from the process, in the words of a press release last Thursday (March 17) were the results of a referendum that was conducted earlier this month. When asked if they supported the Agreement in Principle for the Algonquin Land Claim, which was negotiated by their Chief and council, and the representatives from nine off-reserve communities, 246 members voted in favour and 317 voted against the agreement, 56% against to 44% in favour. Pikwàkanagàn Chief Kirby Whiteduck said, “Our members ... are currently divided on the proposed AIP and some do not have the level of comfort to move forward at this moment. As a result, our council requires further discussions and consultations with Canada and Ontario to clarify certain issues, to address the concerns of our members and to bridge the divisions in our community.” For their part, the Algonquin Nation Representatives and the land claim’s Principal Negotiator Robert Potts are prepared to give Pikwàkanagàn Council the time it needs to bridge those divisions. “We are all supportive of the Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn as they take the necessary steps to pursue discussions with Canada and Ontario ...” said Clifford Bastien Jr. ,the Algonquin Nation Representative for the Mattawa/North Bay community. Among the communities in the Mississippi and Madawaska watersheds, the Shabot Obaadjiwan (Sharbot Lake) recorded a 114-5 vote in favour and the Snimikobe (for-

merly Ardoch Algonquins) recorded a 98-0 vote in favour. The total among the nine offreserve communities was 3182 in favour and 141 against. The issue that came up at Pikwàkanagàn in the run-up to the vote was concern over the implications of the AIP as regards selfgovernment, which was a surprise, according to Robert Potts. “We held extensive meetings throughout the territory and at Pikwàkanagàn after the draft of the AIP was released, and at that time the self-government issue was not raised. It was only in the few weeks preceding the vote that the concern, which was based primarily on misinformation, came up and had an impact on the vote,” he said. Although he could not completely hide his disappointment about the results of the ratification process, Potts said that the vote was always intended as a non-binding process aimed at identifying issues that need to be addressed, and in that sense it was successful in revealing that the “comfort level among some at Pikwàkanagàn is not where it needs to be. Chief Whiteduck and his council can now address that.” The other issue that Potts identified as being of concern in Pikwàkanagàn is beneficiary criteria. “That is something that will have to be finalised before we get to the treaty stage,” said Potts. While the concept of direct descent from an Algonquin relative, in addition to a connection to an identified Algonquin community, has been used to determine the voters list that was used in the ratification vote, who the ultimate beneficiaries of the claim will be has not been determined. He said that when a final vote on a land claim treaty is taken, the voting and benefi-

by Jeff Green

ciary criteria will be identical. “It will be the beneficiaries who will vote,” he said. As far as sorting out the issue of self-government at Pikwàkanagàn, Chief Whiteduck indicated last week in an article published in the Eganville Leader, that whether it is tied to the land claim or not, self-government is a priority for his council. According to research done by Pikwàkanagàn staff, as members inter-marry with non-Algonquins, Pikwàkanagàn will cease to exist within 60 - 70 years because none of its members will have Aboriginal status. “It would be helpful to further explore selfgovernment and see if we can negotiate and get support for our own constitution under a self-government agreement and determine our own citizenship criteria,” Whiteduck told the Leader. In an article published in the Frontenac News on March 3, 2016, Greg Sarazin, a former Land Claim negotiator for Pikwàka-

DuraComfort

by Jeff Green

Trail update Trail proponents and the county’s economic development department have a goal of completing the K&P Trail as far as Sharbot Lake by Canada Day, 2017, Canada’s 150th anniversary. The trail is now complete from the bottom of the county at Orser Road, just east of Road 38, all the way to Tichborne. However,

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to complete the last eight kilometres of trail will be more complicated than the first 50 or so were. While the section of trail that is now complete was (almost) entirely owned by the county after they purchased it from Bell Canada, who acquired it from Canadian Pacific, the section now being looked at was sold off to private owners. There are 22 land owners who own sections of the former K&P rail

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nagàn now representing a group that opposes the AIP, said that his group is afraid, based on language in the AIP and the statements of federal negotiators, that self government will lead to Pikwàkanagàn losing some of the tax advantages it has under the Indian Act. “My reading of the AIP, as well as a number of the statements made by negotiators, leads me to be concerned that a commitment to enter self-government negotiations has already been given by Chief and Council and that the terms committed to will extinguish Pikwàkanagàn members’ rights and bring an end to Pikwàkanagàn,” he said. With one side claiming that self-government is the only way for their community to survive, and the other claiming it is a death sentence for their community, it could take some time before a land claim process that is associated with self government to get back on track.

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