Treaty 2 Territory – On Tuesday 15 October 2019 held at the Minegoziibe Anishinabe School, Pine Creek First Nation and Government of First Nations in Treaty 2 Territory (FNT2T) held a Protecting our Natural World Local Forum with Pine Creek, Duck Bay and Camperville members to discuss the Duck Mountains, Forestry (LP) and Shared Management for the local Nations around Duck Mountains.
Emcee Ron Missyabit, Circle Keeper of the Care and Protection of the Natural World opened up the session with greetings and offered a moment to reflect on the devastation of what happened this past week with the state of emergency within the Treaty 2 Territory and the safety of our members while they were being evacuated from their homes due to the heavy snow and power outages.
The session was opened up with a prayer by former Chief of Pine Creek Charlie Boucher. Chief Karen Batson made some opening statements, welcoming everyone to their Nation and territory. Her focus was about solutions and coming up with ideas to sustain the lands, waters and resources. She recognized her Council for the work and champion, Audrey Brass who leads their environmental charge. “We have been working on an environmental plan for some time and will continue to protect our lands and water. We hope to hear some good dialogue as the day goes on”, said Chief Batson.
Camperville and Duck Bay had some delegates who echoed the same sentiments with the with the focus on dialogue and sustainability.
The Government of FNT2T officials provided some welcoming statements on behalf of Grand Chief Eastman, the Governing Council, Chief Cameron Catcheway, portfolio holder and Darren Mousseau, Chair CPNW committee who could not attend the gathering. The statement focused on unity to achieve good solid governance in order to sustain the natural world and focus on implementation of the great laws to protect Mother Earth. It was mentioned that at the annual Grand Council in August at Lake Manitoba, the Grand Council passed a resolution to recognize Mother Earth as having rights.
Manitoba – Sustainable Development – began to discuss Shared Management. Their lead Rob Olson presented on Shared management and what it looks like from a Manitoba perspective. There was no involvement or mention about FNT2T and how it will look which may have been just something that was over looked.
After his presentation there was statements made toward; working together; Wolf population is very high and killing our animals; Manitoba Hydro needs to be true partners; Invasive species including new fur baring animals, Roads and access; Technology; mismanaging the forest; Development of the land; Leave land alone; and honouring and understanding the treaties.
Ian Kitch spent some time letting the crowd know Dauphin Lake is a success story with the FNT2T and local Nations using the lake. A backgrounder on working together, Net and index netting for Winnipegosis including shared management and data collection.
There were a few questions including who is looking after the licenses on the lake and when can there be a discussion on solution-based planning. Zebra mussels are coming, what are we doing about this? Protection is key. They have been located up the Nelson River north its only time we see them west. Feasibility study on commercial fishing and treaty fishery must be done.
Jeremy McKay made a presentation on Forestry and protection of lands. Background on the work being done including LP not willing to compromise and being dismissive on working together. Manitoba seems to be as tough. His focus was on working together to be able to have a plan that will work. The data we have to date is incomplete and need LP to give us what we are requesting for;
Chief Batson spoke onmeeting with LP and indicated LP’s lack of transparency when being asked to provide information requested by Elders from the community..
Audrey Brass spoke on the land, environmental protection and projects being done in Pine Creek. She opened with a statement to protect the lands, offered tobacco to mother earth and the elders. She has been working the past 10 years looking after the environmental protection.
Testing and programs that are out there along with the 2010 testing INAC did. Time was spent on talking about land use and making sure everyone works together, eliminate the impact on the lands. Creation of a partnership with Duck Bay, Pine Creek and Camperville for a landfill site is being done. “We are addressing ourselves in our Nations, we need to look at our water shed and the effects. Our water shed is very unique, working together to protect it will need to happen. We are currently doing testing. We have stated that we need Environmental Officers in each community through ECO Canada. We are working on our own impacts, but need to look upstream”, Said Brass.
AAE and their staff assisted with the environmental presentation adding that they have been working forPine Creek since 2014. It has been recommended measures to protect Pine Creek from Flooding looking at the revised 100-year flood protection to 200-year level. Internal drainage plan for the community with or without dike protection in place. The Hydrological in the community is very unique – 4 main sources; Duck River, Sclater River, Pine River, Garand River. This is the quickest river system in Manitoba.
The study and plan focused on; Hydrological assessment, Flooding analysis, Recommendations, Literature review, Personal contacts and stakeholders, Field data, Stream Flow, Modeling, Ground Surveys, River Crossings and Aerial UAV Surveys – through a drone.
They discussed the elevation; 50 year – 255.97/255.66; 100 – 256.13/255.82; 200 – 256.28/255.97, CVGD1928/CVGD2013.
In the plan the recommendations include; Improved drainage, Flood migration, Water quality, Infrastructure, Environmental, Ground water and Risk Manager.
Q&A focused on Is the Lake Changing and what is Manitoba doing? Because of climate change, the water will be getting worse and very dirty in time. Similar issues throughout Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
There was consensus within the group to work as a coalition moving forward on the principles of Shared Management by respecting each nations vision while maintaining a strong unified voice to address the issues we face collectively.
A future meeting will be held to listen, provide Moose Management plans that have been developed and to work on a common vision.
Ron Missyabit finished off chairing the meeting with closing comments by asking the representatives not to abandon their responsibilities for our future generations as our ancestors did for us, and thanking all involved today for their time and dedication to this important session.
A closing prayer was offered by Charlie Boucher for safe travels to the delegates.
Last modified: October 26, 2019
