NationTalk: The elected Leadership of Beausoleil First Nation, Caldwell First Nation, Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation, Chippewas of Rama First Nation, Curve Lake First Nation, Eelŭnaapéewi Lahkéewiit (Delaware Nation), Hiawatha First Nation, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte, Moose Deer Point First Nation, Munsee-Delaware Nation, Oneida Nation of the Thames, and Wahta Mohawks have issued the following joint statement:
Recently, we, as the Leaders of First Nations in what is now known as southern Ontario, received letters from the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO). This is clearly an attempt to divide our individual Nations against one another, as well as against our brothers and sisters in the north. This tactic will not work.
We stand in solidarity and opposition to the MNO’s continued efforts to rewrite history, usurp our lands and rights, and appropriate legitimate First Nations and Métis identities.
The MNO is seeking meetings with individual Nations in the south, apparently to discuss how we can have “respectful” relationships and memorandums of understanding with their organization. This comes after they have spent decades asserting rights across Ontario, including in our First Nations’ Territories.
The MNO is now stating the corporation does not assert section 35 or inherent rights in our lands, and that its members are “guests” in our territories. We have always known this. But their words do not match their actions nor the realities we have faced. We have witnessed firsthand how MNO members demand consultations on issues that affect our Nations and our rights-holding Citizens. We have watched them make claims to our lands and resources in the south.
The difference between us and the MNO—a corporate organization founded in 1993—is we are Nations who govern our lands and territories and are accountable to our citizens. The MNO’s only job is to find sympathetic ears to tell their false narratives.
Their letter also makes clear that the corporation is still coming for the rights and territories of our brothers and sisters in the rest of the province. Every Nation in Ontario needs to know that we are with them in this fight. Governments at all levels have pandered to this corporate organization with unsubstantiated claims for too long and now it has the confidence to think we, as First Nations, would sell each other out.
First Nations have spoken with one voice on this issue. Nothing will change that.
The MNO is making claims to the lands and rights of some of the Nations who have signed this statement. Let us be clear: any attempt to divide us on this issue is futile. It is the same colonial tactic that we have resisted for centuries. We know the playbook. We know the stakes. We know what to do. We have always been here. We are not going anywhere.
We are distinct Peoples and Nations, with unique cultures and languages, but there is no space between us on this issue. Let us be clear: the MNO is, and always has been, a corporate organization that seeks to appropriate First Nations’ identities, territories and rights to benefit the members of its organization. Any attack on one Nation’s inherent and Treaty rights, jurisdiction, or sovereignty, is an attack on us all.
Issued by the Chiefs and Councils of Beausoleil First Nation, Caldwell First Nation, Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation, Chippewas of Rama First Nation, Curve Lake First Nation, Eelŭnaapéewi Lahkéewiit (Delaware Nation), Hiawatha First Nation, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte, Moose Deer Point First Nation, Munsee-Delaware Nation, Oneida Nation of the Thames, and Wahta Mohawks.
Media Contacts:
Isak Vaillancourt
Communications Manager
Chiefs of Ontario
Telephone: 416-819-8184
Email: isak.vaillancourt@coo.org
Declan Keogh
Communications Officer
Chiefs of Ontario
Mobile: 416-522-4518
Email: declan.keogh@coo.org