Urban boundary move by city not reconciliation, Algonquin leaders say
Ottawa city council is learning that allowing property owned by the Algonquins of Ontario into the urban boundary isn't a simple planning issue, nor is opening the rural lands to development universally considered an attempt at Indigenous reconciliation.
“This is not reconciliation,” Claudette Commanda, an Algonquin Anishinabe elder from Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation, said in an interview Thursday.
“Reconciliation is to happen with nations. Reconciliation does not happen with organizations.”
Algonquin First Nations that aren't part the Algonquins of Ontario (AOO) organization don't believe that allowing the land inside the urban boundary is an act of reconciliation, contrary to what Mayor Jim Watson and other councillors have suggested. AOO represents 10 communities, including the federally recognized Pikwakanagan First Nation, in land-claim negotiations with the government.
Outside the land claim process, AOO is partnering with local development company Taggart Investments on a proposal to build a new residential community called Tewin based on Algonquin values. The community west of Carlsbad Springs would have up to 45,000 residents, but the land first must be brought inside the city's urban boundary.
An analysis by city planners gave the remote Tewin site a low rating in considering new lands for the urban boundary. Staff didn't include the site on their list of proposed expansion lands, but opened the door to studying the site over five years.
Two motions approved by a joint planning and agriculture and rural affairs committee last week will require ratification by council next Wednesday.
One motion, from Coun. Eli El-Chantiry, would stop staff-approved lands in the South March area of Kanata from being included in the urban boundary. A second motion, from Coun. Tim Tierney, takes the South March lands, combines them with land that was left to be included in the urban boundary, and assigns it to the Tewin project.
Together, the motions would open 445 hectares of development land to Tewin, despite the low grade from city staff.
Commanda acknowledged that Watson had tried to build positive relationships with Indigenous people and recognized the land as unceded territory of the Algonquin people, but she said it meant little if Algonquin people weren't consulted on land matters in the name of reconciliation.
“That's a slap in the face. That's an insult,” Commanda said.
It was just last month that Commanda offered the opening prayer, as she has done before at city hall events, ahead of the first council meeting of 2021 and Watson's annual state of the city address.
Commanda suggested council's approval of Tewin as part of the urban boundary expansion in the name of reconciliation could damage that relationship.
“Don't talk to me about reconciliation. Don't talk to me that you acknowledge that you are on the land of the Algonquin people, but you turn around and you simply ignore us,” Commanda said.
Commanda said she was surprised Watson didn't reach out to her for advice on the matter.
In a statement sent by his office, Watson said it was not city council's job to get involved with disagreements among Algonquin groups.
“The Tewin lands were purchased and belong to the Algonquins
of Ontario. To them, this is a meaningful Reconciliation opportunity, and they now look to the City of Ottawa to unlock the economic development benefits that will stem from these lands. Without City Council's support, they cannot unlock and share in the prosperity that can be generated from the development of the Tewin lands,” Watson said.
“The Algonquins of Ontario are the legitimate organization recognized by the Province of Ontario and the Government of Canada in land-claim negotiations and settlements on Algonquin land in Ontario. As we saw earlier today, Algonquin leaders like Chief Wendy Jocko of Pikwakanagan support the Tewin proposal. It is not the role of Ottawa's City Council to adjudicate internal disputes between Algonquin communities.”
Still, there's pressure on Watson and councillors to open discussions with the entire Algonquin community about the future of the AOO project.
Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg Chief Dylan Whiteduck wrote an open letter to city council on Thursday titled, “Wrongdoings by the City of Ottawa & AOO development on Algonquin-Anishinaabe Unceded Lands/Territory.”
“Reconciliation must have the proper ingredients in place before it is spoken as such,” Whiteduck said in the letter.
City council members aren't educated about the Algonquin claim to territory in the area “or they choose not to hear,” according to Verna Polson, grand chief of the Algonquin Anishinabeg Nation Tribal Council.
Algonquin communities that aren't part of AOO criticize the organization for not being representative of the Algonquin people, with Pikwakanagan being an exception.
“We as true Algonquin Anishinabeg, we have problems getting at those tables,” Polson said. “We don't even get invites, so we don't get consultation or were never part of a consultation process when it comes to land issues that affects our members and our rights in our traditional territory. It's very upsetting.”
Added Polson: “We're going to start pushing back.”