Kawartha Nishnawbe suing feds, province
A group of Mississaugas exiled from their homes on reserves in Southern Ontario in the 1910s and forced to assimilate into white culture, who later tried to form a new Indigenous community in Burleigh Falls but were never recognized as anything more than squatters, launched a lawsuit Wednesday against both the federal and provincial governments.
The Kawartha Nishnawbe and Chief Kris Nahrgang filed a statement of claim that states both governments violated their treaty rights by denying them a land base, denying their harvesting rights and refusing to recognize them as a community.
“Both Canada and Ontario claim to respect Indigenous rights and often say that they want justice and reconciliation with First Nations, but it’s all just empty words,” Nahrgang states in a press release.
“Our people made treaties with the Crown in good faith, only to have our land and our rights stolen from us, and neither government will even talk to us to correct this injustice. We will now put out faith in the justice system to restore our rights.”
The plaintiffs propose that the trial be held in Superior Court of
Justice in Peterborough.
No statement of defence was available Wednesday, the same day the statement of claim was filed. Claims made in the statement have not been proven in court.
Several Mississauga families were forced from their homes in reserves in southern Ontario more than 100 years ago and expected to assimilate into white culture, as a way to “exterminate Indigenous culture and identity,” the press release states
It was “a racist policy” called “enfranchisement,” states the release, that forced the families out of their homes.
Some of these families later gathered and settled in Burleigh Falls, says the statement of claim, where they “worked hard to clear land and build houses, while supporting their families by working as guides, fur trappers and loggers.”
But they were soon “forcibly removed” from their new homes, says the statement of claim, when the Trent Canal dam and lock at Burleigh Falls were built around 1912 to 1915.
They moved to tents and shacks in Harvey Township, the statement of claim states.
Much of their original settlement area at Burleigh Falls is now submerged, the statement of claim states, and both the federal and provincial government allowed homes and industry to be built there without ever consulting with the Indigenous people who’d settled there or compensating them.
In 2000, the Supreme Court of Canada recognized the Kawartha Nishnawbe as a traditional Mississauga community “which has experienced layer upon layer of exclusion and discrimination”, states the press release, yet both governments have ignored the court’s findings and refuse to recognize the community or respect their treaty rights.
Meanwhile the seven area First Nations under the Williams Treaty — including Curve Lake, Hiawatha and Alderville — recently accepted a $1.1-billion settlement from the federal and provincial governments.
The deal is meant to end decades of court litigations and negotiations over the controversial Williams Treaties from 1923.
The First Nations have alleged for years that the Crown unjustly crafted and implemented these agreements without fair compensation for their land, and that the First Nations never surrendered fishing, hunting and other rights in the 20th-century treaties.
“Needless to say, none of these benefits or compensation will go to Kawartha Nishnawbe,” says the statement of claim.
The plaintiffs’s statement of claim says the violation of their constitutional rights has been so “intentional,” “egregious,” “long-lasting” and “destructive” that “exemplary damages are warranted and necessary in order to reflect societal revulsion, compensate the plaintiffs and restore the honour of the Crown.”
NOTE: View the full statement of claim at www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com.