Kawartha Nishnawbe erects new checkpoint
Landless First Nation wants to prevent the spread of COVID-19
BURLEIGH FALLS — Kawartha Nishnawbe First Nation has established a checkpoint in hopes of stopping unnecessary travel through their community, to project against the spread of COVID-19.
Located on Ojibway Drive near Burleigh Falls, the community came to the decision last Friday to set up the checkpoint.
“There was a discussion that went on online between the councillors over a period of a few days, but they reached a consensus last Friday,” said Chris Reid, the community’s lawyer of about 20 years.
While the checkpoint isn’t currently being monitored, Reid said the community is trying to establish a plan to do so.
“They’re still talking about that. One of the challenges they have is that because they don’t get any assistance from either Canada or Ontario, they don’t have any personal protective gear in the community, so they’re trying to arrange that,” Reid said.
“One member of their community — one of their councillors in fact — is a paramedic in the region, and people are working on trying to get the right gear in place. The intention is to have some people at the checkpoint, but it won’t be probably around the clock at this time.”
Reid said there’s been an increase in the number of outsiders going through the community.
“This is kind of the perverse thing that’s going on. The government has shut down shops all over the region, including cannabis shops,” he said. Because Kawartha Nishnawbe in not recognized by the federal or provincial governments as an official First Nation, Reid said the chief and council don’t have the authority to shut down anything in the community.
“There’s an open pot shop still operating in the middle of their community, that the OPP doesn’t seem interested in shutting down; nobody cares to shut it down. And because all the other stores around are closed, there’s been a big increase in traffic coming through their community,” Reid said.
“People will come, buy their marijuana or their tobacco, and then they go wandering through the community. It’s kind of a scenic area, so it’s very calming for people to just park their cars and go for walks.”
While the community possesses some cottages, owners will still be allowed access to their properties.
“Nobody with a legitimate reason to be there is going to be kept out. They’re just trying to deal with this big spike in traffic that they see as a result of the government shutting down everything around them, and then doing nothing for Kawartha Nishnawbe,” Reid said.
The First Nation, which does not have land of its own, was formed more than a century ago by Mississauga families forced out of other First Nations in southern Ontario through what was known as “enfranchisement,” an effort by governments to force Indigenous people to assimilate into European settler culture.
With their treaty rights gone, some families settled near Burleigh Falls and formed a new First Nation, one that has struggled for decades for recognition.
The community has been locked in a legal battle with Ottawa for years.
Both Curve Lake and Hiawatha First Nations also set up checkpoints at their entrances earlier on during the pandemic.
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