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MAY 14th, 2008 |
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1) OTTAWA CITY COUNCIL ASKS MCGUINTY FOR A
RESPONSE 1) OTTAWA CITY COUNCIL ASKS MCGUINTY FOR A RESPONSE This is a copy of the letter City of Ottawa Councillor Diane Holmes sent to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty on Wednesday May 14th, 2008, regarding a Moratorium on Uranium Mineral Prospecting, Exploration and Mining in Eastern Ontario. The Honourable Dalton McGuinty, MPP Dear Dalton McGuinty Re: Moratorium on Uranium Mineral Prospecting, Exploration and Mining in Eastern Ontario On 27 February 2008, Ottawa City Council approved recommendations to: 1. Petition the Province of Ontario to initiate an immediate moratorium on uranium mineral prospecting, exploration and mining in Eastern Ontario and the Ottawa River watershed until such a time that all environmental and health issues related to uranium mining are resolved and that there are settlement plans for all related native land claims. 2. Petition the Province of Ontario to undertake an immediate comprehensive public review of the Mining Act, 1990. As of May 1st, 2008 neither the City nor I have received a response from your Government on this matter. Uranium mineral prospecting, exploration and mining are issues of great concern for many urban and rural residents of Eastern Ontario Municipalities including residents of your home riding, the City of Ottawa. The area of exploration staked by Frontenac Ventures, located near Sharbot Lake, falls within the jurisdiction of the Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority, a City of Ottawa watershed and on the historic lands of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation. The City's Chief Medical Office of Health - Dr. David Salisbury, has commented, "The route of exposure to radiation by-products to humans is through the aquifer (disturbing underground rock formations that could permit leaching of gases into aquifers) and to a lesser extent, the release of radiation by-products into the air. The by-products include radon gas, as well as several other decay products more hazardous than radon." Accordingly, "these human health concerns require that uranium mining and exploration be carefully regulated and only approved where a proper human health risk assessment has been done." However, as I am sure that you are aware, this type of activity can proceed without authorization from the municipality, conservation authority or having to undergo environmental review of assessment. With that in mind I would like to know what progress your government has made with regard to a comprehensive public review of the Mining Act, 1990. It is imperative that the Province of Ontario addresses this critical issue, as the current provisions allow for corporations to make unregulated and potentially devastating claims on private property. Additionally when will the Government of Ontario acknowledge the request by the majority of Eastern Ontario municipalities' and initiate an immediate moratorium on uranium mining? Furthermore, please advise me as to when Dr. Robert Lovelace will be freed and exonerated from his wrongful conviction and subsequent incarceration. I cannot understand how this government can sit by idly, while a gentle and peaceful man is forced to sit behind bars with common criminals as a result of his pursuit for social and environmental justice and the protection of our shared watershed. I along with the concerned residents of the City of Ottawa and Eastern Ontario await your governments' reply. Sincerely, Diane Holmes 2) MINISTER
OF ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS VISITS SHABOT OBAADJIWAN FIRST NATION 3) ARDOCH ALGONQUIN FIRST NATION RESPONSE TO MCGUINTY'S CLAIM THAT THEY HAVE BEEN GIVEN $100K The Ardoch have chosen to pursue sovereignty and maintain their traditional ways... that includes traditional forms of government. Because they have not accepted the assimilating pressure of becoming a sanctioned, status "band" (following British/Canadian rules of elections and councils imposed by the Indian Act and ultimately handing authority and decision-making over to the Minister), the AAFN is profoundly marginalized by the "status" Algonquin and ineligible for recognition in the eyes of all levels of government in Canada.... the Ontario government, through its judiciary has excluded them again and imposed undertakings and fines. The Ardoch Algonquin are not included in the organization known as "Algonquins of Ontario" and are not beneficiaries of the $100K that the "official" Algonquins are getting. This money could indeed be seen as payment of the fines levelled against Bob, Paula, and the AAFN. Fining those who assert sovereignty and rewarding those who acquiesce to assimilating forces is an example of the divide and conquer tactic that colonial governments continually adopt. The KI folks also don't benefit at all from this money... the Ontario government has bankrupted KI (to the tune of $600K) through court processes and legal fees. This is structural racism and hegemony. Assimilation is still the unspoken but official policy. Caledonia, Tyendinaga, Oka, Robertsville, etc... the tension around traditional vs. Indian Act First Nations is exploited by governments who resist true consultation. The press isn't savvy enough to dig and find that issue. Most present it as "infighting amongst First Nations"... which is simplistic and in its own way, colonial. McGuinty's admission that the Mining Act needs serious revision and that First Nations need to be involved is somewhat encouraging. Recognition and consultation of First Nations who have maintained their sovereignty is key. Look carefully at McGuinty's language... he wants to consult "while ensuring that our province remains the best place to do business". This means subordinating the need to consult to the more pressing and all consuming business interests. This kind of language is very misleading indeed. 4) NEWS FROM BANCROFT: THE BATTLE IS HEATING UP Hi Folks, The Bancroft Uranium's website at www.bancrofturanium.com. Date: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 | Trading Symbol: BCFT Bancroft Initiates Program to Increase Monmouth Uranium Project Claim Holdings Bancroft Uranium Inc. (OTCBB: BCFT) ("Bancroft" or the "Company") today wishes to announce that the Company will be increasing the size of its claim holdings in proximity to the Monmouth Uranium Project, located near Bancroft, Ontario. Bancroft has recently implemented a land acquisition program comprised of claim staking all prospective ground that ties onto and is in proximity to the Monmouth Uranium Project. The initial size of the Monmouth claim block and Bancroft land position of 2,700 acres is being expanded to 4,200 acres. The additional acreage is a reflection of the positive nature of the initial analyses from drill data being compiled from the 2008 spring program. As drill results and uranium assay intervals are being tabulated by Company engineers, the decision to increase claim holdings by additional staking was undertaken by Bancroft management. In conjunction with the staking program, Bancroft is currently in ongoing discussions with other uranium exploration companies that have prospective claim holdings in proximity to the Monmouth Project. Bancroft is aggressively seeking joint venture opportunities with groups exploring in the area. Bancroft Uranium believes that companies with mutual interests having the ultimate goal of developing uranium deposits into commercially viable operations could create a broad regional play with several companies involved. This may provide the potential for the creation of a central milling and uranium processing facility that would serve various parties in a more cost effective fashion. For inquiries from the public and media concerning the Monmouth Uranium Project please contact Greenspirit Strategies at 1-877-54 GREEN or 1-877-544-7336. For shareholder and investor information please contact investor relations at 1-866-860-2995 ABOUT BANCROFT URANIUM INC. (OTCBB: BCFT) Bancroft Uranium Inc. is an exploration Company which intends to develop Uranium assets in North America. Bancroft's initial asset, the Monmouth Uranium Project is envisioned to have the potential of a low cost, open pit uranium producer located close to infrastructure and end product buyers. Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements. This news release contains "forward-looking statements," as that term is defined in Section 27A of the United States Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Statements in this press release which are not purely historical are forward-looking statements and include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such forward-looking statements include, among other things, the development, costs and results of our exploration program at our uranium properties and any anticipated future production. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among others, the inherent uncertainties associated with mineral exploration and development stage exploration companies. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that the beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions will prove to be accurate. Investors should consult all of the information set forth herein and should also refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in our annual report on Form 10-KSB for the most recent fiscal year, our quarterly reports on Form 10-QSB and other periodic reports filed from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD P. L. Hammond, C.A. 5) ARTICLE: 'SMALL PRICE TO PAY FOR YOUR CONSCIENCE' May 12, 2008 This article is reprinted with permission from Kate Harries and the Indian Country Today-LD http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096417258 A conversation with Bob Lovelace Bob Lovelace, former chief of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation and Queen's University professor, is serving a six-month sentence for refusing to promise to obey a court injunction forbidding protests against a uranium exploration company that has staked claims across 30,000 acres of traditional territory. Six members of the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (Big Trout Lake) First Nation have also been sentenced to six months in jail in Thunder Bay for opposing mining exploration. Lovelace was interviewed by phone from the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay, Ontario. Indian Country Today: You were born and raised in the United States. How did you become a member of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation? Bob Lovelace: I'm 60 years old; it's been a long journey. When I was a youngster, my mother and grandfather, they're Cherokee, and they raised me with an understanding of my aboriginal roots. We were always called part-Indian. My mother sent me to cultural school when I was a child, so I learned quite a bit from other people, from older people. When I got older, I went to college and university. But in my early 20s I had come to Canada. I was a draft resister during the 1960s, and in '69 came to Canada. ICT: Why were you a draft resister? Lovelace: My father had always promoted being part of the military, had always hoped that both his sons would join the Army as he had. It was during the period of the Vietnam War. At first I was quite enthusiastic about that type of thing - but as I looked at what was happening to Indian people in the States and in Canada, and the effects of colonialism in what was happening across the world, I changed my point of view. I was also influenced a lot by Martin Luther King [Jr.] and the nonviolence movement. ICT: So you ended up in Canada. Lovelace: Yes. I spent several years in Ottawa and I met a friend who invited me up to a farm he had just bought. And I did some work on the farm and I realized there were other Indian people around and I got to know them. As our relationship grew, I guess it was about 1979 or '80 that Harold Perry, one of our elders, came to my house and asked me if I would help him and we started fighting to preserve the wild rice in our area. ICT: What was happening there? Lovelace: Ontario had given away the license of our wild rice stands to a non-Native commercial harvester. In 1981, after we had won a hearing in which the government was told they couldn't give commercial harvesting rights to a non-aboriginal person, they reversed that decision and gave the permit away to a commercial harvester. The whole community decided it was time to say no, and we manned a blockade during the entire season when rice was ripe and was harvestable. And for 27 days we kept the province out of the territory. ICT: Did they cave in? Lovelace: In the end, after about a year of haggling. At one point, they had raided the community with 50 police cruisers and hundreds of OPP officers, helicopters - they were unable to get the rice harvester on the lake. ... So they finally backed off and they haven't bothered us since about the rice. ICT: You had a close relationship with elder Harold Perry. Lovelace: Harold is the man I admire most in life. He is a self-made man; as a child, he grew up in poverty and a great deal of prejudice. We live in an integrated community, so he grew up with a lot of prejudice around him. He saw some of the worst of those things. He saw the [Department of] Lands and Forests come in and burn his relatives' houses, he saw children being picked up by the Family and Children's Services and taken to be indentured on farms in the south of the county, he saw horrible things. When he was 14, he went to Toronto to get a high school education and he was refused entry into school because he was an Indian. But that didn't stop him - he went to night school, he got several trade licenses. Then he came back and started building and became a very respected builder in the area. ICT: He was the reason that you became part of the Ardoch Algonquins? Lovelace: Yes. After the rice war, he felt that I had contributed quite a bit and had asked me a number of times if I would consider being adopted. I would always say I'm proud of my Cherokee roots and I don't need to be adopted to feel part of the community. But after he asked me about 10 times, it got to the point where I realized I was actually being disrespectful. And so, I think it was in the early '90s, there was an adoption ceremony on the beach in Sharbot Lake and the community came out, and it was really a great experience. ICT: You were chief negotiator for the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation on the uranium mining issue. What's your view of the provincial government's dealings? Lovelace: You know, the longer I sit in here, and the longer I think about these things, it irks me that really great minds of this generation have been wasted and just squandered on a relationship where colonialism runs the show. We can't have real good negotiations to settle issues because the government of Ontario and the government of Canada simply want to limit their liability. They don't want to respect aboriginal rights; the government of Ontario hires hundreds of lawyers and academics to discredit aboriginal claims. ICT: When you say some of the best minds have been wasted, you're talking about aboriginal people? Lovelace: On both sides - I've seen non-Native people just waste their careers trying to untie a Gordian knot. They're working in an adversarial system. And instead of working in an adversarial system, they should be trying to solve the problem. ICT: Premier Dalton McGuinty says that in court, the government opposed the incarceration of the KI Six. In your case, is that the role the government played? Lovelace: No, absolutely not. The province sat back and allowed a corporation to prosecute both the guys from Big Trout and myself. ... They never once spoke out against a prison sentence. McGuinty is wrong. I look at what's being said in the paper these days between Mike Gravelle, the minister of Northern Development and Mines, and Michael Bryant, the minister of Aboriginal Affairs, and what's said by the premier - it's a cabinet that's either immensely divided, or they're just playing a ruse that none of them will say the same thing so that no one will understand what the problem is. ICT: They say they want to reform the Mining Act. Do you see that happening? Lovelace: The Mining Act is a colonial law. It's a law that belongs to Ontario. Aboriginal people can have input into that; but in the long run, ultimately, it's Ontario's responsibility. And they can either reform it with an idea to end its colonial effect on aboriginal people, or they can amend it in such a way as to be an excuse for that colonial strategy. They will amend it because public relations demands it. ICT: You're getting support from a wide range of people and groups. Is there a confluence here between aboriginal and non-aboriginal interests? Lovelace: I think that things like the protection of the environment bring people together. I think that we all have an innate sort of indigenous belief that we have responsibilities to the Earth, whether we're aboriginal or not. And I also think that many Canadians are fed up with colonialism. I think a lot of Canadians are sick to death of having enjoyed advantages because of the suffering of others. There's a moral uncertainty that goes with that and I don't think they want to pass that on to their children and grandchildren. ICT: There is a section within the aboriginal community that doesn't support the Ardoch Algonquins because they don't have status under the Indian Act. What do you say to them? Lovelace: I'm disappointed. I have some understanding, but I'm disappointed. I feel the Indian people aren't defined by blood quantum, they're not defined by the shade of their skin. We're not defined by the Indian Act, not in our own laws and not in our own customs. We're defined by our family and our clans and our communities that we live with. I don't spend a lot of energy worrying about it. ... But I do think it's time that people stopped letting colonial authorities and definitions divide us. ICT: Any other point you'd like to make? Lovelace: I think it really is time that aboriginal people stand up. I believe in non-violence and I'll never counsel anyone to take up arms against the government or colonial activists, but I really do encourage people to stand up. It's time to challenge the underlying foundation of colonialism; it's the only way things will change. ICT: You stood up and you're in jail now. Do you know when you're going to get out? Lovelace: I'm not sure. I have to appear on another set of contempt charges June 2. My release date on this charge is the 15th of August; but if there's still a threat to my community, I'll still be standing up and opposing the court injunction to allow the mining company in. I'm hoping that on May 28, which is the date that's been set for an appeal of the sentencing for the KI Six - for the guys in Big Trout Lake and myself - I'm hoping that that will go well and that the appellate court will send the government and Judge [Douglas] Cunningham a very clear message that the sentences were inappropriate. ICT: They certainly are punitive; and you also face a $25,000 fine. How does it feel to have this load on you? Lovelace: Small price to pay for your conscience. 6) HELEN FORSEY EXTENDS A HAND OF SOLIDARITY TO NEWFOUNDLAND Like people in other parts of the country, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are facing huge pressure from uranium exploration companies, and some very remote and struggling communities are understandably tempted. The Inuit government of the Nunatsiavut region of Labrador has imposed a three-year moratorium, but they are taking a lot of flak for doing so. Last month an article in the Newfoundland weekly newspaper "The Independent" prompted me to write and reach out in solidarity to the people involved. This is my letter: The Independent, I know something of the dilemmas that struggling rural communities face when a uranium company comes to call. With my own mainland community currently in the midst of such a crisis, I have to sympathize with people on "both sides". But let me share what we've learned so far from our experience. Back in 2006 when Frontenac Ventures staked 30,000 acres of Ottawa Valley wilderness for uranium, they did it with the blessing of the Ontario government. Locally, nobody was even notified - not the private landowners, not the Township, not even the Algonquin First Nations, currently negotiating their land claim with that same government. But word got out, and we started researching what a uranium mine would mean for our communities. Contrary to industry hype about jobs and prosperity, the reality would be devastating. Any mine would likely last only a decade or two, and would create very few local jobs. Meanwhile, many livelihoods would be lost as tourism and forestry disappeared into an open-pit radioactive wasteland. A uranium mine would leave mountains of radioactive tailings, causing cancers and birth defects for thousands of years to come. Even exploratory drilling, we learned, would put water and land at risk. Touting uranium as a cure for economic decline is as fraudulent as pushing nuclear power as the cure for global warming. The industry's promises are very different from the reality. We're actually lobbying for a moratorium on uranium development here. We're holding out for a better solution. We reach out in solidarity to the people of Labrador and the Southwest Coast as they, too, grapple with this cruel dilemma. Helen Forsey 7) ARTICLE: ENERGY-NUCLEAR GIANT PLANS 4 REACTORS; BRUCE POWER PROPOSES $10B FACILITY NEAR PEACE RIVER March 14, 2008 Source: Calgary Herald - Geoffrey Scotton, with files from Jason Fekete, Calgary Herald The only private operator of nuclear plants in Canada, Bruce Power LP, plans to bring nuclear power to Alberta, saying Thursday it hopes to build a $10-billion-plus generating complex near Peace River. To read the rest of this article go to. http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/CMS/printpage.cfm?ID=75222
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