8/9/2019 We WIll Not Be Ignored

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As you travel through Couchiching First

Nation please look to the south. Behind

the hills and trees lies the beautiful shore

line of Rainy Lake. Picture the shoreline

and the beauty it should hold, then view

the pictures below....

As you travel through Couchiching, note the

highway on which you are traveling. 12

deaths of pedestrian Couchiching Bandmembers have occurred on this road since it

opened in 1965. To make matters worse, the

land the road lies on was unfairly taken from

Couchiching with an unjust, laughable so

called agreement between Indian Affairs and

the Crown.

Couchiching First Nation

www.couchiching.ca(807) 274 -3228

The low water has revealed

waste left over from a defunct

sawmill operation on lands

leased from Indian Affairs. Not

only was visible waste left

behind, recent soil samples

have shown high toxicity

forcing many residents to

abandon their homes.

The Federal and Provincial Governments

actions and inactions have led to death, people

forced from their homes, and the exploitation of

Couchiching First Nation land. Indian and

Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) have done

nothing on behalf of Couchiching First Nation

to benefit the Band. We cannot get the

Governments and INACs attention, so we areattempting to get yours. Please read the enclosed

information to learn more.

FAIR

TREATMENT

IS ALL WE

ASK FORHelp us get the attention of Indian Affairs and

the Federal and Provincial Government. Contact

your local government officials and demand

action and justice for Couchiching First Nation.

http://www.couchiching.ca/http://www.couchiching.ca/

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When they came here, they flew in on a

corporate jet to come to visit us, for a

meeting to tell us nothing. When we were at

the meeting with them, they wouldnt answerour questions, they would just ignore us. It

was awful.

UNJUST AND UNFAIR

I dont believe that anyone at that time couldhave imagined the extent of the prosperity this

highway would and has created in this district

over the past four decades. - Northern Developmentand Mines minister MichaelGravelle in 2008 whilecommenting to the Fort

Frances Times on therenovation of the NodenCauseway which connects to

Highway 11 to Couchiching.

Highway 11 which runs

through Couchiching reserve

is a source of economic

prosperity for Northwestern

Ontario and the Rainy RiverDistrict. But the economic prosperity from Highway

11 comes at Couchiching First Nations' expense. To

compensate Couchiching First Nation for the land

used for the highway right of way, the provincial

government and INAC negotiated to transfer what

is known as the two-chain shore allowance to the

reserve. The 44.5 acres of two-chain land would be

transferred in exchange for 33.9 acres of land to be

used for the highway.

The problem? The 44.5 acres were surveyed

erroneously by the surveyor E.C. Caddy in

1876. Caddy was commissioned to survey the

neighbouring Agency #1 reserve, but continuedalong the shoreline through what is now known

as Couchiching reserve. The survey, and

eventual land transfer of the two chain property

to the provincial government was never

supposed to take place. Furthermore, of the 44.5

acres of two chain shore allowance surveyed by

Caddy in 1876, only 9 acres** of actual land

exists today due to flooding from a local dam

constructed in the early 1900s. The governmentknowingly attempted to transfer flooded lands

they never owned to Couchiching First Nation

as compensation for a highway right of way.

The highway generated billions of dollars of

economic activity in the region. Recognizing

their mistake, the Federal and Provincial

government recently offered compensation. If

the 33.9 acres acquired for the highway were

instead land designated for parking in

downtown Toronto, the sum offered by the

government would not be a sufficient amount

for yearly parking fees. The offer was viewed as

an insult to Couchiching leadership.

So while the Highway 11 right of way has

economically benefitted the region,

Couchiching has been excluded and exploited in

the process.

In early 2009, while assessing property for

development on Couchiching reserve, high levels

of dioxins and furans were found in soil samples

located near residential dwellings. The toxins

were a result of improper waste management of

the former J.A. Mathieu sawmill site on reserve

land which was leased by Indian Affairs on

behalf of the band in the early 1900's. The

findings have forced many residents to abandontheir homes. Indian Affairs, whose responsibility

was to ensure that the site was to returned to its

original state after the expired lease on behalf of

Couchiching, has failed to act on the issue.

- From Shawn Jourdain, who was forced

from his home in March of 2009. As quoted

in the Fort Frances Times on June 17th,

2009 on Indian and Northern Affairs

meeting with himself and his family on being

forced from their home.

J.A. Mathieu Sawmill Soil

Contamination

The Highway

11 Right of

Way

*as reported in the Fort Frances Times, June 24th, 2009

** from the Treftlin report on the History Pithers Point Park (Agency #1)

October 19, 1987

Resident

carpet

vacuum

samples in

yet the government and Indian Affairs are

unwillingly to properly address the situation,

relocate the residents (many of whom were forceddue to finances to return to their unsafe homes), and

properly clean up the polluted land.

the area showed 43 times the acceptable level of

dioxins and furans compared to the benchmarks

set by the U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency's standards*,