Native Forest Network, Eastern North America
September 10, 2000

Algonquin community members from Kokomville and Maiganajik have blocked a logging road to stop Domtar from clearcutting La Verendrye Wildlife Reserve. Domtar was the winner of the May 1999 Phoenix Environmental Award for environmental management. The award was given to Domtar by Quebec Environmental Minister Paul Begin and Quebec Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce Guy Julien.

The members of Kokomville, a settlement in unceded Algonquin territory 250 km north of Ottawa, depend on the Gull Lake area of La Verendrye Wildlife Reserve for their traditional way of life. These families and their ancestors have lived off of this land for thousands of years.

Domtar plans to cut 100% of the wildlife reserve throughout the next 25 years, including large secitons of old-growth forest. Two-thirds of the reserve has already been impacted and the cutting continues. According to the Quebec Minister of Natural Resources, a wildlife reserve is dedicated to the preservation of wildlife, but not their habitat. No environmental impact study is required for Domtar to clearcut.

If their traditional homeland is destroyed, the Algonquin communities will no longer be able to practice their traditional culture or the pursuit of their beliefs. The settlement of Kokomville will vanish if clearcutting continues.

For three years, Jacob Wawatie and his family, members of Kokomville, have tried to convince the Québec Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), Domtar and the Barrier Lake Band Council to stop the cutting. During the past year, Wawatie has actively worked with the MNR, Domtar and the Band Council to negotiate an environmental impact study as well as a study of alternative logging techniques. The MNR, Domtar and the Band Council have largely ignored his efforts and the logging trucks continue to pour out of the forest.

The blockade was initiated only after all efforts to work through the legal process had failed. This process included three appeals to the MNR public process; two attempts for legal injunctions; two efforts at conciliation in the forestry process and the rejected attempt to file a complaint with the Surêté de Québec.

Kokomville is Algonquin for Grandmother town. The settlement was named for Lena Jerome-Nottaway, grand matriarch of this community and recipient of the Order of Canada and an honorary Doctorate of Law and Culture from Carleton University in Ottawa.

Says Wawatie,"It’s [the blockade] to validate the traditional knowledge of our ancestors. It’s for the belief that I’m a part of nature. Once it is gone, I am gone. I still want to teach my children to be connected to the land and help the many people who request the traditional knowledge of our ancestors. Of Dontar takes away the forest, the integral part of our traditional life will be gone. That is genocide.

"To help with the blockade, call Jacob Wawatie at (819) 449-9616.

To protest the inaction of the Quebec Ministry of Natural Resources, call them at (418) 627-8600.

Also call the Québec Environmental Minister at (514) 873-2111

To express your outrage directly to Domtar, call them at (418) 657-1577.

** or go to their comments page on their web site at

http://www.domtar.com/domtar/english/email.htm **

This information was forwarded via:

Native Forest Network
Eastern North America
P.O. Box 57
Burlington, VT 05402
(802) 863-0571
(802) 864-8203 fax
nfnena@sover.net
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