Waiting game in Attawapiskat on the diamond mine ice road blockade

The diamond mine ice road blockade outside Attawapiskat continued into its eight day Sunday despite a sheriff planting an injunction notice in the snow at the site during the early morning hours.

(Bruce Shisheesh tosses injunction notice into the trees on Sunday. APTN/Photo)

By Jorge Barrera
APTN National News
ATTAWAPISKAT–The diamond mine ice road blockade outside Attawapiskat continued into its eight day Sunday despite a sheriff planting an injunction notice in the snow at the site during the early morning hours.

The notice, which was stapled to a wooden stick, was thrown into the trees by Bruce Shisheesh, an evangelical minister who had initially withdrawn from the protest but returned to the site Sunday.

De Beers obtained the injunction from an Ontario judge on Friday.

While community members travelled back and forth from the blockade site, bringing food and support, Attawapiskat band officials worked behind the scenes to bring an end to the protest which has severed De Beers’ time-sensitive overland supply route.

The mine relies on the ice road for fuel deliveries and the transport of machinery and replacement parts too heavy to fly in.

Attawapiskat community members have rallied around Rebecca Iahtail, 45, who was the last blockader standing following a band meeting on Friday. Iahtail says she is dying of cancer.

Iahtail’s decision to stay gave renewed life to the blockade which is on an intersection by the ice road leading to the De Beers Victor mine site which sits about 90 kilometres west of the community.

Iahtail said a tentative agreement reached Saturday on a conference call with De Beers mine manager James Kirby was in jeopardy as a result of the injunction being served on the blockaders.

Iahtail and her supporters have said they wouldn’t end the protest until a senior De Beers official signed the agreement in person at the blockade site. She said the serving of the injunction notice could derail an end to the protest.

“We told them there was an agreement between us and De Beers but they still came with that notice there. I think it is a serious thing. They already broke their promise,” said Iahtail. “I am going to go with what my supporters say.”

The Attawapiskat band was expected to send the agreement by fax to De Beers by late Sunday afternoon for the company’s endorsement.

The agreement would see De Beers agree to a joint dispute resolution committee that would deal with issues like employment and training, housing and the need to compensate community members’ whose traplines are in and around the Victor mine site among other issues.

“Attawapiskat First Nation wants to see this matter resolved so that Attawapiskat First Nation and De Beers may discuss De Beers’ proposed further exploration projects in Attawapiskat territory,” said the letter, signed by Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence.

The letter also needs to be signed in person by Tony Guthrie, present of De Beers Canada.

Spence said the agreement could be signed by either late Sunday or Monday, but she worried about another visit from the OPP.

“We are waiting for De Beers to come with this agreement,” said Spence. “Hopefully things will be resolved by tomorrow at the latest. But at the same time we are worried.”

Spence spent the night in a wood stove-heated canvas tent after the sheriff, with an OPP escort, served the blockaders with the injunction at about 1:30 a.m.

The Sheriff returned about four hours after he was turned away from the Attawapiskat airport by Spence who presented him with a letter forbidding his presence on the reserve.

“They left and we assumed they took our letter seriously and respectfully, but that didn’t happen,” she said. “To see that notice, for them to come in unexpectedly and sneakily, to me, they don’t understand our way and they don’t respect our ways…It is very disturbing.”

De Beers claims the blockade is threatening its operations for the rest of the year.

The mine ships up about 11 million litres of fuel up the winter road every year, along with machinery and parts too heavy to fly into the mine’s airport.

The mine also uses the winter road to truck-up hazardous substances like ammonium nitrate and truck out “hazardous waste material” that can’t be flown out of the mine.

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3 thoughts on “Waiting game in Attawapiskat on the diamond mine ice road blockade

  1. didn’t anyone keep an eye on the plane that departed that night? didn’t anyone see it headed towards Debeers Victor Camp? i did, and i knew what they were up to… nothing stops a sheriff from delivering papers… att let their guard down and celebrated prematurely… whats done is done… time for a new plan Dun Dun Dun Dunnnnnnn

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