Fort Frances Times

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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 2010

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Printed in Canada Volume 116 Number 52

ISSN 0834-6283 PAP No. 07429

Couchiching vows to set up toll booth

INSIDE
Aims to redress unresolved grievances
By Peggy Revell Staff writer Couchiching First Nation has announced its intention to set up a toll booth near the west end of the Noden Causeway as of May 21. The decision by the band council to set up the toll booth is twofold, explained Chief Chuck McPherson. It stems from the failure of the federal and provincial government to properly compensate the community for the land on which Highway 11 is built, as well as the governments response to the soil contamination issue believed to be caused by the former J.A. Mathieu sawmill. In the days prior to the band setting up the toll booth, it will be holding traffic slowdowns along the highway to distribute information pamphlets, outlining their concerns and reasons for the action. Its not going to affect the emergency services, stressed band councillor Eugene McPherson. Wed be dead wrong if we started doing stuff like that, he noted. The band said it also will begin charging a fee for all who launch boats from the Five-Mile Dock. The exact length of time which the toll booth will be in operation is unknown, noted Chief McPherson, saying the ultimate goal is to come to some kind of satisfactory agreement with both levels of government. Over the last 50 years since the construction of the Noden Causeway, theres been billions of dollars generated in the district economy, said Chief McPherson. And we havent been allowed to participate in that. Originally, the province and federal Department of Indian Affairs negotiated an exchange of the 44.5 acres within whats historically known as the two-chain shore allowance for the 33.9 acres of land used to build Highway 11, Chief McPherson explained. But he said the original survey of the two-chain shore allowance land was done erroneously, explaining the surveyor commissioned to survey the neighbouring Agency #1 reserve back in 1876 included land that already was part of the Couchiching reserve. As well, dam construction in the early 1900s meant only nine acres of the original 44.5 acres exists. So, in effect, we got our own land in exchange for the highway right-of-way, argued Chief McPherson. We were never compensated for it. About three years ago, the federal and provincial governments offered a combined amount of $500,000 in compensationan insult, said Chief McPherson, especially as the province has settled million-dollar claims with mining companies, such as the $5-million buy-out of Platinex Inc.s claim following a dispute with Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation. So the Couchiching band council has agreed to erect a toll booth to raise monies for economic and Please see Couchiching, A11

Home, leisure show set to go

The Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce is gearing up for its 22nd-annual Home and Leisure Show this Friday and Saturday at the arena. This years event, which is sponsored by TBayTel and the Chamber, follows the theme Embracing the Green RevolutionThink Globally, Act Locally.

FITS plans in jeopardy over money

By Duane Hicks Staff writer Plans for this years Fun in the Sun activities are at a crisis point as the committee is not getting as much money it had hoped for from the town. At the April 12 council meeting, Scott Turvey, on behalf of the Fun in the Sun committee, asked council to provide $10,000 for fireworks this upcoming Canada Day$5,000 more than the town usually gives each year. But on Monday evening, council agreed to a recommendation from the Administration and Finance executive committee that the towns grant this year remain at $5,000the amount it already had earmarked in the 2010 budget. Turvey said yesterday hes disappointed with councils decision, adding councils contribution to the July 1 celebrations has not changed in many years. He noted $5,000 doesnt even begin to pay for a fireworks display, which nowadays cost a minimum of $10,000 each year. I am disappointed in our town council in that they have not foreseen the need of an increase after so many years, Turvey remarked. Coun. Paul Ryan, who sits on the Administration and Finance executive committee, said the town cant afford to give any more than $5,000. We have to tighten our belts, he stressed, explaining the 2010 budget is not finalized yet as council still is waiting to find out whether or not there will be a change in the funding apportionment formula for the local District Social Services Administration Board. If that formula does change, the town will have to find another $100,000 to cover its operating budget deficit. Coun. Ryan also noted the FITS committees request was forwarded to the Economic Development Advisory Committee to see if it could find any possible grants that could be applied for to help pay for Canada Day celebrations here (in addition to the Department of Canadian Heritages Celebrate Canada! grant program, for which FITS already has applied). Turvey said the FITS committee is going to have to look to corporate sources for funding, but admitted that will be difficult. And at this late date, they have very little time to plan for an effective Canada Day. Besides the grant money from the town, the FITS committee essentially has no money to put into Canada Day events. Turvey said the FITS committee has done fundraising raffles in the Please see FITS, A11

See story on A5

Author pens murder mystery

Theres murder, drugs, and drama in Finland, Ont.and its coming from the pen of district resident Chris Gallinger, who has just released her first novel, Justified. I think I wrote [the novel] because I want to leave a piece of me, said Gallinger, a homemaker and mother of six from Finland.

Healthy eating
Dr. Dimitrios about healthy crowd Friday Dr. Vergidis & Vergidis shared his insights eating and exercise with the evening during Dinner with Friends, an educational fundraiser for the Riverside Foundation for Health Care at the Memorial Sports Centre. The dinner netted about $8,500. See story, photo on A5. Duane Hicks photo

See story on B1

DU banquet big success yet again

By Dan Falloon Staff writer The rookie came through. The local Ducks Unlimited chapter, spearheaded by first-year chairperson Kevin Begin, hosted yet another successful banquet at La Place Rendez-Vous on Friday night. The 27th-annual edition of the dinner raised approximately $21,000 for the national DU organizationup from $20,140 last year. Some of the live auction items went for some pretty big bucks, so we were pretty happy to see that everyone came out and spent a little money and had a great evening, enthused Begin. In total, the local chapter has contributed roughly $650,000 to the national organization since 1984. Begin was pleased with the outcome of this years fundraiser given there was a significant changing of the guard over the last year, in

Im very happy. Its my first year as chairman. Things went very well. Kevin Begin
both his position and Chris Wielinga taking the lead as treasurer. Im very happy, he remarked. Its my first year as chairman. Things went very well. With Begin and Wielinga ascending to a pair of the top jobs, newer contributors pitched in to organize some of the raffles. Begin was impressed with their performances. We had some newer people, we gave them some big responsibilities, he noted. The younger bucks took the reins and we were impressed. They did a great job. The committee had a little bit of a younger flavour to it. They brought some younger, fresh ideas, he added. Begin thinks the newer blood at More ways to save: No Mobility Contract No Connection Fee FREE Canadian Roaming
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Arpin pumped after Nationwide debut

By Dan Falloon Staff writer Steve Arpin had to be a gamblin man at Talladega over the weekend. The Fort Frances native channelled thoughts from a fellow driver as he took to the superspeedway in Alabama for a pair of races this past weekend, including his debut in NASCARs Nationwide Series. Kevin Harvick explained Talladega best, Arpin recalled in a phone interview yesterday. Its just like walking into a casino and betting on red or black in roulette. If you bet on black, half the time its going to land on red and youre walking away disappointed, and half the time itll land on black and youre walking away with a pocket full of cash. Arpin said at that racetrack, which tends to force racers into tight packs, there can be situations that are out of a drivers hands. The one thing about Talladega is that theres only so much you can control, he explained. All you can do as a driver, and as a team, is to put yourself in position to have a shot at making a run for the win at the end, he reasoned. In Sundays Nationwide race, the Aarons 312, which was delayed a day due to rain, Arpin ran well for much of the way hovering in second place at one point. But he was dinged for speeding in the pit area and tumbled to a 26th-place finish. I learned a whole bunch, Arpin enthused. We held in Please see Arpin, A10

Boys focused on title repeat

The Muskie boys soccer website posed a question to all of the returning players over the winter. The page asked players what they were doing that day to help the team defend its NorWOSSA crown. Talk about driven.

See story on C1

the top will help lead to a bit of a different feel for the event in the coming years. Change is good, he reasoned. It keeps it fresh. Begin said his biggest challenge was being unsure as to whether he was on the right path, but the support of the committee helped him make it through. It was not knowing if I was doing anything wrong, he noted. Everybody kept asking me, So, how do you think its going? and I said, Well, if it was going badly, I dont know if Id know, he recalled. Everybody gave me a lot of encouragement. But Begin stressed even though the younger members led the Please see DU, A10

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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

FORT FRANCES TIMES A11

Couchiching eyeing toll booth FITS plans

More from A1 social development ventures in their community, he stated. People think nothing of crossing the international bridge and paying a toll there, noted Chief McPherson, adding Couchiching residents pay non-resident fees to utilize services such as the library, arena, and pool in Fort Frances. And thats all were asking in returnthat if people are utilizing our property and our facilities, we want to be compensated for it, said Chief McPherson. I dont think thats unfair, I think thats reasonable. Besides the issue of the Highway 11 corridor, the decision to set up the toll booth comes following the federal governments handling of the contaminated grounds at the former site of the dipping ponds of the J.A. Mathieu sawmillwhere six residences are now situated. A large portion of Couchiching property has been found to be contaminated with dioxins, furans, and a whole multitude of other chemicals, noted Chief McPherson. The Department of Indian Affairs consented to a lease 100 years ago and in that particular area, there were a series of sawmills and wood treatment plants and so forth, and the Department of Indian Affairs has an obligation and a right to ensure that the property is restored to its original pristine state. They didnt do that, he charged. This contamination was known as early as 2003, when soil testing was done for a new police building. To date, Ottawa has spent almost $2 million in doing studies, to find out, to confirm that which they already knowits contaminated, Chief McPherson said. The land is contaminatedand all they want to do is study it. They dont want to do anything else, he remarked. At some point in time, common sense has to come into play. People are being endangered up there. Its a health issue, he stressed. We have residents living there that have indicated that they are willing to relocate. A number of them have taken out mortgages and built their own homes, and they just want to be compensated for that. And Indian Affairs is not prepared to do that, Chief McPherson said. A preliminary estimate to fully relocate these six residences to a new site that would be the same level of accommodations that they have right now amounts to about $1.5 million. We dont have the financial resources to compensate them or relocate them, noted the chief. So Canada has a responsibility. Yet Indian and Northern Affairs so far has refused to move the families, he said, with band officials being told that if we do it for Couchiching, then we have to do it for everybody. We dont want to set a precedent. Well, certainly, if people are in contaminated lands, I think the government of Canada has an obligation to ensure that safety and health are ensured, Chief McPherson added, noting this lack of action also blatantly ignores the priority of the Canadian government relative to First Nations safety and health. Couchiching Coun. Ed Yerxa called both the Highway 11 corridor and contaminated site historical long-standing issues. Those are issues that have impacted our community in not such a nice way, he said. I think the community has been patient, weve been nice. Some of the comments Ive heard from our community members is weve been nice too long. And we dont owe anybody anything out there, Coun. Yerxa stressed. When you look at the benefits that the highway has had for the district, the province, Canada, I think we need to be compensated, as well. As for the soil contamination, the site is a huge tract of landand its land the band no longer can use, he said. And the only thing that we do have, hopefully, is the land. And we have to take care of that. We have to keep it, and I dont think were ever going to compromise what we do have when it comes to the land. As for the putting up the toll booth, Coun. Yerxa said hes prepared to be here for the long haul. Were not satisfied with the services provided by the federal and the provincial government, Chief McPherson said. While health and education are to be provided to First Nations as a part of the treaties, Chief McPherson cited a recent case where Health Canada refused to cover the costs of a root canal for a young Couchiching resident, deeming it not essential. So we have to take some kind of action to compensate for trying to help our people, he reasoned. And if we can [apply] a toll fee to the million-plus cars that come through here on an annual basis, well have to do that. Unfortunately, its an action thats necessitated by the level of service provided by the federal and provincial governments. Taxpayers always say that, We pay taxes and it goes to the First Nation communitiesand the taxpayer does have a right to be upset, added Chief McPherson, noting that allocations for every status Indian amounts to $20,000$22,000 per capita every year. On Couchiching, that would amount to $42 million a year, he explained. But the last financial agreement with Indian Affairs saw the band receiving a little over $6 million each yearof which 90 percent goes towards education. At this point, the band council has yet to determine what the exact toll at the booth will be. But Chief McPherson said it will be comparable to what the private company charges for crossing the international bridge, and with boat launching fees comparable to what the Town of Fort Frances charges at the Sorting Gap Marina. Were not being radical, were not being dissidents, were not being violent, Chief McPherson stressed. Were just asking for the same consideration that private operators have and municipalities have. As for the contaminated soil, only after the residents are relocated will chief and council be willing to participate in further studies of the location, said Chief McPherson. And while only one site currently is being studied for contamination, the full extent of the contamination is still unknown, he warned. We havent done further studies along the lakeshore to the east, towards the Five-Mile area. There were mills in operation in that area, the chief said, pointing to the land where more Couchiching residences and programs are located. The contamination might not be exclusive to Couchiching, he remarked, noting that with the way the water flows, the issue could be impacting the whole district.

in jeopardy over money

More from A1 past, and had hoped to do another fundraiser this year. But those plans have not moved ahead because the town hasnt given them approval yet. Were tied both ways, he remarked. Theyre not giving us funding nor are they expediting a fundraising procedure. As noted above, the FITS committee has applied to the Department of Canadian Heritages Celebrate Canada! grant program, just as it has in the past. Unfortunately, the committee does not find out how much money theyll be getting, if any at all, until literally a day or two before July 1. That doesnt help us significantly at all, said Turvey, adding that fireworks have to be ordered several weeks in advance. As well, any commitment to staging fireworks has to be made right away because, since the passing of Charlie Turgeon, they have to bring in a person from Manitoba whos licensed to set them off. Turvey said the FITS committee will be meeting next week, and within about two weeks should have made a definite decision as to what it will do for Canada Day this year. But he conceded that realistically, at this late date, it is going

Realistically, at this late date, it is going to be very difficult to put on a quality production. Scott T urvey
to be very difficult to put on a quality production. Turvey said he personally finds the possible loss of [July 1] celebrations in a border community to be devastating. At this time, Turvey said the FITS committee needs all the help it can get to try and keep the Fun in the Sun tradition going here. We are at a crisis point, he stressed, adding if theres corporate sponsors or individual sponsors out there, they are encouraged to contact one of the FITS committee members as soon as possible. Realistically, we need to know in the next week to 10 days, Turvey said. Those wanting to help out the Fun in the Sun committee can contact FITS chair Paul Bock (274-5353) or Turvey (2760800), or e-mail fitsff@shaw.ca

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