Kichesipirini Algonquin First Nation

Mitchikanibikok Inik

A/Chief Benjamin Nottaway

Algonquins of Barriere Lake
Rapid Lake, Quebec J0W 2C0
Contact: Marylynn Poucachiche
Phone: (819) 435-2113
E-mail:
marylynnpoucachiche@hotmail.com

March 20, 2008

To our brothers and sisters of Mitchikanibikok Inik,

The Kichesipirini Algonquin First Nation hereby offers you our full support in your
endeavours.

We believe in the political sovereignty of the traditional Algonquin Nation, undivided by

the unilaterally imposed provincial barriers. Our sovereignty supercedes the jurisdiction
of the provinces or the federation state known as Canada.

The Kichesipirini Algonquins have been refusing to cooperate in the severely flawed
“Algonquins of Ontario” land claim negotiations process asserting that it abrogates and
derogates the constitutionally and internationally protected rights of those Algonquins
committed to protecting our traditional rights, identity and culture. We also assert that
there must be some sort of inclusion of all Algonquin polities in any process affecting the
Algonquin Nation. We cannot abandon our relatives in Quebec! The Kichesipirini have
also been drawing international attention to the fact that Canadian Aboriginal policy is
severely flawed and intentionally sabotages the efforts of Aboriginal people generating
layers of corruption and internalized oppression.

The Kichesipirini Algonquin First Nation contends that there must be international expert
third party investigation into the Algonquin situation and our unique history of
dispossession, oppression and colonization. Refusal to examine the complex strategies
used to oppress and colonize the Algonquin Nation will negatively affect global attempts
to eradicate colonization and will have the indirect result of facilitating sophisticated
forms of political and cultural genocide. The Algonquin situation offers a unique learning
opportunity for international applications of the United Nations Declaration of Rights of
Indigenous People, exposing in a modern “democratic” state the very sophisticated
methods of oppression and persecution now used to subvert Aboriginal rights, self-
determination efforts, and very identities.

Traditional Algonquin territory straddles both sides of the Ottawa River. The Supreme
Court of Canada and international case law has affirmed that the title and associated
jurisdiction of Aboriginal polities in place prior to sovereignty assertions of the Crown
have legal recognition and constitutional protection. Currently the Kichesipirini
Algonquins are the only Algonquins meeting such legal requirements for traditional title
and jurisdiction, yet they are consistently denied any recognition within any consultation
or negotiation processes apart from coercive requirements associated with domestic
policy that would first require Kichesipirini to abandon those constitutionally protected
rights.

I have diligently worked to compile extensive historical records meticulously

documenting the continued attachment to territory and ongoing governance activities of
the Kichesipirini from the first genocide attempts in the 1700s to the present, thus
protecting the traditional rights of all those associated Algonquin polities.

By organizing these historical records according to traditional understandings of identity

and systems of governance completely devoid of any colonial influences she is able to
demonstrate with unquestionable accuracy that the Algonquin people and their Aboriginal
allies are in fact founding peoples of a new nation known as “Canada”.

Refusing to allow this important aspect of Aboriginal identity to be abrogated or

derogated the Kichesipirini have been consistently insisting on inclusion within ongoing
Algonquin land claims but refusing to participate in the land claims of the Algonquin
people in Ontario under the conditions imposed by federal domestic policy.

My research through the application of traditional values and systems of governance

demonstrates that Aboriginal peoples were far more diverse than those currently
recognized under the Indian Act and other domestic policy and that Aboriginal peoples,
when inclusive of the Aboriginal peoples known collectively as the Canadians, were
actively involved, and self-determining, in all aspects of trade, industry, martial and
political development during pre-British Canadian history. Those aspects of Aboriginal
participation, as captured through Kichesipirini historical record, are therefore minimally
protected as part of our common law legal tradition.

This critical aspect of Canadian history has immense implications for the recognition of
rights and equal political participation of the Aboriginal peoples in the institutions and
economy of Canada.

The Kichesipirini have been consistently asserting that existing domestic policy is not
consistent with domestic or international law.
We have been blinded by the Indian Act and its false promise of “status” identity. It is a
domestic policy. It is a cleverly contrived assault on the actual independence and
sovereignty of Aboriginal peoples. When you agree to come under a domestic policy you
forfeit your actual independence. When we remove our preoccupation with those clearly
defined state generated “qualifiers” of Aboriginal-ness and return instead to traditional
concepts the Indigenous people genuinely become empowered. State control of financing
Aboriginal activities and identity has impeded equal access to information and equal
access to resources for traditional Aboriginal polities, such as the Kichesipirini, who have
never relinquished any sovereignty by coming under domestic policy. Therefore, through
association with the traditional Algonquin government that was in place prior to
sovereignty assertions of the Crown, the Kichesipirini, the Algonquin Nation can assert
itself as a still sovereign nation and access broad constitutional and international rights
that over-ride the jurisdiction of the provinces and their agents of control.

The Algonquin Nation existed as a proud confederacy made up of many independent

communities that had the right to exercise jurisdiction within their own territory. We have
the documented history of being able to access and control our own revenues generated
from those territories and associated resources. These facts can be proven in a court of
law. These are our inherent rights.

The Kichesipirini have been actively asserting these rights on behalf of all Algonquins.
We have initiated a number of activities that have the effect of exhausting internal
mechanisms for remedy meaning that we are moving forward in being able to insist on
international intervention according to proper United Nations protocol.

We will be very happy to assist the Algonquins of Mitchikanibikok Inik in our shared
efforts of protecting the rights and freedoms of our collective Algonquin Nation and
reversing the devastating effects of colonization against this proud people. Let us honour
our ancestors and restore the dignity rightfully belonging to the Algonquin people,
citizens of a proud and independent nation.

Paula LaPierre
Principal Sachem
Kichesipirini Algonquin First Nation

Kichesipirini Algonquin First Nation

By Honouring Our Past We Determine Our Future

algonquincitizen@hotmail.com
www.esnips.com/web/kichesipirini