Accessibility and Access Keys [0]
Ardoch Algonquin community leader Bob Lovelace is serving a six-month jail sentence for refusing to stop opposing uranium prospecting efforts near Sharbot Lake by the Oakville-based company Frontenac Ventures. Recently, Lovelace wrote a letter to his 12-year-old adoptive daughter, Skye, explaining why he is in jail. We reprint that letter here.
Dearest Skye:
I received your letter the other day and it made me so happy. Your letter sounded as though you are doing well. I know that Jessica loves you and River very much and will take good care of you. You also have Jack and Mirielle and Lyann and Mitch and Alyson. I worry about you a lot, but I know Grandma and everyone else will be there for you.
Your report card made me happy, too. You are doing very well. You improved in a number of subjects and did well in new ones. Of course, if you do more homework and get it done right after school, you would even do better. I am really pleased that you take school seriously and put your best effort into your work. Attitude and effort always pay off.
Your poem made me sad. That is because I miss you so much. When I read the poem, I realized how much you miss me and I felt sorry that I have to be away. The poem also made me happy because it reminded me how much I love you and you love me. You are a beautiful, loving daughter and a father couldn’t ask for anything better.
I hope that you understand why I have had to go to prison. I hope that Jessica and Mirielle have taken time to explain why I made the decisions to challenge the court and ask for a higher standard of justice. As Indian people, we have lost so much of our land and our culture that we simply can’t let any more be wasted by greedy people. The mining company wanted to dig up and destroy a very beautiful and abundant part of our land. They would also dump the poisoned water into Crotch Lake, which is the source of clean, fresh water for many people downriver, all the way to Ottawa.
This past summer, the Ardoch council told the mining company they couldn’t take our land and they had to leave. We put up guards to protect the land and started teaching people about the hazards of uranium mining and about our rights as Indian people.
The mining company didn’t like this. They said Ontario, the government, had given them permission to drill holes in the land. We said that Ontario couldn’t do that because the Canadian Constitution and the highest court in the land has said that Ontario has to talk with Indian people first before mining companies can do their work. We asked important people from Ontario to take responsibility, but they just ignored us. The mining company went to the court house in Kingston and said we owed them $77 million because we would not let them on our lands to drill holes. We told the judge that it was Indian land and about the Constitution and about a promise made by King George III a long time ago in 1763. The judge just waved his hand and said, “That’s not important. I don’t want to know about the past, I want to know about now.”
This sounds like a long story, doesn’t it? The important part is this: the mining company got the judge to tell us to get off our land and let the mining company drill holes. Algonquin law says that we have a duty to protect the land and the people. This is our homeland and we have no other place in the world to call home.
The elders who keep our law said that exploring for uranium is unacceptable. They had seen what had happened to other Indian lands and people. So we said to the judge “no.” I said we wouldn’t get out of the way and we wouldn’t let the mining company drill holes in Mother Earth, estwakimikwe.
The mining company got really mad and told the judge that I should be put in prison while they did they work drilling holes. The judge was mad, too, because I had disobeyed his order and he believes that his law is more important than Algonquin law. All this time, Ontario stayed quiet about their responsibility, hoping that no one would notice.
I don’t like being in prison. It is not nice here and I miss you and River, Michael and Victoria very much. But I think I did the right thing. You children need clean, beautiful land on which to live your lives. The land gives us everything we need and our Indian culture comes from the land. Harold, your adopted grandfather, and I promised each other many years ago that we would fight for the land and people; that we would make sure that the children, you and your children, would have what Kijimanide, the Creator, gave our ancestors.
So I hope this helps you understand why I am in prison. I pray every day that I will be home soon, and I know that many other people are praying as well for my release. We will be together again soon, so don’t give up hope.
I love you.
Love Bobby
(your Dad)