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Algonquins occupying a uranium prospecting claim north of Sharbot Lake have the Thanksgiving long weekend to decide whether they will obey a Superior Court judge’s order to leave the property or face the consequences.
Lawyers representing the Oakville-based mining exploration company, Frontenac Ventures Corp., the Ontario Attorney General and the Algonquins spent three and a half hours behind closed doors yesterday with Superior Court Justice Robert Scott trying to resolve the dispute over the site
Two community leaders – Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation chief Doreen Davis and Ardoch Algonquin First Nation spokesman, Robert Lovelace – were also a part of the closed door session.
Frontenac Ventures wants immediate access to the site so it can exercise its rights under the Mining Act to drill about 200 bore holes and assess the value of uranium on Crown and private land off Highway 509.
The Algonquins oppose the drilling, believing they have a superceding claim on the land and that the government should not have allowed prospecting in the area.
They and some of their neighbours fear that even exploration drilling could contaminate the area’s ground water. Consequently, protesters have occupied the entrance to the property since June 28 and are in defiance of an interim injunction issued in late August ordering them off the land.
On Sept. 27, Justice Douglas Cunningham issued his endorsement of the permanent injunction sought and now obtained by the company, again upholding Frontenac Ventures’ subsurface rights.
It is alleged the protesters continue to defy the court order.
This week, the company turned up the heat with a motion seeking contempt charges, jail, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and reparations against the Algonquins, some of their leaders and a couple of supporters. The list includes a private land owner who discovered 70 per cent of his property and managed forest was under Frontenac’s exploration claim against his wishes.
The trial on the issue of contempt began in front of Justice Cunningham in a very preliminary way yesterday immediately after the lawyers, Davis and Lovelace emerged from their meeting with Justice Scott.
If agreement can be reached on the proposals discussed in that meeting, Frontenac’s lawyer Neal Smitheman told the court the contempt issue could be adjourned indefinitely – with a provision to resurrect it on five days notice.