MANITOULIN—Glen Hare, deputy grand chief of the Union of Ontario Indians is one of the representatives on the new Great Lakes Guardians Council, which recently held their first meeting.
“One thing I really, really want to push is working towards clean waste going into landfill sites everywhere,” stated Chief Hare, after the inaugural Great Lakes Guardians Council meeting held March 22. “Those places that haven’t gone to recycling programs and more modern disposal of garbage need to, and it will make a difference in our environment and water.”
“Look at my home community of M’Chigeeng, I can take my garbage to the landfill site in my van, our garbage is clean now, we have recycling and other programs in place that means that garbage that would have in the past just been dumped in the landfill, and years down the line could possible seep into water passages,” said Chief Hare. “Now, everything is handled in a clean, proper way.”
The Anishinabek Nation leadership attended the inaugural guardian’s council meeting at the Ontario Investment and Trade Centre in Toronto with the focus on working together to address today’s Great Lakes issues.
The Anishinabek News reported the Great Lakes Protection Act, 2015 commits Ontario to protecting the Great Lakes and restoring them to good health. The Act established the Great Lakes Guardians Council to improve collaboration and coordination among the Great Lakes partners and includes Great Lakes ministers, First Nations communities, leaders from municipalities, industry environment groups, recreation and tourism sectors, the science community and other interest or experts. The council is to provide a forum to help identify priority action, foster collaboration, information sharing and provide input on Great Lakes priorities.
“Water is important to us,” stated Josephine Mandamin, chief commissioner of the Anishinabek Women’s Water Commission. “We as human beings need to understand what is going on or we are going to lose everything.”
“This opportunity provided us the chance to present the Anishinabek Nations perspective on water, on rights and the role we play in responding to challenges to our jurisdiction over the Great Lakes,” Chief Hare said. “First Nations want to be part of the decision-making process and be recognized as the jurisdiction government on the Great Lakes system. We need to move forward together.”
“This was our first meeting and among those on hand was Minister Glen Murray, his ministry staff and 14-15 other government ministries representatives in attendance,” said Chief Hare. “Our regional chief for UOI was there and four regional chiefs were there as well.”
“One of the things we talked about is needing to work on initiatives to protect the Great Lakes, collectively. People need to see all of working together on this,” said Chief Hare. “We as First Nations would like to stand side by side with the government on this. What we’re trying is trying to protect the Great Lakes now and for our future generations. We’ve asked to be able to play a big role with the minister on this issue.”
