Update: May 21
Chief Chuck McPherson is saying that Ontario and Canada have made an offer to Couchiching First Nation to not put the up the toll booth as planned.
McPherson said chief and council has temporarily declined the offer and have now assembled a toll booth at the entrance to the community on Highway 11 at the end of the Noden Causeway.
Chief and council met one more time with government officials but the meeting showed no signs of progress. For the time being, the toll booth will remain up.
McPherson would not say how much the offer was, but that it wasn't enough for the community to settle the land claim.
A councillor with the First Nation said Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl would be visiting the community sometime next week.
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Couchiching First Nation will be opening a toll booth near the west entrance of the Noden Causeway on Highway 11 beginning at 12 p.m. Friday May 21.
The toll fees will be $1 per crossing for passenger vehicles and $10 per crossing for commercial vehicles. Monthly passes will also be available at $25 per month for passenger and $100 per month for commercial vehicles.
All emergency vehicles, such as ambulances, fire, police and school busses will be exempt from paying the toll. Vehicles carrying a passenger who has a Indian Status Card will also be exempted, but both the Status Card and passenger must be present in the vehicle.
Also, vehicles with a Couchiching Toll Booth Initiative sticker fixed to the windshield will be exempt from paying the toll fee. The sticker is available to Couchiching band members and their non-status spouse or common-law partners
Couchiching First Nation said its setting up the toll booth on Highway 11 because the land on which a portion of the highway sits was stolen from the First Nation, the federal government has not addressed the contaminated soil sites that have forced Couchiching band members from their homes, and the government’s announcement that it will cut funding for First Nation post-secondary education by 2013.
To learn more about Couchiching’s Toll Booth Initiative click here.
To watch a video of Couchiching Chief Chuck McPherson talk about the Toll Booth Initiative and the issues surrounding it click here.
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