Mushkegowuk to host Treaty 9 conference

Mushkegowuk Council is hosting a conference aimed at discussing and educating its members and delegates on the signing of Treaty 9.
The conference is set to take place in Moose Factory from July 30 to Aug. 1.
Mushkegowuk Grand Chief Stan Louttit said the James Bay Treaty – Treaty No. 9 Conference will cover a variety of topics on the treaty which was first signed in 1905-06 followed by 1929-30 adhesions by a total of 38 communities in northern Ontario (and one in Quebec).
“What is the treaty?” Loutitt said. “How did it come about? What was the government’s intent and how does it understand it? How did we understand it, and how do we look at it today?”
“(The goal is) to answer all those kinds of questions and have a good discussion,” Louttit said.
The conference will include perspectives from Elders, women, and youth, along with discussions about treaty rights, education, housing, child welfare, health, sovereignty, lands and jurisdiction,
The actual Treaty 9 document will be on site throughout the conference for the public to view.
Another document that will be on hand is the diaries of Ontario commissioner Daniel MacMartin, who was tasked by the Ontario government to have the treaty signed in 1905. He had accompanied two other commissioners who represented the federal government.
The diary is the basis of a “new and improved” lawsuit Mushkegowuk has filed against the federal and provincial governments as it suggests the commissioners made oral promises not contained in the actual document.
“We feel the provincial and federal government, in the signing of Treaty 9, fooled us and tricked us into signing a treaty we did not understand,” Louttit said.
In the diaries, MacMartin wrote: “it was explained to them that they could hunt and fish as of old” and “they were not restricted as of territory” and “they could hunt wherever they pleased.”
Louttit said the diary is new evidence that indicates that there were oral promises made which were not written in the treaty.
“(The diaries) support what our Elders have been saying all along. It was a really sneaky way of getting a treaty signed and they did, they succeeded. They pulled the wool over our eyes,” Louttit said.
The conference will include a briefing on the new court case by Mushkegowuk’s legal counsel.
While the conference will focus on the Mushkegowuk perspective, Louttit said he has extended invitations to tribal councils across northern Ontario that represent other signatories to the treaty. Mushkegowuk has also invited Nishnawbe Aski Nation and the Assembly of First Nations to attend.
“If they wish to attend, they’re more than welcome” Louttit said. “Hopefully we get some representatives because this is Treaty 9, this is not just Mushkegowuk. It’s one of the biggest treaties in Canada.”
Mushkegowuk is hoping to have Wawatay Radio Network broadcast the conference across northern Ontario.
Aboriginal filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin will be filming the conference. Best known for her documentary “Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance,” Obomsawin released a new documentary last year called “The People of the Kattawapiskak River,” which focuses on Attawapiskat First Nation while it was in the national spotlight during its 2011 winter housing crisis.
The fourth such conference over the last five years, Louttit said the tribal council is excited to update the communities on its workplans and strategies, along with a treaty table it established with the Ontario government.
“So we’re doing some great stuff and we want to share that with our members and whoever wants to join us,” Louttit said.