Mushkegowuk Council 22nd Annual Assembly

Resolution No. 2007-09-26

First Nation

First Nation

Dennis Koostachin

Attawapiskat First Nation

Fort Albany

First Nation

Kellianne Wesley

Kashechewan First Nation

Moose Cree

First Nation

New Post

First Nation

Chapleau Cree First Nation

Missanabie Cree First Nation

Certified copy of a resolution passed on September 13, 2007

September 13, 2007

Attawapiskat, Ontario

Traditional Harvesting and Ontario Works

WHEREAS court actions initiated by Mushkegowuk Council established that the Province of Ontario cannot force First Nations to administer the provincial social and employment assistance plan (Ontario Works) without our consent; and

WHEREAS provincial social and employment and assistance programs have always failed to recognize the realities of the economic situation in Mushkegowuk territory, including the shortage of salaried employment as in the south, and the value and importance of traditional employment in hunting, fishing and trapping;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Mushkegowuk Council in Assembly supports the development by the Mushkegowuk Social Service Directors of a Traditional Harvesting component for the Ontario Works program; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Mushkegowuk Council in Assembly urges and demands that the provincial government reverse its longstanding anti-aboriginal racist policy of not recognizing Aboriginal hunting, fishing and trapping as employment that deserves support; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Mushkegowuk Council in Assembly urge and demand that the provincial government

Resolution No. 2007-09-26, Page 2

immediately accept and implement a traditional harvesting employment component to its social and employment assistance program to end the discriminatory exclusion historically practiced against Mushkegowuk First Nation peoples.