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Kitiganik/Rapid Lake, Quebec ­ The logging crisis in the La Verendrye Park region of Quebec is one step closer to being solved. Negotiations between the Algonquins of Barriere Lake (ABL) and the Quebec government have resulted in agreement on work-plan to finish the Trilateral Agreement Integrated Resource Management Plan (IRMP) for the Algonquins¹ territory. The work-plan calls for the development of an IRMP for the territory to be completed in a shorter time frame than previously anticipated, but will nevertheless deal with Algonquin concerns about wildlife management and traditional activities.

Grand Chief Carol McBride, who is acting as Special Representative to the ABL, says the agreement is further proof the Trilateral process can work. ³We have always believed that issues of land use can be settled by bringing the parties together to the same table. We are now waiting on Ottawa to end this crisis by returning to the process as well.²

The Trilateral Agreement fell apart in July when the Federal government walked away from the process. Ottawa has said it would return to the table when the Algonquins and Quebec agreed to a timeline for completing the agreement. Ottawa¹s suspension of the Trilateral Agreement, has meant that no new cutting has taken place in the territory since early August. With hundreds of jobs being threatened in the surrounding mills, concern is mounting about Ottawa¹s return to the negotiation table.

Grand Chief McBride says she is concerned. ³We have been in contact with the logging companies who operate on the territory. We understand they are facing having to make major lay-offs if this situation isn¹t solved by winter. At this point, Ottawa¹s hard-line isn¹t helping the Algonquins or the loggers.²

Throughout the crisis, the Algonquins have been pressing the Deputy Minister of Indian Affairs, Marc Lafreniere, for a meeting. He has so far refused to sit down and talk with the community, but a letter from Lafreniere¹s office indicated he would meet with the Algonquins once an agreement with Quebec was hammered out to complete the IRMP for the Trilateral Agreement Territory.

Grand Chief McBride says this meeting is crucial. ³Once we solve the Trilateral Agreement crisis, we need to move on to the other crises. The Algonquin families have been waiting years to see Ottawa fulfill its promise to rebuild the community, especially to end the terrible housing crisis on the reserve. ³We need to find out what Ottawa plans to do to fulfill its commitments to the community under the Memorandum of Mutual Intent signed in 1997.

In the community, people are living in extremely overcrowded conditions, with between 7 and 18 people per two-bedroom house. Unemployment is up to 80%. Over $100 million a year is generated from resource development on the Barriere Lake territory. Not a single penny, or a single job comes into the community of 480.