Copyright © 2002 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

Grassy Narrows, Ontario - November 24, Sunday - Diana Epp-Fransen and Matt Schaaf leave Winnipeg for Grassy Narrows First Nation (GNFN) -- a 4-hour drive in bad weather -- to accompany a blockade of logging trucks planned for the following day. Previous visits from CPT since May 1999 resulted in a strong relationship with the Grassy Narrows Environmental Committee and led to an invitation to CPT to observe direct actions to defend the community's land base against pulp and paper giant Abitibi Consolidated.

The previous week, community member Joe Fobister sent a letter to Abitibi demanding a cessation of clear-cutting operations on traditional hunting grounds. Monday was set as a deadline for a response from the corporation.

November 25, Monday - No response to Joe Fobister's letter from Abitibi.

Community members plan a four-day ground blessing ceremony to celebrate their traditions and prevent logging trucks from hauling timber out of the forest.

Schaaf speaks with Ian Davidson-Hunt of the Taiga Institute in Kenora. Barriers to aboriginal communities who want to enter the forestry industry include racism, the need for a lot of start-up capital, a lot of experience and specific skills. The Ontario government has for the most part excluded First Nations from decisions about "forest management."

November 26, Tuesday - Epp-Fransen returns to Winnipeg on the bus. Schaaf introduces CPT to the local teachers at a staff meeting. The principal, Sister Irene Freeman, shares that she plans to exempt the high school students from classes to participate in the ground blessing ceremony planned by community elders.

Joe Fobister learns that his letter is still on his lawyer's desk -- Abitibi hasn't received it yet. He shows Schaaf satellite photos of the clear-cuts that reveal vast areas of destroyed animal habitat to the north of the community.

November 28, Thursday - Community members prepare for action, cutting tipi poles and planning the ceremony for the coming Monday.

Schaaf slides off icy roads on his way to the nearest city of Kenora and narrowly misses upending his truck into a freezing lake. In town, former Mennonite Central Committee workers Ren Amell and Carol Loeppky share their long experience in the Kenora area. People are afraid of losing funding to their single-industry logging town because their provincial representative is a member of the opposition. Member of Parliament (federal representative) and Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (IAND) Robert Nault represents financial security because he is a cabinet minister.

At a previous meeting, Schaaf learned that Nault recently broke process and walked away from self-government talks with Treaty 3 (Northwestern Ontario) First Nations, leaving native leaders frustrated and empty-handed.

A friend who grew up in Kenora says, "White loggers share a certain sympathy with native communities because they know what it's like to live under the thumb of the company. They are both underdogs, but there is a lot of racism."

November 29, Friday - Schaaf accompanies community members as they scout a location for their camp and blockade. While in the bush, one man collects firewood for his stove at home. According to the Ontario government, this is an illegal act because the trees have been licensed to Abitibi. Treaty 3, however, guarantees Anishanaabe people access to the forest.

November 30, Saturday - Schaaf visits with Simon Fobister, chief of Grassy Narrows. Fobister had not yet taken a position on the blockade plans.

Roger Fobister, the only Grassy Narrows resident employed by Abitibi, invites Schaaf into his porch and shares that he will remain neutral during the blockade and ceremony. He receives occasional tree-thinning and tree planting contracts from the company, enough to employ eight men from the community.

Former chief Steve Fobister, Sr. hopes to build a sweatlodge and a teaching lodge at the blockade.

December 1, Sunday - Schaaf accompanies community members as they collect firewood. They defy the Ministry of Natural Resources to exercise their treaty right to live off their traditional land.

A backhoe clears a space in the bush where the camp will be set up.

December 2, Monday - Camp organizers send a press release to the media and pitch camp -- a trapper's cabin and a tipi.

December 3, Tuesday - A school bus drops off about 30 high school students and their teachers at camp. The youth stand and lie in the roadway as the first logging truck approaches, and the driver is turned back. He reacts angrily but leaves the scene peacefully.

Community members allow loggers to leave the forest, but block any trucks headed to pick up more trees.

Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) arrive and announce that as soon as the sergeant arrives from Kenora, people must leave. The students joke with the officers and soon everyone is getting along.

Logging contractor Jim Ambs arrives and fumes, "This is just trouble. I just go where I'm told. Talk to the company." Community members angrily tell Ambs that his logging operation is illegal and ask him to leave.

Sergeant Bob Reid of the OPP arrives and announces that the protest is legal under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. As long as the demonstration remains peaceful, the police will not intervene.

December 4, Wednesday - Schaaf becomes sick while sleeping at camp and returns to the community. The next morning, he learns that the loggers sent one pickup truck as a scout.s The driver turned back before reaching the blockade and no haulers attempted to use the road.

The Band Council of Grassy Narrows announces its unanimous support of the blockade. Treaty 3 Grand Chief Leon Jourdain visits the camp to lend his energy and encourage the youth to endure the cold weather so that their children and grandchildren will have a forest in which to thrive.

CPT reservist Korey Dyck (Winnipeg) gets to camp. Schaaf and Dyck share a meal of fresh venison with some of the teachers.

December 5, Thursday - Full-time CPT member Scott Kerr arrives from Chicago with Chris Brown.

Dyck returns to Winnipeg.

December 6, Friday - Brown remains at the camp while Kerr and Schaaf make the one-and-a-half-hour trip into Kenora for supplies. Returning at about 7 pm, their car rolls into a creek. Both escape unhurt and emerge soaked to the skin in the minus 15 degrees Celsius weather, but are picked up almost immediately by the chief's son on his way back to Grassy Narrows.

December 7, Saturday - All quiet at the blockade. Kerr and Schaaf salvage belongings from the wrecked car.