Land claim upsets resident

Letter to the Editor
To state that I was shocked and dismayed with regard to the recent land claim agreement in our area between the First Nations and the provincial and federal governments would be a gross understatement.
One municipal leader referred to it as a win win agreement. It’s easy enough to make that statement as long as your home and property is not on the auction block. However he certainly has got that right in one respect. It is not only a win win for the First Nation but also a sweetheart deal. They must be wringing their hands in glee. The Wildland reserve that they left many years ago is now well developed with roads, hydro, telephone and many beautiful homes situated on scenic waterfront property.
Many of these homes are retirement homes for elderly people. In that respect it is definitely a lose lose situation for the residents in this area who have had their dreams shattered by thoughtless, inconsiderate government negotiators. It is apparent that after years of negotiation that the federal and provincial governments without any prior consultation with the residents of the area elected to toss in the towel, sell us out and capitulate to the demand so the First Nation negotiators.
It boggles the mind that so called enlightened governments of today could be signatories to an agreement that perpetuates the same type of injustice that was imposed on the First Nations people many years ago when they were forced to move off their reserveland.
The resident who now occupy the former reserve land area being used as scapegoats, and have been stripped of their domestic rights relegated to second class citizens and will in turn be forced to sell their properties and move out. Apparently the federal and provincial governments believe that “two wrongs do indeed make a right”.
The progress and humanitarian course of action should have been insist that the First Nations accept the transfer of more of the thousands and thousands of square miles of lake studded crown land that is available in Northwest Ontario.
Thanks to their unconscionable act on the part of our provincial and federal governments the future lives of many of the residents in this area have been placed into a state of uncertainty, anxiety and turmoil.
–Arvid Hendrickson