Ipperwash 30th anniversary reminder that ‘duty to consult’ remains an ongoing issue

Ipperwash 30th anniversary reminder that ‘duty to consult’ remains an ongoing issue

ANISHINABEK NATION TERRITORY  — The Anishinabek Nation remembers these events, and our thoughts are with the community of Kettle and Stony Point during this solemn time. This time is an opportunity to reflect on the challenges we continue to face as we advance the ongoing work to ensure lands wrongfully taken are returned to the rightful owners and that our ancestors are not forgotten.

“The Anishinabek Nation has been working on heritage and burials, treaty, and public education, but this is often done without the support from our provincial government counterparts,” states Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Linda Debassige. “For far too long, the Government of Ontario has been ignoring our inherent and treaty rights. History has proven this as we remember the events that led to the tragic incident at Ipperwash Provincial Park, and the inaction of the Government of Ontario to prevent it. We need expedited processes that will ensure tragedies like Ipperwash never happen again. Co-management is no longer an option for lands that rightfully belong to our First Nations. The events at Ipperwash has produced a resentment that has been ingrained in our memory and has set back First Nations-Government relations in Ontario. The damage resulting from those events led to a loss of trust, which still resonates across the Anishinabek territory today.”

In 2007, The Report of the Ipperwash Inquiry produced 100 recommendations for implementation, and the Anishinabek Nation is disappointed that there continues to be little to no movement on the implementation of the recommendations. The OPP has addressed 25 policing recommendations; however, it has yet to implement them.

As an organization, we had identified key recommendations for Ontario, which were not implemented:

1. The provincial government should establish a permanent, independent, and impartial agency to facilitate and oversee the settling of land and treaty claims in Ontario. The agency should be called the Treaty Commission of Ontario.

15. The provincial government should promote respect and understanding of the duty to consult and accommodate within relevant provincial agencies and Ontario municipalities.

22. The provincial government should work with First Nations and First Nation organizations to develop policies that acknowledge the uniqueness of First Nation burial and heritage sites, ensure that First Nations are aware of decisions affecting burial and heritage sites, and promote First Nations participation indecision-making. These rules and policies should eventually be incorporated into provincial legislation, regulations, and other government policies as appropriate.

30. The Ministry of Education should establish formal working relationships with First Nation organizations to promote more First Nation perspectives and content in the elementary and secondary school curricula.

37. The provincial government should establish and fund an Ontario First Nation Reconciliation Fund. The Ministry of Indigenous Affairs should work with First Nations and First Nation organizations to determine the mandate, governance structure, funding guidelines, and administrative structure of the fund. The provincial government should commit sufficient resources to the fund to enable it to achieve its objectives.

56. The federal and provincial governments should update their policies on First Nation policing to recognize that self-administered First Nation police services in Ontario are the primary police service providers in their communities. The Anishinabek Nation remains committed to working with other First Nations, provincial organizations, and various government ministries within the federal and provincial governments to implement the recommendations.

“These recommendations are very similar to what First Nations have been saying to the Government since the spring about Bill 5, Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025. We have hope that our partners will see how advancing relationships with First Nations does not come from continuing to ignore, violate, and threaten the inherent rights of Anishinabek people and undermines the foundational principles of the treaty relationship. The journey to reconciliation must be a reciprocal one for all partners involved. On this 30th anniversary, I call upon the Premier to stand up on behalf of all Ontarians and do the right thing and implement the Ipperwash Inquiries and the OPP recommendations,” states Grand Council Chief Debassige.

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