FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TINY TOWNSHIP (Monday June 21, 2021) –
A group of Indigenous Land Defenders from the Anishinaabe Community of Gchimnissing on Christian Island (Beausoleil First Nation) have established an encampment to raise Indigenous and local non-Indigenous community concerns regarding traditional access to lands and beach areas.
The encampment – which includes a sacred fire and tipi – has been set up on Thunder Beach in Tiny Township on unceded lands that camp organizer Johnny Hawk claims were never surrendered by the Chippewas of Lakes Huron and Simcoe. According to Hawke, “These lands – including Tiny Beaches – are a part of 50,000 acres that were unlawfully taken by the Crown in the 1795 Penetanguishene Purchase and the 1816 Lakes Huron and Simcoe Purchase.”
The encampment in what is being called a mobile Heritage Centre is situated on public space in Thunder Beach, and is working together with a local Non Indigenous Group to educate and support each other, and to start a dialogue to settle historical Indigenous grievances in the area. “This is a peaceful action where we want to show the rest of Canada that Indigenous and non Indigenous communities can work together instead of being pitted against each other due to inaction and divisions created by the Government” added Hawke.
Former Federal Liberal Finance Minister Bill Morneau also has a cottage near that of Crown Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett. Hawke says the Beausoleil First Nation submitted a claim to Canada’s Indian and Northern Affairs Specific Claims Branch in 1990 in regards to the lands in question but that it was rejected by Canada. In the claim, the Beausoleil First Nation alleged that a 50,000 acre tract in Simcoe County was not intended to be included in the Penetanguishene Treaty of 1798 and that the land should be in the control of the Band. However, this tract was allegedly taken without consent by the provisional agreement of 1811.
For more information contact:
Johnny Hawke ojibwayrebel@gmail.com 705-529-3676 (Cell) or 705-247-2120
Location West Shore Drive Thunder Beach, Tiny ON Keep Driving Until you See Tipi on the Right
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