Chippewas of Nawash logo. (image from Nawash.ca)
The Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation is calling for the immediate resignation of South Bruce Peninsula Mayor Garry Michi.
Nawash issued a statement in response to comments made by Michi about the water treatment plant in Cape Croker, which is located on the First Nation’s land. An audio clip of Michi’s comments has been circulating online. It’s not clear who Michi is talking to in the clip, or when it was recorded.
“We are disappointed and deeply offended by Mayor Garry Michi’s comments about the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation,” a statement from the band’s council says. “Mayor Michi’s comments show an utter disregard and lack of respect to our people and all First Nations who have been deprived of basic human rights, including the most basic needs of access to clean water.”
“Mayor Michi’s comments placing the blame for the lack of adequate services for our people on Neyaashiinigmiing reveal a colonial and racist perpsective about Indigenous peoples, and particular against the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation,” the Nawash statement continues. “It serves to deny the long history of oppression, displacement and dispossession from our lands, resources and way of life that we have endured and continue to endure.”
Nawash says Michi’s remarks fly in the face of the principles of reconciliation, and also denies the fact that First Nations have been deprived of adequate funding and services for basic needs.
“Someone who lacks the understanding and knowledge of this history of our oppression and the importance of our rights should not be in a leadership position anywhere and certainly not within the Territory of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation,” the Chippewas of Nawash statement says, calling for Michi’s immediate resignation.
Saugeen First Nation also issued a statement calling Michi’s commentary “reprehensible, denigrating and racist.”
“We will continue to speak in unity with our brothers and sisters from Neyaashinigmiing (Nawash), and with all First Nations and Canadians across this country, to reject and condemn words of ignorance and hate like these that were made by this mayor,” says Saugeen First Nation in a release. “Sadly, this is not an isolated event and is a continuation of a historical pattern of racism, small mindedness and intolerance that all First Nations people face.”