Resident claims land wrongly expropriated by province, Shawanaga SHAWANAGA FIRST NATION – A Shawanaga resident wants to rectify what he believes is a decades-old encroachment of his land. Sam Kewaquado and Tim Ladouceur argue that when the province put through what is today Shebeshekong Road in the 1930s it wrongly took away title to a portion of the Kewaquado homestead, which is within Shawanaga. On top of that, the men argue, Shawanaga later allowed the construction of homes and offices on more of Kewaquado’s land, including the buildings housing the Anishinabek Police Service (APS) and Shawanaga First Nation Healing Centre. Ladouceur wrote to the APS earlier this month asking it to investigate Shawanaga First Nation for the land’s expropriation, a matter, Kewaquado said, he has tried to right for 25 years. He’s also written to Shawanaga’s council, and directly to Chief Wayne Pamajewon asking for negotiations for the buildings’ removal or lease payments to Kewaquado. Pamajewon’s home sits on the disputed property. Ladouceur also asked the council to stop Shebeshekong Road negotiations with the province for the portion of that runs through the disputed land. The First Nation argues the province never compensated the community for the land the roadway uses when it was first built as the former Highway 69. Kewaquado said his great-great-grandfather was given a 100-acre land grant for his participation in the War of 1812. The reserve, according to Kewaquado, was then put around it. Today, he said, he has seven and a half acres left. “What had happened was, after my mom died, I got sent to residential school and when I came back….we had to stop farming at that time, that was 1962. So, from 1962 to ’74 they built a few houses in there – the chief and council at that time started to usurp my land, they didn’t ask me, or consult me or anything to get permission to do it.” Ladouceur and Kewaquado set November 27 as the deadline for negotiations with Shawanaga council to begin before taking the matter to the courts and insisting on either payment for the land’s use or removal of residents and the building. Shawanaga First Nation doesn’t plan to start negotiations with Kewaquado about the community’s use of the land or bring him to the table around the roadway, said Chief Wayne Pamajewon. “I haven’t had the opportunity to speak with Indian Affairs at this point in time, because I have no idea why this did not come to light a long time ago,” said Pamajewon. “I have an explanation but at this point in time I think it is premature to say what that is, because it seems as though there is a lot of confusion around that. I understand what Sam is trying to say but it’s just beyond me why he didn’t make the community aware of this prior to (the buildings).” He said it was the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada’s predecessor that had surveyed the properties originally for development. He hopes Kewaquado’s claim against the province for the roadway doesn’t hamper Shawanaga’s future negotiations provincial representatives about Shebeshekong Road. According to Ladouceur, the APS is looking into the allegations against the First Nation. parrysound/news-story/4218625-resident-claims-land-wrongly-expropriated-by-province-shawanaga/
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 22:41:06 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015