Victory for Ojibway Woman Building Own Home in Northern Ontario

Darlene Necan constructing her house in northern Ontario, 2013.

Treaty #3 Ojibway woman announces a victory!

Darlene Necan of the Ojibway Nation of Saugeen #258 is happy to announce a victory in her fight to build her own home on her family’s land in Savant Lake, ON, Treaty #3 area.

In October 2013, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry served Darlene a stop-work order, claiming her land was Crown Land. The MNRF forced Darlene to be homeless and jobless for two winters. In a context of thousands of missing and murdered Indigenous women, the MNRF put Darlene in a position of having to search for shelter each day, hitchhiking from place to place, without any kind of safety or security.

15 Years of Resistance at Sutikalh

Warrior flag flying over Sutikalh.

by Tyson Kelsall, Vancouver Observer, March 9, 2015

Since 2000, Hubert Jim has watched over Sutikalh with an attentive eye and clear love for this place. From the nearby highway, following along a creek bed to a small opening, he occupies a lone cabin that was erected during a blockade.Fifteen years ago, Olympic gold medalist skier and now Conservative Party Senator Nancy Greene-Raine was given permits to develop a $500 million all-season ski and recreation resort. The project was to be located in the pristine wilderness of Cayoosh Canyon, originally and now known as Sutikalh, near Pemberton, British Columbia. The proposal was met with Indigenous opposition, both in the form of legal battles and a physical blockade. To date, it has never been built.

First Nations woman told to stop building her own house

Ministry of Natural Resources says Saugeen Lake resident does not have a permit to do the work

Darlene Necan constructing her house in northern Ontario, 2013.

CBC News, Nov 20, 2013

The province has ordered an aboriginal woman from northwestern Ontario to stop building a home on what she considers her family’s traditional land.

Darlene Necan is building her own home on her family’s traditional trapline, outside the boundaries of Saugeen First Nation, near Pickle Lake.

Spring at Sutikalh

by Gord Hill

WarriorPublications.wordpress.com, May 28, 2011

Recently, I spent two weeks at Sutikalh, the St’at’imc village established in 2000 to protect the Melvin Creek/Cayoosh Mountain range from a proposed all-season ski resort. Sutikalh is located halfway between Mount Currie and Lillooet along Highway 99 in southern BC, and recently celebrated its 11^th anniversary.