NDP Leader and Kenora-Rainy River MPP Howard Hampton today met with Chief Donny Morris of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) at the Thunder Bay Corrections Centre. Hampton was accompanied by NAN Grand Chief Stan Beardy and Deputy Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler.

“There are more than 50 First Nation Communities in my Kenora-Rainy River riding, including KI,” Hampton said. “Over the last 20 years in office, I have regularly met with First Nations’ Chiefs and Councils. It is very troubling that today I had to meet with Chief Donny Morris behind the walls of a prison because he stood up for his community’s constitutional rights.”

“The McGuinty Liberals talk about a ‘new relationship’ with aboriginal people,” Hampton said. “But the Chief and Councillors are in prison today because the McGuinty government failed to meet its constitutional obligations to consult and accommodate KI before handing out a mining permit to Platinex on KI’s traditional lands.”

On March 17th, Chief Morris and five others were sentenced to six months in jail for being in contempt of court for refusing to follow a court injunction that would allow Platinex to start drilling on their lands that are under a filed land claim.

“Premier Dalton McGuinty and the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs have failed to fulfill their obligation to this First Nation,” Hampton said. “Chief Donny Morris and KI councillors should not be paying the price for the failures of the McGuinty government.