SUCCESS!
This E-Petition is now closed for signatures. It was successfully accepted at the House of Commons and it will be presented by its champion MP Romeo Saganash where the federal government will be asked to protect the sacred site and Ottawa's Heritage views from massive condo villages.
Akikodjiwan—the Chaudière Falls and the Albert, Chaudière and Victoria islands—is a sacred site for Anishinaabe and many Indigenous peoples. It was publicly promised to be returned to Indigenous Peoples for a natural sacred site and public forest by all levels of government. This sacred site is threatened by a massive 1.2B proposed condominium and retail village that would forever alter and block views to the heritage sites surrounding Parliament Hill. (It is the equivalent to blocking views of the Washington White House or Paris' Champ Elysées). Government endorses a corporate land grab over a vision to heal land and waters and promote religious freedom of the Anishinaabe in an era of reconciliation. The government of Canada is a co-developer in this condo village being built on an leased agreement (the developer does not own the land).
The e-petition was sparked by: Albert Dumont, Jane Chartrand, Shannon Chief, Monique Manatch, and Douglas Cardinal and is supported by MP Romeo Saganash.
SUCCESS!
We've reached 500 signatures + within 120 days and now the Government of Canada must respond.
The Canadian government is required by law to listen to the e-petition in the House of Commons process and provide a public response.
Read about the path of an e-petition as it goes from petitioner, to MP sponsorship, to being heard by Parliament.
Romeo Saganash, Member of Parliament for Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou
The E-Petition:
NDP MP Romeo Saganash champions the e-petition 1153 to protect Akikodjiwan.
MP Romeo Saganash has tabled legislation to ensure that the laws of Canada respect the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Sign the petition to make UNDRIP law in Canada. As an Indigenous Leader: he champions this e-petition and has himself launched a petition to protect the rights of Indigeneous Peoples in Canada.
Whereas:
- The Chaudière Falls were recorded in Champlain's journals as a place of ceremony for the Anishnabeg (Algonquins) in 1610. Champlain described in detail a sacred tobacco ceremony held at the Falls by the Algonquin, a ceremony which had been held by them for hundreds of years prior to his observation;
- The Anishnabeg viewed the surrounding area as an appropriate place of burial for the dead owing to the sacredness of the land and water. Algonquin Elder William Commanda continually identified the Falls as Sacred and was informed by oral history in creating his vision for the Falls and the Islands close by;
- Aerial photographs reveal the shape of the sacred pipe in the cauldron of the Falls, known as Asticou the great kettle and the stream of water flowing from the cauldron.This place has been considered sacred for thousands of years by the Algonquins, yet the settlers have desecrated it in less than two hundred years as their understanding of indigenous culture and reverence of place is foreign to their consciousness, unfortunately a consciousness of colonialism; and
- The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples declares that indigenous people have a right to protect their sacred places. This must be done for the Sacred Falls and the Islands.
We, the undersigned, the Original People and Residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to stop any proposed development.
“An attack on one faith’s sacred site is an attack on all our sacred sites.”
Elder Albert Dumont
