We're 'real Algonquins' too, says group behind Tewin suburb plan

The Algonquins of Ontario (AOO) say a planto create an environmentally friendly suburb in south Ottawa will give their people a chance to be part of the city's society and economy andis indeed, despite what critics have said,a step towardreconciliation.

Last week, city councillors on a joint committee voted nine to three allowing445 of the approximately 1,620 hectares the AOO recently bought from the Ontario government to be used for the Tewin development.

The plan to builda communityof 45,000 residents withpartnerTaggart Group on land that's currently outside the urban boundary would show"the Algonquins are not just people of the past contained to reserves," said Wendy Jocko,Chief of theAlgonquins of Pikwkanagn First Nation.

Her community is the one federally recognized First Nation withinthe AOO, a group negotiating a giant land claim.

"What I believe is reconciliation requires a fundamental change to colonial structures and relationships," Jocko toldCBC Radio'sOttawa Morning.

The plan would allowAOOto develop the land instead of having city staff spendfive more years studying the area to determine future costs and other construction factors.

• Algonquins come out sudden winners in urban boundary vote
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• Algonquin chiefs denounce urban expansion as 'wreck-onciliation'

Quebec chiefs who are not part of the AOOand who reject the organization's legitimacy, however, arefurious they were not consulted. They have written letters to Mayor Jim Watson and council demanding input before a vote Feb.10.

One Algonquin elder, Claudette Commanda, said she was insulted, describing the development plan not as asign of reconciliation but simply a land deal.

"Take that reconciliation plan tear it up and throw it away because you went back 150 years," Commanda said.

'Active, meaningful reconciliation'

Jocko, however,said sheappreciates both the city's andWatson's"commitment to active, meaningful reconciliation."

• Watson seeks reconciliation with Algonquins of Ontario development

Her community haspartnered with its Quebec counterparts in the past and supported their efforts, she said, on efforts such as protesting the future of the former American embassy on Wellington Street.

The Tewindevelopment, however, "is our own private project," she said.

Although Tewin would be located farfrom existing services, it would include a 600-hectare natural area, and the AOO hopes it'd be environmentally beneficial asresidents wouldn't haveto commute downtown.

People would have jobs in the community, Jocko said, and homes would be affordable.

Jocko hoped someday Algonquin communities from both Ontario and Quebec might work jointly on their own development, and that, despite the tensions, "the hand of friendship is always out."

"These recent public statements by the Quebec Algonquin chiefs are contrary to the spirit and the momentum of the nation building that I personally believed we were engaged in," Jocko said.

Debate over identity

It's not accurate for Quebec chiefs to claim that many who belong to the AOO are not "real Algonquins," said Lynn Clouthier, the group's negotiation representative for the Ottawa area.

Unlike Quebec communities, Algonquins in Ontario were never given land or a reserve from which to base themselves, Clouthier said.

Even so, she said, they didn't forget who they were.

The AOO has "rigourous criteria" for enrolment, said Clouthier, with members having to prove their familylines and show they've been living in the community with other Algonquins in traditional ways as much as they can.

"If a 'real Algonquin' is a status Indian, then the colonial body is the entity which is defining what an Indian is," Clouthier said. "And I think it's up to us to decide who we are."