MANOOMIN NEEDS PROTECTION
Both Anishinaabeg oral history and Archaeological evidence
show that Anishinaabeg have been living with and taking care of Manoomin
in the territory of the Michi Saagig Anishinaabeg for at least 4000 years.
Black Duck Wild Rice continues this work by seeding Manoomin
in areas where it is not growing due to human interference.
While opponents of Manoomin highlight our planting activities
they do not acknowledge their intentional, and illegal, destruction of wild rice.
Each year, as we monitor the Manoomin beds,
we see hundreds of acres of wild rice intentionally destroyed.
For example, the picture above
(obtained as a screenshot from the CBC Documentary "Cottagers and Indians")
shows a "Water Weedsickle" attached to the boat of a Manoomin opponent.
Parks Canada states that it has not issued permits for the removal of wild rice since 2015.
Without a permit, any removal of wild rice is illegal.
To date no fines or charges have been laid
- not even a reprimand has been issued -
despite abundant evidence of illegal destruction of Manoomin.
Canada and Curve Lake First Nation are both signatories to the
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
This Declaration enshrines in International Law principles including:
Article 20:
Indigenous peoples have the right
to maintain and develop their political, economic and social systems or institutions,
to be secure in the enjoyment of their own means of subsistence and development,
and to engage freely in all their traditional and other economic activities.
Article 31:
Indigenous peoples have the right
to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge, and traditional cultural expressions,
as well as the manifestations of the sciences, technologies and cultures,
including human and genetic resources,
seeds, medicines, knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora...
