Kettle Point 44, Ontario

Kettle Point 44 is an Indian reserve 35 kilometres (22 mi) northeast of Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, on the southern shore of Lake Huron. The reserve serves as the land base for the Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation. Its area is 895.7 ha.

It is one of 42 Anishinaabeg First Nations in Ontario, and belongs to the Union of Ontario Indians.

History

The Chippewa (also generally called Ojibwe in Canada) are an Anishinaabe-speaking indigenous nation with people within the borders of present-day Canada and the United States. They are the largest Native American/First Nation north of Mexico, with nearly 78,000 people among various groups in Canada from western Quebec to British Columbia.

Land dispute

In 1942 during World War II, the federal government appropriated land at Stoney Point under the War Measures Act to build a military camp, Camp Ipperwash, after offering payment to the Chippewa of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation. Their offer was rejected. The government had originally made as part of the offer a promise to return the land, but continued to use it after the war, by the 1990s primarily as a summer training camp for cadets.

In the 1990s, during rising political activism, band members began occupying parts of the base in 1993. The military withdrew entirely in 1995. On Labour Day 1995, Band members barricaded part of neighboring Ipperwash Provincial Park to promote their land claim. They said they were protecting a native burial ground and water purification plant. During a confrontation with Ontario Provincial Police at the protest, an Ojibwe band member, Dudley George, was shot and killed.

In 1997, acting Sgt. Kenneth Deane was convicted of criminal negligence causing George's death. Native groups called for an official inquiry into George's death, but none was launched until the provincial government changed in 2003. The Ipperwash Inquiry began in 2004 and concluded in 2006. Commissioner Sidney B. Linden delivered his report in 2007.^[2]

An Agreement in Principle, dated 1998, was never officially accepted by the First Nation, and the claim is still outstanding as of 2007. Ontario officially returned the land to the First Nation in 2009, but they will govern it together for some time, in order to manage environmental and other issues.

The Investigation Agreement to determine the environmental impacts of the military base on the land began in 2006. The investigation will provide the basis for environmental amelioration, if necessary. In addition, Cultural, Environmental and UXO investigations are underway. Canada along with the First Nation are working closely with an independent contractor selected through the Public Works Canada-tendering process, as well as with special advisors with the necessary expertise to oversee the project. The cleanup may prove difficult, since the base was used as a firing range for tanks. Unexploded ordnance has been found.

Demographics

In May 2008, the resident population was 1260, of whom about 900 members lived off the reserve. As of January 2011, the band had a total of 2219 registered members, of whom 1300 live on their own reserve, 20 live on another reserve, and 899 don't live on a reserve.^[3]

Geology

Kettle Point is the site of a rare outcrop of an Upper Devonian shale called the Kettle Point Formation. This rock layer is exposed at the tip of the point near the shore of Lake Huron. The remains of a fossil Dunkleosteus, named D. amblyodoratus, were found there. Spherical to ovoid concretions of rock, locally called 'kettles', weather out of the shale along the shoreline. To the local Anishinabek, the rare stones were Thunderbird eggs. The concretions are now protected, but are often found on nearby properties.

Just off shore, below the Kettle Point formation, is a layer of the Hamilton Group of shales and limestones which contains a large amount of light-coloured, high-quality chert. In stone tool technology, it is a highly prized resource. When lake levels were lower, during the retreat of the last ice sheets, the chert was exposed and could be mined. This made the region a site of human occupation for at least 10,000 years. Kettle Point chert was dispersed to the far reaches of the region as projectile points, scrapers, and other tools.

See also

• CKTI-FM

References

External links

• Kettlepoint.org