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The law of the land

13 June 2008, 01:12AM

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Grassy Narrows

A critical breakthrough at Grassy Narrows in Canada is a perfect opportunity for the government of Ontario to take a stand for the human rights of Indigenous peoples.

After more than a decade of opposition by the people of the Grassy Narrows First Nation in northwestern Ontario, Canada, forestry company AbitibiBowater announced this week that it will stop using wood from the contested territory.

Amnesty International is welcoming the announcement as a critical break-through in and is calling on the Province of Ontario to seize this opportunity to uphold the wishes of the people of Grassy Narrows to ensure an end to all large-scale logging in the traditional territory, pending the outcome of recently announced forest management negotiations with the community.

In a brief submitted to the province in September 2007, Amnesty International detailed a long history of disastrous social and economic upheaval at Grassy Narrows resulting from government decisions taken without regard for the peoples' rights and interests.

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