Environmental program sparks interest in Africa

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Ontario is making another step towards independence for First Nation communities, and this summer the world was able to learn how.

From Aug. 26 to Sept. 4, former president of the Ontario First Nations Technical Services Corporation (OFNTSC) and current chief of the Serpent River First Nation, Earl Commanda, presented information on the Earth Keeper program at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa.

"We presented the Earth Keepers program, which is about a solid waste management program," said Jamie Monastyrski, OFNTSC communications officer.

"It's a program that combines traditional values with solid waste management."

This being the first year the program has been available for communities in northern and southern Ontario, Indian and Northern Affairs, which has also guaranteed funding for the project, requested OFNTSC to make the presentation at the Summit.

To an audience of about 40,000 people including non-government officials, community members, Indigenous people, as well as individuals from Mexico, South America, and northern Africa, Commanda and Monastyrski explained the benefits of the Earth Keeper project.

"In the past 20 years dumps in First Nations have caused problems," said Monastyrski. Battery acid and various other chemicals have been placed in landfills close to the community and those chemicals have slowly leaked into the land and water supply leaving many residents ill.

In an effort to fix the problem, band councils hired outside consultants to help rectify the problem, but now communities will have the opportunity to solve these issues on their own.

"This program is designed to teach the First Nations how to take care of these problems themselves," said Monastyrski. She added that in today's world with cutbacks in funding it takes grass roots' elbow grease to get things done.

Once the presentation was complete, many of the visitors in Africa were interested in the topic and questioned everything from how it is implemented to how the workshops are taught.

"We had a lot of people asking about it (the presentation) after," said Monastyrski.

But providing information for others to learn from wasn't the only benefit Commanda and Monastyrski had by attending the Summit. "Through all the community groups I met, I learned that you have to do it yourself. You can't rely on government or outside sources . . . . With (little or no) government funding we have to do things to improve ourselves, and with Earth Keepers-that's one thing I learned that we're doing good with," said Monastyrski.

In addition to the presentation on the Earth Keeper program there were about 20 individuals who spoke about programs their First Nation communities are implementing.