First Nations Burial Ceremony

 

 

Founding First Nations Come Together to Restore Disturbed Cemetery

 

WHEN:       Saturday May 5, 2007 @ 9:00 a.m.

 

WHERE:      Teston Road Ossuary   

 

            2975 Teston Road (just east of Jane Street, Vaughan, Ontario
  
  Reception @ 11:30 a.m., Kortright Conservation Centre

 

            9550 Pine Valley Drive, Woodbridge Ontario

 

WHAT: First Nations from across southern Ontario will convene for a sacred ceremony to re-bury human remains in an ossuary (mass burial) previously disturbed by a York Region road crew.  Tens of thousands of pieces of bone will be re-interred in a ceremony conducted by Elders from the Huron, Six Nations and Kawartha Nishnawbe communities. This historic occasion is a collaboration of the Founding First Nations Circle (FFNC), a coalition of all three Nations that were once residents of the North Shore area of Ontario. 

 

The reburial marks an important precedent in Ontario by recognizing under the Cemeteries Act that all First Nations cultures have rights and responsibilities over cultural heritage, and not simply the "closest geographic" Nation – a practice that pitted the interests of Nation against Nation for decades.

 

Media availability on site will be after the ceremony at approximately 10:00 a.m. and at the Reception.

 

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For more information, please contact:

 

Mr. Luc Laine, Huron-Wendat Nation (418) 580-6205

 

Chief Kris Nahrgang, Kawartha Nishnabe First Nation (705) 930-1020

 

Councillor Barb Harris, Six Nations of the Grand River Territory (519) 445-2201

 

David Donnelly, Gilbert's LLP, david@gilbertslaw.ca or (416) 722-0220 (cell)

 

Dr. Ron Williamson, Archaeological Services Inc. (416) 710-8770

 

Michael Kemp, Corporate Communications, York Region (905) 830-4444 ext. 1232 or cell (905)251-6419