Successfully negotiated a major land securement agreement with the Ontario Realty Corporation as part of the Seaton Land Exchange, in Pickering Ontario. Four ancient Huron-Wendat village sites were identified through a Class Environmental Assessment and preserved. In honour of Ms Heather Bastien’s advocacy on behalf of her nation, one of the sites was re-named the “Sebastien” site. Artefacts from the 2.5 hectares (6 acres) site have been firmly dated to the Middle Iroquoian period (A.D. 1275-1325).
All tagged first nation
Represented a coalition of heritage groups in opposition to a proposed 18-storey tower on the historic Capital Theatre (Allen Bros) site located along Kingston’s premier heritage corridor, Princess Street. Argued three-week case before the Ontario Municipal Board (“OMB”), calling some of Canada’s leading planning, urban design and heritage experts.
Represented the Huron-Wendat Nation during a six-year battle to save Skandatut, an internationally significant aboriginal cultural heritage site containing the archaeological remains of a large and heavily fortified, late sixteenth-century ancestral Huron-Wendat village, once considered the “capital” of central Ontario. Failed negotiations and a court challenge led Donnelly Law to obtain a rare Stop Work Order under the Ontario Heritage Act from the Ministry of Culture. The Vaughan site is now protected in perpetuity.