b'KEE:WAYBeneath the EarthHeritage and Burials Committee seeks to educate on accurate First Nations histories BY RICK GARRICKK ee:Way, the Ontario FirstHill-Montour says her roleor infrastructure and sometimes just Nations Heritage andwith Kee:Way is as a technical andour roads, Hill-Montour says. Im Burials Committee, wasarcheological advisor. a voice for Six Nations of the Grand established in 2012 as aMy general feedback is ethicalRiverthis table has many different result of recommendations followingbehaviour [and] discrepancies withinFirst Nations there, and we all just the Ipperwash Inquiry, which lookedthat, which we still see in 2024 duringshare our experiences. Im that next into the shooting and death of Dudleythe fieldwork and mitigations of heritageof kin to the ancestors andmy role George by an OPP sniper. sites and artifacts and burials, thatwithin this committee is to provide that He was protecting the land, andbecome present on different housingfeedback and recommendations of whats there was a callout for reform anddevelopments or private developmentshappening today in 2024.action, says Tanya Hill-Montour, archaeological community monitoring supervisor at Six Nations of the Grand River. Kee:Way is a part of the justice sector, so this fit really well where a lot of recommendations were moved by the Kee:Way Committeeto try to look at other heritage and burial files and other misunderstandings and injustices.Chiefs of Ontario supports the Kee:Way Committee, which is accountable to and guided by First Nations leadership through resolutions and mandates. Kee:Way, comprised of Elders, Knowledge Keepers and First Nations experts from across Ontario, provides guidance on the handling and repatriation of remains, as well as the protection of sacred and burial sites. Since my presence [on the Kee:Way committee in] 2020, even with COVID on, we were able to sit down and have a lot of conversations with different organizations, different political parties that are involved in some of the injustices or misunderstandings, and even some of the impressions of First Nations people today, Hill-Montour says. Weve been moving forward with a lot of education and advocacy, so were starting to see movement, were starting to see people start to try to listen and understand [and] move towards more of a reconciliation model, but we still have a long way to go.20l I ssue1 2024/25C hIefs ofo ntarIoA dvocAte magazIne'