Written by Gabriel Caplett
London, UK – Four citizens from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula attended Rio Tinto’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Center (QEII), in London, England. Speakers included Susan LaFernier, vice-president of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC), Gabriel Caplett from Yellow Dog Summer and Northwoods Wilderness Recovery, and Cynthia Pryor, from the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve. Fran Whitman, from Friends of the Land of Keweenaw (FOLK), attended but was unable to speak in front of the assembly.
To the crowd of roughly 300 shareholders and journalists, LaFernier addressed the threat to Native American ceded treaty rights with the US government, from 1842 and 1954 treaties. Rio Tinto chairman, Paul Skinner, interrupted LaFernier’s introduction, instructing the tribal leader to ask only one question, although a shareholder had just previously been able to ask three questions.