Gary Potts

{{Short description|Temagami First Nation chief (1944–2020)}}

Gary Potts (Dec. 1, 1944 – June 3, 2020) was a chief of the Temagami First Nation and the Teme-Augama Anishnabai in Temagami, Ontario, Canada.

He was chief in August 1973 when the Temagami Land Caution began with land claims being filed with title offices to prevent development on Crown land.{{Cite news |title=Temagami Chief Gary Potts led fight for Indigenous rights to Northern Ontario land |date=July 10, 2020 |first=Rudy |last=Platiel |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-temagami-chief-gary-potts-led-fight-for-indigenous-rights-to-northern/|access-date=August 25, 2021 }}{{cite news | title = Indians Claim North Bay Land| newspaper = Winnipeg Free Press | date = 1974-02-11 | agency = The Canadian Press | url = https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-feb-11-1974-1285075/ | access-date=July 27, 2019 }}

Potts was a leader of the Red Squirrel Road blockades in 1988–1989,{{cite web |url=http://temagami.nativeweb.org/gary-potts.html |title=Gary Potts |publisher=Temagami First Nation |access-date=September 29, 2007}} which were a part of Temagami's struggle to protect their Homeland. Bruce Clark, who was a lawyer for the Temagami First Nation throughout the 1970s and 1980s, left after Steele J.'s trial decision (1984) when the Temagami Band Council retained the services of an experienced Appeal Court Lawyer at the Firm of Borden & Elliot in Toronto (1985). Potts was chief in 1991 when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the Teme-Augama Anishnabai gave up rights to the land via the 1850 Robinson Treaty despite the Tema-Augama Anishnabai claiming that they never signed or consented to the treaty. The Supreme Court of Canada found that The Crown had breached some of their Fiduciary Obligations to the Temagami Indians. {{cite court |litigants=The Bear Island Foundation and Gary Potts, William Twain and Maurice McKenzie, Jr. on behalf of themselves and on behalf of all other members of the Teme-Augama Anishnabay and Temagami Band of Indians v. The Attorney General for Ontario

|reporter=Supreme_Court_Reports_(Canada)

|opinion=[1991] 2 SCR 570

|court=Supreme Court of Canada

|date=August 15, 1991

|url=https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/782/index.do

|access-date=July 28, 2019

|quote=It was unnecessary, however, to examine the specific nature of the aboriginal right because that right was surrendered, whatever the situation on the signing of the Robinson-Huron Treaty, by arrangements subsequent to the treaty by which the Indians adhered to the treaty in exchange for treaty annuities and a reserve. The Crown breached its fiduciary obligations to the Indians by failing to comply with some of its obligation under this agreement; these matters currently form the subject of negotiations between the parties. These breaches do not alter the fact that the aboriginal right was extinguished.

}}{{cite news | url = https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-aug-16-1991-1285115 | title = Indian leaders give land ruling mixed reviews | first = Aldo | last = Santin | newspaper = Winnipeg Free Press | page = 2 | date =August 16, 1991| access-date =July 28, 2019}}

Potts was chief for a few months in 2009.{{cite book | title = Temagami Lakes Association: The Life and Times of a Cottage Community

| first = Pamela | last = Sinclair | isbn = 9781426967627 | year = 2011 | pages = 335–336 | publisher = Xlibris Corporation | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7B8FtSD9o_0C&dq=Roxane+Ayotte&pg=PA335 | access-date =July 30, 2019}} He died on June 3, 2020.{{cite news |title=Gary Potts, Temagami First Nation Chief who led road blockades in 80s, dead |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/gary-potts-temagami-death-1.5598101 |date=Jun 4, 2020 |publisher=cbc.ca |access-date=June 4, 2020}}