TORONTO - Several dozen First Nations people sang songs and beat drums at the Ontario legislature on Sunday to protest the clear-cutting of trees on Algonquin lands in Ottawa.

Members of the Mohawk and Algonquin First Nations have been at the legislature day and night to tend a sacred fire that has been burning there since Feb. 9.

They are urging Premier Dalton McGuinty and Ontario Minister of Tourism and Culture Michael Chan to step in and halt the development that threatens to destroy the South March Highlands.

Danny Beaton, a member of the Mohawk Turtle Clan, says the highlands is a designated sacred place where the Algonquin go to strengthen their relationship with mother nature.

He says the forest is home to many species of animals, plants and insect life, including some endangered species.

"That sacred forest is honoured by the native people, and it should be honoured by the people that are in the House of Commons," said Beaton.

"Our children deserve to have that forest when they get older, and if that forest is wiped out, they'll never see that forest and they'll never be able to heal or enjoy that forest."

Beaton and Daniel Bernard of the Algonquin Amikwabe clan lit the fire together and have braved some of the season's coldest nights to keep the flames alive.

"It's total violence against Algonquin First Nations. It's total disrespect for our nation," said Bernard.

Bernard says lawyers in Ottawa are refusing to acknowledge the archeological value of the area, which he says was once the Champlain Sea, a temporary inlet created by retreating glaciers at the end of the last ice age.

"It's really a library of immense knowledge, and right now it's being destroyed without regards for First Nations," said Bernard.

First Nations have come from Ottawa and other parts of Canada to support the Algonquin people and to huddle around the fire.

"Sacred fire helps people understand the relation with mother earth," said Bernard.

Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath and Council of Canadians chairman Maude Barlow have pledged their support, said Beaton.

"If all of Canada knew what was going on in this sacred place and that this disrespect was happening, I'm sure there would be a public outcry," he said.

The forest consists of 457 hectares of municipal owned land adjacent to and within the suburb of Kanata.