Aboriginals tries to enlist DiCaprio in diamond fight

TORONTO (CP) - A group of northern Ontario aboriginal communities is hoping actor Leonardo DiCaprio will play a starring role in its fight against a De Beers diamond mine which it says could threaten the province's boreal forest.

The Nishnawbe Aski Nation has written to the movie star, asking him to promote their concerns about the gem magnate's mine while he plugs his movie "Blood Diamond" - a film about the conflict diamond trade in war-torn Sierra Leone.

The letter to DiCaprio says the mine currently under construction on the western coast of James Bay could threaten Ontario's boreal forest and aboriginal ancestral lands. The planned open-pit mine is "no alternative to African blood diamonds," the letter states.