Ontario’s rush to develop mines attempted two steps forward on Wednesday, while impacted First Nations warn they intend to assert their role as rights holders.
A new infrastructure deal that includes a supply road in the Ring of Fire mineral deposit, and the first enactment of the province’s controversial Bill 5 legislation drew stern responses from First Nations leaders whose communities and territories stand to be impacted.
In the morning, Premier Doug Ford and Indigenous minister Greg Rickford signed a $39.5-million agreement with Webequie First Nation, which includes $1.5-million for mental health supports, a new arena, training and meeting space. It also includes over $10 million for the Webequie Supply Road Project, a proposed 107-kilometre link between the fly-in First Nation and the proposed mining development area.
“The next chapter of reconciliation is economic reconciliation,” Rickford said.
“It seems Ontario is keeping on with their modus operandi of divide and conquer! Ontario cannot go into our lands and take our resources again without our consent! That would be history repeating itself! We will fight it!”
Rickford told media that while many First Nations leaders were critical of Bill 5 when it was introduced, technical consultations the province has led since the Bill’s passage “have been generally well received.”
“Obviously, it’s very difficult to get consensus around these things from 133 different First Nations communities but I can say the response has been at least curious, if not positive, about some of the key projects that communities want to have where Bill 5 may be able to support that, and facilitate those projects coming to fruition,” Rickford said.
“As it stands right now in the Ring of Fire region, we don’t have any aspect of Bill 5 happening, but we’ll take our cue from First Nations communities like Webequie as these projects start under construction…”
Webequie Chief Cornelius Wabasse then inferred his community’s interest in exploring possibilities under the legislation, which would allow for “special economic zones” where existing laws and regulations don’t apply.
“I think Bill 5 is something we need to work with, to work for the benefit of our First Nations, too,” Wabasse said. “It’s out there and we need to better understand what Bill 5 is all about, and hopefully we can come up with a strategy that can work for us as well, too.”
Bruce Achneepineskum, the Chief of Marten Falls First Nation (Ogoki Post), which is Webequie’s southeastern neighbour, posted to Facebook that the Webequie Supply Road will pass through his community’s traditional territory along the Muketei River. Marten Falls is the proponent for the first of three legs in the so-called “Corridor To Prosperity,” the proposed highway extension reaching northward from Greenstone and Aroland First Nation toward the Ring of Fire deposit. Achneepineskum threatened the project would face “resistance and stoppages” if Marten Falls is not meaningfully engaged.
“It seems Ontario is keeping on with their modus operandi of divide and conquer! Ontario cannot go into our lands and take our resources again without our consent! That would be history repeating itself! We will fight it!”
In the early afternoon, Minister of Mines Stephen Lecce announced Frontier Lithum’s PAK Lithium project proposed 175 kilometres north of Red Lake will be the first approved under the new “one project, one process” framework that Bill 5 enables.
The PAK Lithium project would be 31-year mine life that the company estimates at $932-million and it intends to process the raw materials in a yet-to-be-built lithium conversion facility in Thunder Bay.
“How can we talk about development, how can we talk about partnership, when we continue to deal with the day-to-day issues that are very real? That is, the overcrowding, the suicide, the social issues, those are real.”
North Spirit Lake First Nation Chief Brandon Rae said he was alerted to the announcement two days prior and flew to Toronto to express his disappointment that the government had framed his community as supporting this project. For generations, his family has lived and harvested in the area that is under consideration. He pointed to the nearby Favorable Lake Gold Mine, which was exploited through the 1920s while flooding wild rice habitat, and whose waterborne contaminants continue to impact the ecosystem today.
“Ontario says this [process] is really about streamlining environmental approvals but what it really does is weaken consultation, it removes safeguards, and it silences our voices. We need to be clear that this government and its partner are not engaged with us. They push us, overload us with information we can’t process and drag us thorough their process,” he said at his own press conference, an hour after Lecce approved PAK Lithium.
“Our community feels there’s no real off-ramp in this process, no space to pause, reflect, or take time needed to make informed decisions without being left behind. If we cannot meet timelines imposed by others, we risk being excluded altogether. This is not partnership, that’s pressure.”
North Spirit Lake was among the First Nations who signed exploration agreements with Frontier Lithium in the late 2010s. Rae wasn’t on council then, but he claims those agreements were signed under pressure. He said consultation under that agreement has been dissatisfactory.
“We come back and tell them, ‘we need more information,’ ‘we don’t understand,’ ‘we have some questions.’ They don’t bring answers the next time around. They just bring what they want to tell us. It’s not really a dialogue.”
Rae called on the premier to pause the process to engage with area First Nations on a nation-to-nation basis, and to facilitate the technical capacity in the communities to support those developments that are in their interests.
North Spirit Lake First Nation Chief Brandon Rae said he was alerted to the announcement two days prior and flew to Toronto to express his disappointment that the government had framed his community as supporting this project.
Frontier investor relations manager Bora Ugurgel insisted his company is abiding by its consultation responsibilities, and the government’s process is its own responsibility.
“Today’s announcement is really all about government, ‘1p 1p’ and what the government is intending to do. We told them it would be best if they invite the communities to the table that they’re talking to, and invite us as the private sector at the same time.”
Kiiwetinoong MPP and NDP deputy leader Sol Mamakwa reiterated his stance that successful mining outcomes will be dependent on a process that respects Ontario’s constitutional responsibility to First Nations.
“I don’t know who’s timeline we’re on,” Mamakwa said. “It sounds like it’s the Government of Ontario’s. So I think it’s important to be able to acknowledge it should be on the First Nations’ timeline.”
Bobby Narcisse is the Deputy Grand Chief of Nishnawbe Aski Nation, a lobby group representing the chiefs of 49 mostly fly-in First Nations in Treaty 9 and 5 territories of Ontario’s far north. He said NAN will insist on “free, prior and informed consent” for any mining project to go ahead.
“We call upon all levels of government whenever there is going to be resource development within our traditional territories that our First Nations have to have a meaningful part in those discussions and that strategy moving ahead,” he expressed. “It shouldn’t just be a token role when these discussions are happening.”
Chiefs of Ontario Regional Chief Abram Benedict reinforced that the provincial government used an “undemocratic” and “expedited” process to enact Bill 5 without consultation with First Nations.
“For the minister to articulate that there’s support, it’s a bit of a stretch,” he said of Rickford’s comments regarding Bill 5. “We have half-a-dozen communities involved in a specific geographical area, where we still have 129 more elsewhere that are concerned at different levels.”
“Our community feels there’s no real off-ramp in this process, no space to pause, reflect, or take time needed to make informed decisions… This is not partnership, that’s pressure.”
Benedict recognizes First Nations near the proposed Ring of Fire mines have the authority to make decisions in their territories, adding that as these projects grow through the conceptual stage to concrete action.
Chiefs of Ontario will be watching to see how the government works with the rights-holding First Nations in every case. Ensuring communities are able to make sovereign decisions, he points out, includes satisfying their right to basic, equitable infrastructure.
“How can we talk about development, how can we talk about partnership, when we continue to deal with the day-to-day issues that are very real? That is, the overcrowding, the suicide, the social issues, those are real,” Benedict posed.
“I said that directly to all the ministers I’ve spoken to. For First Nations, it’s just not a single approach – it’s not just economic development. It’s a holistic approach, across the board. We have to have healthy people. We have to have homes. That is the reality. Any government – any proponent – has to realize that.
“The governments have argued Bill 5 and C-5 give them the ability to work outside the box. Good and bad, time will tell.”
Jon Thompson is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter based in Thunder Bay. Contact him with tips and story ideas at Jon@ricochet.media.
