[NDP Sarah Campbell] MPP calls for talks on changing Far North Act – by Bryan Meadows (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – March 24, 2012)

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

Kenora-Rainy River MPP Sarah Campbell is calling for more consultation on changes to the Far North Act, with a goal of replacing it with new legislation that is more acceptable to Northern Ontario residents.

“The Liberal government didn’t listen to northerners and First Nations in Northern Ontario when they introduced the Far North Act,” Campbell said, in introducing a motion, calling for consultations, to the provincial legislature this week.

“Getting this right will help create economic opportunities and job creation in Northern Ontario and make sure the benefits are shared with the people who live here,” she said.

Campbell’s motion also proposes additional funding for First Nations’ land use planning, a joint co-ordinating body between First Nations and government, a resource revenue-sharing model, and the end to the provision that allows the government to overrule land use plans completed by First Nations.

The Kenora-Rainy River MPP doesn’t like Conservative MPP Norm Miller’s (Parry Sound-Muskoka) private member’s bill that would scrap the controversial Far North Act.

“The Far North Act doesn’t work for the people who live here, but scrapping it altogether threatens to destabilize economic development in the region,” she said, adding that “I’ve put forward a positive and constructive proposal aimed at ensuring a stable path forward for job creation and development in Northern communities.

The Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association is also not a fan of Miller’s bill.

“NOMA does not support Bill 44, Far North Repeal Act, 2012 but neither do we support the Far North Act in its current form,” NOMA president Ron Nelson said in a letter.

“We remain concerned that the process for developing the Far North Act has created a divisive and uncertain environment that is contrary to the intent of the legislation, which was to move forward with land use planning in the Far North,” Nelson said, adding that “NOMA supports any effort to ensure that proper land use planning is undertaken in the north, by the north and for the north.”

Miller’s Bill 44, An Act to repeal the Far North Act, 2010, was given first reading in the Ontario legislature on March 7.

The Far North Act directs the provincial government to work with First Nation communities to protect up to half of Ontario’s Far North from development.

Under the legislation, the Ministry of Natural Resources is to work with individual communities to create land use plans outlining traditional use areas, areas for protection, and areas that are open for mining and forestry development.

Despite tentative praise for the act from the province’s environmental commissioner last December, the legislation has been widely criticized from both industry and First Nation groups, citing a lack of local and aboriginal consultation in its initial development.

The forestry industry, the mining industry and the provincial Conservative party have criticized the plan, claiming it will shut down development in the far North.