Nibinamik First Nation working with Noront on skills training – by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – April 24, 2012)

This article came from Wawatay News: http://www.wawataynews.ca/

Nibinamik First Nation is the fourth First Nation to sign a training agreement with Noront Resources that intends to help band members get mining jobs if the Ring of Fire goes ahead as planned.
 
Nibinamik chief Johnny Yellowhead signed the agreement with Noront during the community’s mining week, held from April 10-13.

“If mining is done with inclusion and respect for people on the land, everyone will win,” Yellowhead said during the signing ceremony. “That’s our main purpose with the 4-nation partnership is to try to work together and try to understand each other.”
 
Nibinamik, Webequie, Neskantaga and Eabametoong First Nations signed the 4-nations partnership during the Prospectors and Developers Association conference in Toronto in March. The bands’ initial move was to throw their support behind the East-West transportation corridor that would connect each of the communities to the southern road and power line network.
 
Now each of the four Matawa First Nations have agreed to work with Noront on pushing the federal government for skills and education training to prepare band members for jobs at the mine.
 
Noront Chief Operating Officer Paul Semple told the assembly in Nibinamik that working together on the training agreement is a first step in making sure local communities benefit from opportunities with the Ring of Fire.
 
“One of the main challenges (the communities) have is a lack of education and training,” Semple said. “We look at the communities in the North as partners, and it is in our best interest to work with you to create a workforce.”
 
The training agreement Noront has submitted to the federal government will require somewhere between $10 and $30 million over five years, Semple said during his presentation. It involves adult education for core high school courses in communities, to get community members caught up on their high school credits. The program also involves partnerships with northern Ontario colleges to build a skilled workforce capable of working in the Ring of Fire.
 
In addition to those steps, Semple said Noront plans to establish a “campus” on site at its mine to train people in the skilled trades needed on site. Local band members will be trained on site, and then transferred directly onto the job site once their training finished.
 
He also noted that the jobs available at the mine are much more than just employment for miners.
 
“One of the things, when people talk about mining, they think about miners,” Semple said. “They forget the accountants, secretaries, cooks, environmental officers, mechanics and all the other jobs that are needed to run a mine site.”
 
Nibinamik’s mining awareness week brought Cliffs Resources, Ontario’s ministry of northern development and mines, Wasaya airlines and Matawa Tribal Council into the community, as well as Noront.
 
Chief Yellowhead said the week was a chance for community members to learn more about all the mining activity happening on and around Nibinamik’s traditional lands.
 
“It is important that all community members, elders and youth understand what the government and industry are proposing to do in our First Nations territory,” Yellowhead said. “Our First Nation will play a very important role in this development, so it was time to create more awareness with what is happening around mining in our traditional territories.”
 
Yellowhead emphasized that the meetings with industry and government were simply to inform the community of what is happening. They did not encompass official consultation.

During the week Nibinamik also presented Noront and Cliffs with the community’s traditional land access protocol. The chief said he expects all companies planning to work in the region to sign the protocol before any traditional lands are disturbed.
 
“Entering into this first agreement should be done out of respect for the traditional people who have always used the land,” Yellowhead said.
 
While most community members who attended the meetings wanted more information on how the community can benefit from the mining activity, not all attendees were in support of industrial development in the region.
 
During the question period, a number of community members raised concerns that the mining companies operating in the area will take the resources and leave the communities with nothing.
 
Tommy Yellowhead, Nibinamik’s Land and Resources Coordinator, noted that the problems facing his community, from housing needs to social problems, need to be addressed before the First Nation can really stand to benefit from the mining activity.
 
“Our communities are struggling, with infrastructure, health, education, you name it. Our unemployment rate is high, our suicide rate is high,” Yellowhead said. “With industry, because they want to take something from our land, they should work to fix the problems before making any deals.
 
“The Elders told us a long time ago that the companies are going to come, walk away and leave us with nothing,” he added. “I can see this happening now.”