The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.
Chief Peter Moonias, of Neskantaga First Nation, has the backing of his members to do whatever it takes– legal action, blockading and even acts of “mischief” — to get Northern Development and Mines Minister Rick Bartolucci to negotiate with his community.
Moonias has hired a British Columbia lawyer, experienced in native land claims, to represent his 400-member community 35 ki lometres from where Cliffs Natural Resources intends to operate an open-pit chromite mine in the Ring of Fire.
Neskantaga members are furious because they say they weren’t consulted by the province before it gave Cliffs approval in principle to mine the deposit and locate a ferrochrome processing plant near Capreol.
Bartolucci said last week his government will enter into framework agreements with First Nations as it finalizes details of its agreement with Cleveland-based Cliffs. The chief says that’s like someone coming onto a Sudbury homeowner’s property, digging up the lawn and saying, “I’ll have a framework agreement after I finish digging.”
Bartolucci and ministry officials may have consulted with other First Nations near the mine site, such as Webequie and Marten River, but they didn’t talk with his, he said.
Neskantaga First Nation is located on Attawapiskat Lake, a water source Cliffs will have to cross to build a new road. His members depend on the lake and Attawapiskat River for the sturgeon they fish and the moose they hunt.
“My people have used that land for harvesting and their livelihood … just like you guys use Safeways and things like that where you get your food,” Moonias said.
The chief charged that Bartolucci has not recognized his First Nation as one of the impacted communities.
His community is closer to the proposed mine site than Webequie or Marten Falls.
Webequie is 70 kilometres from the mine site and Marten Falls is 134 km away.
“We are going to be impacted. We are going to live with that poison from the mine site. We are going to drink that. Our fish are going to be killed. Our sturgeon harvesting is going to be gone. Our moose are all going to move away or die, whatever, whatever happens from that development,” he said.
“Let’s get (to) the table, Mr. Bartolucci on one end, I’m on the other end. We want to do this. We want to permit Cliffs to start building the road on the basis that Neskantaga, we will agree on something that will benefit my community to compensate what they’re going to damage in that land,” said the chief.
His First Nation isn’t asking for billions of dollars, he said. “We’re asking (for a) fair share of the benefits.
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