The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.
THE BIGGEST development in Ontario — and potential salvation of the troubled northern economy — is facing a new set of challenges from First Nations leaders. They are issuing an eviction notice to all mining companies with operations in the Ring of Fire mineral deposit. And they are suing the province for unpaid royalties on former development projects in the North.
There is so much at stake, and so much opportunity to uplift lives on and off reserves, that it would be a shame to let the development bog down if there are ways to make it happen in good time.
First, can we get a definitive statement from Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Premier Dalton McGuinty, who have discussed the development, on why a lesser study for environmental assessment is sufficient for the project rather than a more comprehensive joint review panel? This approach fits with the federal government’s new policy push to lessen environmental oversight on large energy projects, but is it the right decision? Does McGuinty agree with it?
This project will see open pit mining for decades and a long road built through virgin forest from the James Bay lowlands to the CN rail line. Does it require an environmental assessment that results in public hearings in each of the affected First Nations as their leaders contend? If not, why not? Maybe a less onerous process is enough and a passing grade will certainly allow the Ring of Fire to be lit sooner. But let’s be sure.
That said, it is reasonable to allow mining exploration to continue while this question is answered. Exploration is easy on the land. Mining companies have a lot invested in finding what is under it and all of Northern Ontario has enormous potential to enjoy some economic stability and social progress for a change.
Evicting exploration teams serves no one’s purpose. What would be most useful is to follow the advice of Wes Hanson, CEO of Noront Resources, one of the major Ring players. First Nations are anxious for meaningful involvement in the entire process. That may be expecting too much since this is, first and foremost, a private sector initiative. But consultation where none has happened is the right and moral thing to do. Miners can’t be expected to lead this process, though some have taken the initiative in the absence of provincial leadership.
No, this is the responsibility of the province and the federal government which legislate mining and license mining activity. By now we should have seen a process jointly developed by the two senior governments on advice from native leaders. Get a mining executive and a representative from Ottawa and Queen’s Park to sit down with chiefs and band councils in the relative handful of First Nations within the Ring of Fire and work out an agreement to allow mining activity in return for job training and employment and a reasonable sharing of the wealth generated by any mine.
This would respect legal rulings that call for such consultations. But government is on solid legal ground when it comes to the treaty rights that many First Nations leaders say are being abused.
Here is some of what Treaty 9, covering this territory, has to say. First Nations “shall have the right to pursue their usual vocations of hunting, trapping and fishing throughout the tract surrendered . . . subject to such regulations as may from time to time be made by the government of the country . . . and saving and excepting such tracts as may be required or taken up from time to time for settlement, mining, lumbering, trading or other purposes.”
Another section says “that such portions of the reserves and lands above indicated as may at any time be required for public works, buildings, railways, or roads of whatsoever nature may be appropriated for that purpose by His Majesty’s government of the Dominion of Canada, due compensation being made to the Indians for the value of improvements thereon, and an equivalent in land, money or other consideration for the area of the reserve so appropriated.”
If there is a way into this matter that lays out a fair process for compensation, that appears to be it. Can we get started?