Batchewana First Nation will ‘decide’ fate of ferrochrome facility bid: Chief – by Elaine Della-Mattia (Sault Star – May 10, 2019)

https://www.saultstar.com/

Batchewana First Nation Chief Dean Sayers says he’s ready and willing to have meaningful consultation with all parties about whether his government can support Noront Resources’s proposed ferrochrome facility in Sault Ste. Marie.

He says he’s willing to set the table and invite others who want to enter into “meaningful” dialogue and follow the “inherent right and jurisdiction” Batchewana will exercise during the quest to find common ground.

“We’re going to do that in the very near future, with Noront and with the city (of Sault Ste. Marie), he said. And only when common ground is found and Batchewana First Nation is satisfied that the environment and its people will be protected, will the First Nation support a ferrochrome plant, he said.

He doesn’t want the community to think that consultation is done, or that the First Nation community has already rendered its support. That’s always been clear to Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Christian Provenzano.

Provenzano said the message he tried to convey at Noront Resource’s announcement this week that it has selected Sault Ste. Marie to be the site of its ferrochrome processing facility was that the decision marks the end of one stage of a long process and the beginning of another.

For the rest of this article: https://www.saultstar.com/news/local-news/batchewana-first-nation-open-to-consultations-with-noront-ensuring-environment-and-people-are-protected-are-key