Attawapiskat First Nation seeks court injunction against Ring of Fire exploration – by Erik White (CBC News Sudbury – October 5, 2021)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/

A court hearing this week sparked by Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario could have big implications for the development of the Ring of Fire.

The First Nation says it wasn’t properly consulted about exploration by mining company Juno in its traditional territory and is seeking an injunction. “The conflicting forces at work loom large over the fate of climate change, the environment, the economy, Attawapiskat, its rights and its culture,” the First Nation’s lawyer, Kate Kempton, told the court Tuesday.

She said “there was not a single meeting” between Juno and the First Nation, located in Kenora district, and the only “so-called consultation” was an email from Juno to Attawapiskat’s land and resources co-ordinator in January 2020.

She said Attawapiskat reached out in April with a template of an exploration agreement and Juno didn’t reply. Kempton now claims the mining company is using that proposal to “malign” the First Nation, accusing it of being “two-faced” and only interested in getting veto power over the Ring of Fire, which Attawapiskat denies.

For the rest of this article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/attawapiskat-ring-of-fire-exploration-court-case-1.6200000