Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he’s ready to jump on the bulldozer and build the access road to the Ring of Fire, an area rich with critical mineral deposits in the province’s far north. In the next breath though, he says, “Well, we don’t like conflict. We want to work with (the Matawa Nations), hand-in-hand, and be collaborative.”
Ford’s words came during a visit to Brampton, which will be home to a new electric vehicle battery facility. The metals for the EV factory are found in the Ring of Fire, which is within Treaty 9 territory.
“So he’ll sit with us at the table then? That’s absolutely wonderful news,” said Constance Lake First Nation Chief Ramona Sutherland when Windspeaker.com asked about the two contradictory sentiments expressed by Ford at the same news conference May 11.
“I would love to see that happening… It has to happen. It has to happen because he has to understand, and Canada has to understand… This is our traditional territory,” said Sutherland. “Any activity in our territory without our consent is cultural genocide. Because, you know what? We are Cree. We’re not separate and apart from the land.”
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