Critical minerals mining, conservation in Ontario’s Far North can go hand in hand: Mushkegowuk director – by Maija Hoggett (Northern Ontario Business/Timmins Today – February 22, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

The feasibility study approved for the James Bay national marine conservation area

KASHECHEWAN — The proposed national marine conservation area (NMCA) continues to make a splash on the James Bay coast. The feasibility study for the NMCA was formally accepted Feb. 21, allowing the project to move on to the next steps, which include negotiating with Parks Canada.

“We’re going to continue doing engagement on the feasibility study … that we have done, make sure everybody understands that has any questions. If there’s any changes to be done, we will alter and do some editing,” said Lawrence Martin, Mushkegowuk Council’s lands and resources department director.

The announcement was made in Kashechewan, a remote community on the James Bay coast about 400 kilometres north of Timmins. It included Mushkegowuk Council and its communities, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Adam van Koeverden, and Parks Canada president and CEO Ron Hallman

By April, Martin expects to have a team together to negotiate with Parks Canada, a process that could months or years.”We’re going to be looking at funding levels to create the jobs we feel is necessary for the monitoring to take place — all the land and the waters and the birds, animals and so forth. So there’ll be a science component to it.

For the rest of this article: https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/industry-news/mining/critical-minerals-mining-conservation-in-ontarios-far-north-can-go-hand-in-hand-mushkegowuk-director-8340230