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Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas

Webequie celebrates Mining Essentials graduates – by Rick Garrick (Wawatay News – May 8, 2013)

http://wawataynews.ca/

Webequie’s Angeline Shewaybick is looking forward to a career in mining after graduating with the highest marks in Oshki-Pimache-O-Win’s Mining Essentials program.

“I tried really hard to study because I really wanted to do well,” said Shewaybick, who was awarded a laptop computer for her high marks during the May 2 graduation ceremony in Webequie. “My goal after this is finishing my education and hopefully getting into the mining industry. That’s where I want to work — it’s so close to home.”

Although Shewaybick was the only woman in the 12-week pre-employment training program, she encouraged other women to consider mining as a career. “It was a great experience for me,” Shewaybick said. “All I can say is take it — it was a great experience and I’ve learned a lot and you don’t have to be a guy to do it.”

Shewaybick enjoyed the hands-on pre-trades training activities in the Cambrian College mobile trades training trailer and the week-long job shadowing placement at the Cliffs Esker Camp in the Ring of Fire. “It was more hands on and I really enjoyed that part,” Shewaybick said.

Alec Wabasse, Amos Jacob, Brandon Shewaybick, Cody Mekanak, Corey Neshinapaise, Dylan Jacob, Edgar Jacob, Lewis Sofea, Leroy Troutlake, Luke Meekis, Robert Jacob, Rudy Mekanak and Simon Shewaybick, all from Webequie, also graduated from the program.

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NEWS RELEASE: Minister Clement highlights need for collaborative approach to Ring of Fire development

TORONTO, Ontario, May 6, 2013 — Today, the Honourable Tony Clement, Minister for FedNor, met with representatives of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) during their annual convention to underscore the importance of a collaborative approach to the development of the Ring of Fire, with an emphasis on early dialogue with First Nations.

“Our Government’s top priority is jobs, growth and long-term prosperity. The Ring of Fire is a generational opportunity that can materially improve the economic prospects and quality of life for thousands,” said Minister Clement. “The Harper Government is committed to working closely with the First Nation communities located near the Ring of Fire to ensure that they realize fully the economic benefits of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

The Ring of Fire, located approximately 500 km northeast of Thunder Bay, is potentially the largest mining development Northern Ontario has ever seen. The region has significant deposits of nickel and copper, and represents North America’s single largest deposit of chromite, the main ingredient in stainless steel. With mineral content worth an estimated $30-$50-billion, the Ring of Fire could create 5,000 direct and indirect jobs in Northern Ontario alone.

“Our Government recognizes the importance of natural resource developments, like the Ring of Fire, to our country’s growth and long-term prosperity,” said Minister Clement. “That is why we are implementing a comprehensive resource development agenda based on principles of efficient governance, environmental protection and consultation with First Nations.”

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No bling for the Ring – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – May 3, 2013)

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North.

The Ring of Fire received passionate lip service from the Ontario government in Premier Kathleen Wynne’s 2013 “prosperous and fair” budget. The Wynne government promised to keep working with industry and First Nations to “explore and develop mineral extraction opportunities…in an environmentally sustainable way.”

No mention was made of a financial commitment toward transportation infrastructure to the future mining camps of the Ring of Fire in the James Bay lowlands.

“The government will continue to assert Ontario’s pride in manufacturing, financial services, tourism, forestry and natural resource development,” said Wynne in her budget speech.

The government plans to extend its Northern Industrial Electricity Rate program, which helps cut power cuts to Ontario’s largest industries. The three-year program, announced in March 2010, will be extended with an additional $360 million over three years.

Among the government’s promises to business include job creation through investments in public transit, roads, bridges, hospitals and schools.

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Ring of Fire missing [from Ontario budget speech]? – by Jeff Labine (tbnewswatch.com – May 3, 2013)

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/

The Ring of Fire was missing from this year’s provincial budget when it was presented to Queen’s Park, but Ontario’s mining minister says it hasn’t been forgotten.

The minority-led Liberal government revealed its $127-billion budget in Toronto Thursday. It’s the first budget to be tabled under the leadership of premier Kathleen Wynne. Having six main themes, Finance Minister Charles Sousa said the government sought to create a fair and prosperous Ontario.

But Sousa never mentioned the massive chromite deposit in the lower James Bay area, which is expected to bring further prosperity to the province’s North. MPP Michael Gravelle (Lib. Thunder Bay – Superior North) said the Ring of Fire is in the budget.

“We’re providing $5 million in enhanced funding to those First Nation communities closest to the Ring of Fire,” he said. “There’s no question that our commitment to the Ring of Fire is very strong. I’m pleased to see that there will be significant investments going towards related to the Ring of Fire. For many people, the future of the province’s economy will benefit with the North succeeding.”

Gravelle pointed out that the Ring of Fire has been repeatedly mentioned in previous budgets and in the throne speech. He called the budget fair and strong and said he was pleased to see the number of investments being made in the North.

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Resource Rulers – required reading for mining execs – by Ellsworth Dickson (Resource World Magazine – May 2013)

http://www.resourceworld.com/

Ellsworth Dickson is the Editor-in-Chief of Resource World Magazine.

An excellent book recently written by Bill Gallagher entitled Resource Rulers details the rise of native empowerment in Canada and its effect on resource development. Gallagher was in a unique position to write the book as he is a lawyer, strategist, facilita- tor, energy regulator and treaty negotiator with 30 years experience in the area of gov- ernment, native and corporate relations. He attended and sometimes participated in a number of the events he describes.

The author did a meticulous job of assem- bling dozens of pertinent official documents from both the government and native side and provides a history of how Canadian First Nations peoples started with virtu- ally no power over what happened on their traditional lands, much of which was never ceded to Europeans, to the point where today they have won 179 court cases.

The reason so many cases ended up in court was not that First Nations peoples were overly litigious; it was the lack of or inadequate arrangements with the various provincial, territorial and federal govern- ments in dealing with their concerns over hydropower, petroleum, forestry, mineral projects as well as harvesting of maritime food resources.

The winning court cases were often based on treaties signed with England as far back as 1752 that stated the Crown had a fiduciary duty to permit First Nation peoples to hunt, fish and trade various resources on their traditional lands. In addition, First Nations should not suffer adverse effects of industrial development.

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Minister says Ring of Fire will be next oilsands – by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – May 2, 2013)

http://wawataynews.ca/

The Ring of Fire mining development could be Canada’s next oil sands, says federal minister of FedNor Tony Clement.

Clement, who was appointed earlier this year as the federal government’s point man on the Ring of Fire, told the Huffington Post that the mining development will change northern Ontario for the better.

“It has the potential to transform what was hitherto a very poor, underdeveloped area of Ontario and give people who live there, particularly First Nations people, a chance for a decent life,” Clement said.

Clement, also Treasury Board president, said the Ring of Fire could eventually be worth $120 billion, including the smelter and additional economic activity tied to mining.

“You’re looking at $120 billion, right in line with the oil sands or some of these other major developments,” Clement said. Clement is not the first Conservative politician to compare the Ring of Fire to Alberta’s oil sands. Provincial Conservative leader Tim Hudak made similar claims in 2012 after visiting the mining area.

“In many ways, the Ring of Fire is Ontario’s oil sands – an enormous wealth beneath the earth that can break open a new frontier for job creation and investment in our province,” Hudak said in June 2012.

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NEWS RELEASE: Aboriginal Canada and the Future of the Natural Resource Economy

The Macdonald-Laurier Institute is the only non-partisan, independent national public policy think tank in Ottawa focusing on the full range of issues that fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government. http://www.macdonaldlaurier.ca/

First papers in new series highlight the alternative futures facing Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians in defining new relationships around natural resource development

New Beginnings – by Ken Coates and Brian Lee Crowley: http://www.macdonaldlaurier.ca/files/pdf/2013.01.05-MLI-New_Beginnings_Coates_vWEB.pdf

Canada and The First Nations: Cooperation or Conflict – by Douglas L. Band: http://www.macdonaldlaurier.ca/files/pdf/2013.01.05-MLI-Canada_FirstNations_BLAND_vWEB-V2.pdf

OTTAWA, 1 May, 2013 – Canada’s leading independent, non-partisan think tank, the Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI) announces today the launch of a signature project aimed at showing how natural resource wealth may be used to reset the relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians.

Canada finds itself today in the midst of one of the most important resource development booms in national history. The scale and intensity of resource development in Canada has buoyed the national economy in the midst of global difficulties; equally important, the vast treasure trove of Canadian resources provides solid assurance that the Canadian economy will remain robust well into the future.

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Grim report warns Canada vulnerable to an aboriginal insurrection – by John Ivison (National Post – May 2, 2013)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

Mankind is at a crossroads, Woody Allen once quipped: “One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.”

Canada’s relations with its aboriginal people are also at a crossroads but, fortunately, one of the potential paths forward promises a more auspicious outcome than Mr. Allen’s doomsday scenario.

The Macdonald-Laurier Institute think-tank laid out the options in two important essays released Wednesday. One paper, by Ken Coates and Brian Lee Crowley, outlines an optimistic vision where aboriginal and non-aboriginal Canadians find ways to collaborate on natural resource development, to the benefit of all.

A more pessimistic report, by Douglas Bland, suggests that Canada has all the necessary “feasibility” conditions for a violent native uprising — social fault lines; a large “warrior cohort”; an economy vulnerable to sabotage; a reluctance on the part of governments and security forces to confront aboriginal protests; and a sparsely populated country reliant on poorly defended key infrastructure like rail and electricity lines.

Mr. Coates and Mr. Lee Crowley suggested that aboriginal people are in a “sweet spot” when it comes to natural resource development — the result of treaty agreements, court settlements and Supreme Court decisions.

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B.C. First Nation threatens mine shutdown over lack of jobs – by Mark Hume (Globe and Mail – May 1, 2013)

Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

VANCOUVER — A small band in central British Columbia is threatening to shut down a big copper mine because the rapidly expanding operation does not employ anyone from the Wet’suwet’en First Nation.

“The Wet’suwet’en chief and council were instructed by their members to take whatever action is necessary, including direct action and legal action, to stop further mine expansion,” a statement by the band said.

Chief Karen Ogen said the band is determined to shut down the mine if Imperial Metals Corporation and its partner, a Japanese consortium, do not address Wet’suwet’en demands.

“I guess we are having to get tough with industry,” Ms. Ogen said in an interview on Tuesday. “We’re going to need to get [their] attention.” A forest service road used by the mine crosses Indian Reserve number 7, and she hinted that may be the focus of future direct action by the band.

Ms. Ogen said the band is upset because none of its 250 members have found work at the Huckleberry Mine, 123 kilometres southwest of Houston.

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Ontario Conservatives say action needed in Ring of Fire – by Leith Dunick (tbnewswatch.com – April 26, 2013)

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak says he’s convinced Northern Ontario is the province’s next frontier.

Hudak, who is expected to try to force an election after the minority Liberal government releases its budget next week, on Friday said as it stands there are too many obstacles in place for the Ring of Fire to prosper.

He’s worried the project will lie dormant if changes don’t happen in a hurry. “This isn’t once-in-a-lifetime. This is a once-in-a-century opportunity. It’s billions of dollars of chromite, copper, nickel and zinc that could provide jobs for 100 years or more,” Hudak said. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. What the oil sands are to Alberta, what potash is to Saskatchewan, the Ring of Fire could be for our great province of Ontario.”

But talk is cheap. Action is needed, meaning a strong plan and the leadership to light up the Ring of Fire, Hudak said, promising to deliver an all-season access road to the project, located some 550 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay.

The road would benefit not only the mining companies, but the First Nations communities surrounding it. Hudak also promised to make the development a cabinet priority.

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The duty to consult [in Ring of Fire] needs support – by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – April 25, 2013)

http://wawataynews.ca/

The tragedies of multiple suicides in Neskantaga, and the First Nation’s declaration of a state of emergency, should be a wakeup call for everyone involved in trying to push the Ring of Fire ahead.

If there ever is a time for people working in government and in the mining industry to step back and look at the big picture, this is it. Seven tragic deaths have shaken the community of 420 people over the past year. Another 20 people tried to end their own life but failed. Everyone is exhausted, emotionally and physically.

Meanwhile, as councilor Roy Moonias said, Neskantaga is under “overwhelming pressure” from mining companies and governments who want to negotiate with the community on the Ring of Fire mining development.

The situation taking place now is a repeat of what happened in December. At that time Neskantaga was also dealing with youth suicides. A crisis intervention team was in the community. Meanwhile the deadline to respond to the terms of reference on Cliffs’ Natural Resources environmental assessment was coming up quick.

At that time Neskantaga’s only option, if it wanted to respond to an environmental assessment on a project that could profoundly change northern Ontario, was to ask for an extension in light of “exceptional circumstances”.

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The AFN and the PM: Retiring the missionaries – by Robin V. Sears (Toronto Star – April 21, 2013)

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

Robin V. Sears is a principal of the Earnscliffe Strategy Group. robin@earnsclilffe.ca.

Shawn Atleo and Stephen Harper are striving to move beyond Canada’s dreary tradition of paternalism toward aboriginal peoples.

That Canada’s enormous aboriginal bureaucracy has failed to deliver despite dispensing billions of dollars a year for decades is not hard to explain — their values and methods differ little from their forebears of two centuries earlier.

Just as Anglican and Catholic missionaries used a combination of carrot and stick to replace local languages and culture with English and Victorian values, so today’s zealous bureaucrats use grants, project funding — and the threat of their withdrawal — to reward “good Indians” and punish the recalcitrant in defence of a classic clientist welfare agenda.

The department changes its name every decade or so, in the apparent belief that new paint will disguise the ancient, rigid superstructure it conceals. No more responsible for “Indian Affairs,” the newest packaging is about aboriginal peoples and northern development. To its friends and enemies it is always simply, “The Department.”

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B.C. miners, First Nations learn to get along – by Gordon Hamilton (Vancouver Sun – April 19, 2013)

http://www.vancouversun.com/index.html

Sharing the land and wealth is possible when both sides work to understand each other’s concerns and desires

If Tawny Fortier ever needs a reminder as to why she is here, pulled over at the side of the road waiting out a whiteout snowstorm while on her way from her Kamloops home to her job in the Peace River gas fields, she just has to think of her daughter.

She left eight-year-old Kyra with her aunt several hours ago on the Kamloops First Nation reserve. If the storm lifts, she hopes to be at her room in a Dawson Creek boarding house by nightfall and at 4:20 a.m. next morning, she will be up and on her way to work as an apprentice electrician on a gas plant construction project.

Her determination is fuelled by a deep motivation to succeed. “Kyra is my biggest motivation for sure. It’s important for me to have a well-paying job to support both of us,” Fortier said in an telephone interview, after she had pulled over near Jasper until the storm ended. The Kamloops woman is halfway through her apprenticeship to becoming an electrician and is taking whatever job is required to make that dream a reality. She works two weeks on, one week off at the Peace River project.

Fortier is at the forefront of a fundamental change that has taken place in the relationship between resource development companies and First Nations in B.C.

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First Nations ties should be grown from the inside out – Brodie-Brown – by Simon Rees (MiningWeekly.com – April 17, 2013)

http://miningweekly.com/

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Northern Ontario’s junior exploration and mining sector is facing challenging times and not just because of the current market turbulence. New amendments to the province’s Mining Act introduced on a voluntary basis in November 2012 became mandatory on April 1. The impact has left some companies reeling.

Under the new rules, those wishing to prospect and explore must now submit detailed plans to Ontario’s Ministry of Northern Development and Mines before work can start. Companies must also consult with affected landowners, surface-rights holders and, importantly, local First Nations communities.

Processing submissions and issuing permits should take between 30 days and 50 days, although the government reserves the right to extend the timeframe if additional planning or consultation is deemed necessary.

The resultant flurry of permit applications and consultation requests with First Nations bands have left many across the spectrum struggling to fulfil their tasks, the Toronto Star reported on April 12. Critically, those companies waiting for permits have suddenly found themselves in limbo; they are legally obliged to halt work until approval is given.

“Everything stopped April 1. The drilling company I’m involved with, Cyr Drilling, has 22 drill rigs and the two that were active in northern Ontario had to shut down,” Aurcrest’s president, CEO and director Ian Brodie-Brown, who has extensive industry experience working alongside First Nations partners, told Mining Weekly Online.

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Victor Mine receives ‘needed’ supplies during winter road season – by Lenny Carpenter (Wawatay News – April 17, 2013)

http://wawataynews.ca/
Despite losing more than two weeks of the winter road season along the James Bay coast due to two separate blockades, De Beers Canada says it was able to ship the necessary fuel and supplies to its Victor Mine site.

Tom Ormsby, De Beers’ director of external and corporate affairs, said the diamond mining company was able to receive the “needed” shipments thanks to the longer winter season. The James Bay winter road officially closed on March 29, two weeks longer than the previous winter road season.

“We were extremely fortunate that the weather in northern Ontario was colder than usual for a longer than period of time,” Ormsby said. “And that did allow us to get in what we needed to get in before we lost the winter road.”

Ormsby also acknowledged the work of local crews and businesses in putting in the extra effort once the road re-opened following the last blockade.

“Because of their strong planning and the fact we got strong support from the ground, from the local businesses and others, that when the program was able to resume, it did so safely and quickly,” Ormsby said.

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