Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The governments of Ontario and Canada are both moving to fast-track development in the Ring of Fire region – but they are going about it in very different ways.

According to a May 23 letter from Canada’s Privy Council Office obtained by The Globe and Mail, Canada has invited Mushkegowuk Council Grand Chief Leo Friday to Ottawa to “consult and cooperate” on proposed legislation around projects identified to be in the national interest. It says new legislation is coming in early June that would facilitate regulations and development by creating a new Major Projects Office.

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https://nationalpost.com/

We already know people who live on traditional lands in the north are unlikely to welcome mining. They shouldn’t be able to veto it

Ontario Premier Doug Ford wants to break up the status quo of process, endless consultation and delay that has bogged down major infrastructure project approvals in the province. It’s about time. Ford’s Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, aims to speed things up by creating “special economic zones” that would exempt big projects from many municipal and provincial rules.

The bill would allow cabinet to designate those zones and decide what rules apply. It can take a big club to break up the status quo. Bill 5 is certainly such a club, and no one swings one quite like Ford. This is his “Get It Done” mantra in action.

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https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/

TORONTO – Last-minute changes to a controversial Ontario mining bill are not good enough and ignore a central plea to work together on drafting legislation, First Nations said Thursday.

Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler of Nishnawbe Aski Nation, which represents 49 First Nations in northern Ontario, said the province should scrap Bill 5 and write a new law alongside Indigenous leaders that would allow for shared prosperity.

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https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Ontario Premier Doug Ford – facing opposition from First Nations over a bill allowing “special economic zones” where mines or other projects could be exempt from any provincial law – is pledging to include provisions for similar Indigenous-led zones but still vowing to pass his controversial legislation.

Bill 5, which has sparked warnings of protests from First Nations leaders who say they have not been consulted, is aimed at accelerating Ontario’s sluggish mine approval process, particularly in the remote northern Ring of Fire region. The government says critical mineral reserves there are key to Ontario’s future economic resilience in the face of U.S. tariffs.

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https://www.chroniclejournal.com/

THERE’S A SHOWDOWN brewing in Northern Ontario. It pits the will of Canadian governments to capitalize on the global demand for specialized minerals against the reasonable but seemingly interminable demands of First Nations to be consulted beforehand. The outcome could either help to rescue moribund economies at all levels, or keep those valuable minerals locked in the ground, halting plans for a rich, new mining chapter and sending customers elsewhere.

Canada has emerged from a history of colonial crimes against Indigenous people to present a model to the world on how to begin to make amends. There have been formal apologies and reparations in the millions. Indigenous culture has been adopted into the national milieu. Extensive efforts continue to improve Indigenous life in the Far North and the urban south alike. Results are mixed but the direction is inevitable.

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https://www.thetrillium.ca/

Indigenous leaders are warning that the bill could reignite ‘Idle No More’

The Ford government is working on amendments to a bill that Indigenous leaders have warned will reignite the “Idle No More” movement in Ontario if it is passed.

Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, would give cabinet the power to designate an area a “special economic zone,” and then exempt selected proponents and projects from requirements under any provincial law or regulation, including bylaws of municipalities and local boards, that would otherwise apply in that zone. Federal laws, like the Criminal Code, and Charter and treaty rights, cannot be waived, however.

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https://www.ctvnews.ca/

Road, rail and mine blockades could be on the horizon, First Nations leaders said Monday, as they ratchet up pressure on the Ontario government to kill a proposed bill that seeks to speed up large mining projects in the north.

Provincial ministers, meanwhile, said they heard the outcry and will make improvements to Bill 5, but stopped short of suggesting they would eliminate it outright. “We heard loud and clear that there’s some things that they would like to see changed about this bill,” said Indigenous Affairs Minister Greg Rickford.

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Ontario’s minister of Indigenous relations insists development in what is known as the Ring of Fire area will not move ahead without major involvement from affected First Nations. “These projects cannot go ahead until or unless there is significant, substantial participation by First Nations communities and First Nations businesses,” Greg Rickford said this week on Nation to Nation.

But not all First Nations in Ontario are on board with Ring of Fire development and say the government has failed to properly consult them before making plans to open up the area in northern Ontario to mining companies.

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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/

Proposed provincial legislation aims to fast-track mining development

Rudy Turtle says the people of Grassy Narrows First Nation will never stop defending the land. In the case of Ontario’s Bill 5 — proposed legislation aimed at expediting development — he says “we’re not going to back down.”

“We need to continue to protect our environment and make sure that things are done properly,” said Turtle, former chief of Grassy Narrows. “Any changes that are made at any time, we have to really look at the pros and cons.”

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https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

First Nations leaders are warning the Ontario government that passing a bill allowing it to designate “special economic zones” where mining or other development could be exempted from any provincial law will result in confrontations with Indigenous people.

Indigenous drumming and singing echoed through the corridors of Queen‘s Park on Thursday, as the Progressive Conservative government’s Bill 5 went before a legislative committee. First Nations chiefs and spokespeople from as many as 1,500-kilometres away in Ontario’s North told MPPs that they had not been consulted on the bill and warned it would trample on their treaty rights.

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