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Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas

NEWS RELEASE: Uranium mines in Quebec: First Nations, municipalities and citizens unite their voices for a moratorium

March 11, 2013

QUEBEC CITY, March 11, 2013 /CNW Telbec/ – Two years to the day following the Fukushima disaster in Japan, First Nations, municipalities and Citizen groups unite their voices, asking the Quebec government to announce a moratorium on uranium mines. They also ask the Government to quickly act on its promise to hold a generic environmental evaluation on uranium in Quebec.

Uranium is a radioactive metal used in the production of nuclear energy and bombs. Its extraction and use pose significant health and environmental risks. Moratoria are already in place in British-Colombia, Nova Scotia and in the Commonwealth of Virginia. “Quebec must follow these examples. Their decisions were based on strong analysis and despite pressure from industry, they wisely decided to shut the door on uranium mining for health, security and environmental reasons,” confirms Ugo Lapointe from Québec meilleure mine.

Many communities are claiming their opposition to uranium mining in Quebec. The Cree Nation of Mistissini (James-Bay / Eeyou Istchee), in Northern Quebec, is one of them. “As protectors of the largest fresh water lake in Quebec, Lake Mistassini, we strongly oppose any uranium development. It goes against our way of life and our beliefs. As opposed to other form of tailings, such as that from the Stornoway mine also on our territory, waste from this type of mine stays radioactive for thousands of years, and that is socially unacceptable. We are all here today to say out loud that uranium should not be mined in Quebec” said the Mistissini Council Chief Richard Shecapio.

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Great potential [for Ring of Fire] – by Jamie Smith (tbnewswatch.com – March 11, 2013)

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/

Bob Rae says he’s been in talks with a regional First Nations council to work together on the Ring of Fire. But the interim Liberal leader couldn’t say exactly what his role would be.

“I don’t think it’s clear yet. I have had meetings with the Matawa tribal council. They’ve asked me to work with them,” Rae said in Thunder Bay Monday.

Matawa needs to discuss and negotiate with the province further before he could determine how he would work with them. But as an MP, Rae said he has already looked into the process of conflict of interest should he take on any sort of role after a new Liberal leader is chosen next month.

“I have begun the discussion but that’s not by any means completed yet,” he said. Rae spoke to the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce Monday at the Travelodge Airlane, saying the Ring of Fire has the potential to be as great or greater than mineral discoveries near Sudbury were 100 years ago.

While there is great prosperity to be had, Rae said development has to be done right. That means sustainability. “The environmental tests can’t be the tests of long ago days. They have to be stronger,” he said.

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The Honourable Tony Clement Minister for FedNor – ONTARIO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE [RING OF FIRE] SPEECH (March 11, 2013)

This speech was given at the TMX Broadcast Centre, Gallery Room, The Exchange Tower, Toronto, Ontario.

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Thank you for that kind introduction. I am pleased to have the opportunity to address the Ontario Chamber of Commerce today.

The important role your organization plays as an advocate for small business and entrepreneurship in this province is second to none.

It is clear that you understand the value of the small business sector to the economic success of our nation. Let me assure you that the Harper Government shares your vision and determination that Ontario be a leading destination in the world to do business.

We appreciate your engagement with the upcoming budget and your targeted recommendations for spurring job creation, growth and investment in the province. We also appreciate your recognition of the significance of the Ring of Fire to Ontario’s long-term prosperity.

Your call that there be a federal lead on this incredibly important development was timely and prescient. You recognized that there needed to be not only federal leadership, but a coordinated, whole of government approach to what is a promising yet very complex opportunity.

And our government agrees. The Prime Minister understood the need to bring renewed impetus to this development. The promise and possibility of the Ring of Fire has been talked about for several years now. But the flames of excitement, quite honestly, had started to dampen and the Prime Minister realized it was time to add a little oxygen to the embers.

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Bob Rae confirms interest in Ring of Fire negotiations once Liberal leadership term is over – by Michael Purvis (Sault Star – March 10, 2013)

 http://www.saultstar.com/

Bob Rae says he is thinking about taking part in Ring of Fire negotiations between First Nations and the province of Ontario after he steps down as Liberal leader, but he said it is too early to speculate about what role he might play.

“I think it’s premature to start commenting on either what I’m going to do or what form the negotiation is going to take,” Rae told reporters during a fundraising stop in Sault Ste. Marie on Sunday. “It’s going to take a few weeks, perhaps even a little longer, for the province and the tribal council itself to agree on what that process will be. I won’t be involved in those discussions at all and I think once the process is established, then I think it might be a little easier to see whether there’s a role that I could play.”

News reports last week said Northern Ontario chiefs presented Rae as their lead negotiator to Premier Kathleen Wynne.

Rae confirmed Sunday he has talked to the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commission “on a hypothetical basis” about taking part in negotiations over the massive mining deposit in the James Bay lowlands, as reports last week said, but he declined to offer his ethical take on getting involved. He said he doesn’t think the First Nations are a ‘special interest.’

Rae said he hopes to continue on as MP for Toronto Centre once the party elects a new leader on April 14.

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Getting connected [Ring of Fire] – by Jeff Labine (tbnewswatch.com – March 8, 2013)

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/

The debate to develop an all-weather road or a railway into the Ring of Fire doesn’t have the chief of Marten Falls First Nation worried.

Chief Eli Moonias and many other Matawa First Nation chiefs met with premier Kathleen Wynne in Toronto to discuss the Ring of Fire project. Minister of Northern Development and Mines Michael Gravelle and Minister of Aboriginal Affairs David Zimmer also attended the meeting.

A recently released study favoured a railroad into the massive chromite deposit in the lower James Bay area instead of an all-weather access road. While rail would be a more significant initial investment, the study concluded it would be the cheaper long-term solution for shipping materials.

Moonias said it didn’t matter which one is built as long as there were access roads for the First Nation communities to use. “If they put in a railway I think we will be approaching it in the manner that we would be involved with it,” he said.

“If they are putting in the railway, we want to be assured that access roads will be built so we can get out of this isolation.”

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Award is icing on the cake for Aboriginal mine service company Windigo Catering

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

Windigo Catering, an Aboriginal business serving Ontario Mining Association member Goldcorp’s Musselwhite Mine, has found its own recipe for business success. This has been recognized through becoming the sixth recipient of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s (PDAC) Skookum Jim Award. This honour is presented to recognize excellence in service and contributions to the mining industry by Aboriginal enterprises.

The company is owned by five members of the Windigo First Nations Council in northwestern Ontario. Profits are shared among the five Windigo member First Nations – Bearskin Lake, Cat Lake, North Caribou Lake, Sachigo Lake and New Slate Falls. As well as catering, the company provides camp management, commissary, housekeeping, laundry and janitorial services.

Windigo First Nations is a partner in the business-to-business agreement with Goldcorp that has helped nurture a range of employment, skills training, economic development opportunities and environmental protection initiatives. Windigo Catering, which is located in Sioux Lookout, employs 66 people of which 83% are Aboriginal.

Training along with competitive salaries and benefits are provided by the company to employees. The catering company grosses more than $6 million annually and the Windigo First Nation Council also receives monthly revenue sharing cheques from the mine.

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Ring of Fire project has staggering hurdles to overcome, but progress on horizon – by Peter Koven (National Post – March 7, 2013)

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

TORONTO — When Noront Resources Ltd. blared the Johnny Cash song ‘Ring of Fire’ over and over at its annual meeting in Toronto in 2007, it felt like a giant party.

Only weeks earlier, Noront had made the first key mineral discovery in McFaulds Lake, a remote Northern Ontario region that was quickly nicknamed the Ring of Fire. Excitement about the find was at a fever pitch, and companies were staking land like crazy. No one could wait to find out what came next.

Fast-forward to this year’s Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference, and it is a different story. A session on the Ring of Fire drew a huge standing-room-only crowd on Wednesday, but with none of the euphoria of that Noront AGM. The session highlighted the staggering challenges that need to be overcome to get the region going: infrastructure, First Nations agreements, environmental compliance, transportation, and more.

“Our view is this goes beyond traditional mineral development activity,” said George Ross, Ontario’s deputy minister of northern development and mines. “There’s a lot of aspects to it.” The Ring of Fire is thought to hold as much as $50-billion worth of minerals, and is going to be North America’s first major source of chromite, used in the making of stainless steel. It is one of the most important mineral discoveries in Ontario’s history.

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Make native groups partners [in Ring of Fire] – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – March 7, 2013)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

First Nations are cheering on development of the Ring of Fire, looking to its chromite-rich deposits as a way out of poverty.

But they are calling for — and have a right to expect — “quality consultation” with governments and companies about how First Nations can share in the mineral wealth located in the backyards, says Claude Gravelle.

The Nickel Belt New Democrat MP is hoping a Conservative MP, Treasury Board president Tony Clement, will move discussions with aboriginal people forward in his role as federal lead for the Ring of Fire.

First Nations want to “sit at the same tables” as government and industry, said Gravelle, who attended a morning session on the Ring of Fire on Wednesday at the annual convention of the Prospectors and Developments Association of Canada.

Representatives from First Nations near the ring and companies who will be mining there participated in the session.

There are enough riches in the Ring of Fire, located in the James Bay lowlands, to create economic benefits for all of Canada, said Gravelle, “and it will probably be a life-saver for First Nations.”

At the Wednesday session, First Nations chiefs called for treaties dating back to the late 1800s to be updated, the same way municipalities update their bylaws, said Gravelle.

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Cash-hungry governments are digging into the mining boom – by Tasha Kheiriddin (iPolitics – March 5, 2013)

http://www.ipolitics.ca/

Welcome to the twenty-first century gold rush. Or lithium, chromite or iron: take your pick. This week the Toronto Convention Center turned into the set of Bonanza, as over 30,000 miners, prospectors and processers convened for the annual meeting and trade show of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), the largest such gathering in the world.

Not surprisingly, the political class turned out in force. The federal government dispatched forty Conservative MPs, its biggest contingent ever. Treasury Board President and Minister for FedNor Tony Clement kicked off the festivities Sunday night, speaking about the development of Northern Ontario’s “Ring of Fire”. Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver gave the next morning’s keynote. Newly-minted Liberal Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne cut the ribbon on the Ontario Pavilion Monday, while Parti Quebecois Natural Resources Minister Martine Ouellette held court at a Quebec reception the previous evening.

Ottawa, Ontario and Quebec all have high stakes in the lucrative mining game. The federal government wants to slay the deficit, stave off the threat of America’s fiscal cliff and boost international trade. Ontario and Quebec — both ‘have-not’ provinces — are grappling with the decline in their manufacturing sectors. Resource extraction could provide the ticket to prosperity for all — but it comes with a host of challenges.

Those include opposition by environmental movements and First Nations. It’s no accident that Premier Wynne opened her remarks by acknowledging that the conference was taking place on the territory of the Mississaugas of New Credit. The Ring of Fire, which boasts over 30,000 claims and could yield one fourth of the world’s chromite, affects First Nations like the Webequie and Marten Falls, who blockaded landing strips in the area in 2010.

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Northern Ontario first nation chiefs seek Bob Rae as lead negotiator – by Gloria Galloway (Globe and Mail – March 06, 2013)

The 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.

When Bob Rae’s job as interim Leader of the federal Liberal party ends next month, chiefs in Northern Ontario say they expect him to be their voice at the negotiating tables when first nations and governments decide how to proceed on the potentially massive Ring of Fire development.

The native leaders were in Toronto on Wednesday to talk about the resource project with Premier Kathleen Wynne.

They asked Ms. Wynne to join them in launching community-driven talks about the exploration and exploitation of minerals, including chromite, nickle and copper, that have been found in the region west of James Bay – an enterprise that could last decades, creating thousands of jobs and huge wealth for the province.

“As nine first nations, at a regional level, we will appoint one senior negotiator who will report directly to our chiefs’ council,” the chiefs told Ms. Wynne in a statement prepared in advance of the meeting. “Subject to final arrangements and his acceptance, we plan to appoint Bob Rae to this position. We are asking you to appoint your own senior negotiator who will report directly to cabinet.”

Mr. Rae refused to discuss the matter on Wednesday.

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Fort William prepares for mining boom – by Rick Garrick (Wawatay News – March 5, 2013)

http://wawataynews.ca/

Fort William First Nation is looking to prepare community members for the expected northern Ontario mining boom by hosting a mining conference from March 25-26.

“We want to get our community members, as many as we can, involved with the mining sector,” said Michael Pelletier, Fort William’s director of economic development. “A lot of the jobs that come up in mining are specialized and you need training, so (with) a couple of years of school or the training required, hopefully we can have our folks ready when things are booming.”

Pelletier said the community also wants to work with Thunder Bay to develop the area as a hub for mining.

“A lot of things have to come through Thunder Bay to get to the north, so we’d like to ready here in Thunder Bay and Fort William so we can help with some of the support services and all the other industry that needs to happen to make mining work.”

Pelletier said everyone is welcome to attend the Fort William First Nation Mining Conference, which will be held at the Fort William First Nation Community Centre. The conference will feature mining company presentations by a number of companies, including Bending Lake Iron Group, Cliff’s Natural Resources, Noront Resources and Treasury Metals.

“The main thrust of this came out of a study done by Lakehead University on mining in northwestern Ontario,” said Walter Bannon, Fort William’s communication officer.

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Press Release: Wabauskang Expects Court of Appeal Decision to Bolster its Case against Ontario and Rubicon

Wabauskang First Nation

Treaty 3
March 6, 2013

Wabauskang First Nation expects its lawsuit opposing Rubicon Mineral’s proposed Phoenix Gold Mine Project in Red Lake, Ontario will soon be strengthened by a decision from Ontario’s highest court.

Wabauskang’s lawsuit against Ontario and Rubicon relies on Grassy Narrows First Nation’s victory in the Keewatin decision from 2011. There the Court effectively concluded that only Canada, not Ontario, can issue resource authorizations that affect Treaty rights in Grassy Narrows’ and Wabauskang’s traditional territory, including the Red Lake area. The Keewatin appeal was heard in January and a decision is expected in the next few months.

While attending this week’s Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada conference in Toronto, Wabauskang Chief Leslie Cameron said, “we were heavily involved in the Keewatin appeal and made arguments in support of Grassy Narrows and that support our own case against Rubicon and Ontario. The Court of Appeal seemed really interested in our arguments. We’re expecting to win.”

“If we’re successful, Ontario’s going to have to totally rethink how it treats us and other Treaty 3 First Nations when it comes to mining,” said Chief Cameron. “For a start, we think Rubicon will have to face the writing on the wall and admit they shouldn’t have got their closure plan for the Phoenix Mine. We’re reasonable people.

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Aboriginal training alliance formed to build skills in Ontario’s north – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – March 5, 2013)

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – A memorandum of understanding (MoU) creating a new training alliance was on Monday inked at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s (PDAC’s) yearly convention, paving the way for a skilled Aboriginal workforce to be trade-ready to contribute to the development and exploitation of the ‘Ring of Fire’ chromite belt, in the far-north of Ontario.

During the Aboriginal forum reception, the Matawa First Nations Management’s Kiikenomaga Kikenjigewen Employment and Training Services (KKETS), Toronto-based junior Noront Resources and the Confederation College of Applied Arts and Technology signed a MoU that would pave the way for the parties to work collaboratively to expand opportunities for the development of a “highly skilled Aboriginal workforce for mining activity” associated with Noront’s Eagle’s Nest project.

Signing of the five-year MoU followed on the heels of federal Industry Minister Tony Clement on Sunday pledging government’s full support to develop the remote Ring of Fire area, which was estimated to hold a resource of more than C$50-billion in minerals, as fast as possible.

Development of the remote region has, however, been slow owing to issues regarding First Nations’ involvement, environmental regulation and infrastructure.

“I can assure you that I am fully committed to working closely with these communities in the coming months and years, reaffirming our government’s commitment to collaborative and responsible resource development,” he told a gathering of journalists.

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The Honourable Tony Clement Minister for FedNor PDAC [Ring of Fire] Speech March 3, 2013

(L to R) Ross Gallinger, Executive Director, Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC); Tony Clement, President of the Treasury Board, FedNor Minister, Federal Ring of Fire Lead; Peter Kent, Minister of the Environment; Glen Nolan, President, Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC)
(Photo by envisiondigitalphoto.com)

SPEECH TO THE PROSPECTORS AND DEVELOPERS ASSOCIATION OF CANADA (PDAC) International Convention, Trade Show and Investors Exchange (Toronto, Canada – March 3, 2013)

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Like every region where mines have been developed across Canada and around the world, this
part of Northern Ontario is unique.Its marshy wetlands have been home to First Nations
for thousands of years. And their communities and their experience are unique to them.And
it is incumbent upon the mining industry to understand those circumstances, engage those
communities and be able to appreciate their perspective. (Federal Minister Tony Clement
– PDAC March 2013)

Thank you for that kind introduction and good evening. It’s a pleasure to join you here today at the start of Canada’s premier mining conference. In fact, this event is recognized right across the globe and for good reason.

With over 30,000 visitors expected to attend from 125 countries, the conference clearly demonstrates the importance of the sector to the global economy, but it also highlights Canada’s role as a world leader in mining innovation, technology and responsible environmental stewardship.

First, I wish to thank the organizers of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada for inviting me and for providing me this opportunity to speak with you this evening.

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Get certainty into [northern Ontario] mining – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (March 3, 2013)

Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

CITY, regional, Ontario and national officials are almost giddy over the prospects of mining development here in Northern Ontario. All levels of government are dealing with economic challenges that result in political challenges due to financial difficulties faced throughout society. Particularly in the North where opportunities for success are relatively limited, the prospect of a new mining boom has rightly got everyone thinking about the good times to come. Well, almost everyone.

If there is one thing that business doesn’t like it is uncertainty. In another time, mining interests would stake wilderness territory, test for minerals and, if the results were good, plan a mine. They got their permissions from the province and maybe dealt with Ottawa on environmental issues.

Today, First Nations are demanding a say in where and how mines are developed and how their communities can participate and profit in mining development. And so they should. This represents an unprecedented opportunity to lift First Nations out of poverty, providing employment and economic stability. But turning this opportunity into reality is proving most difficult.

There is no template to negotiate agreements among mining companies, First Nations and governments. In fact, First Nations don’t want one. Most band councils appear intent on making their own arrangements in their own time and many resent government trying to intervene to move parties toward agreements.

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