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Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas

History of Ring of Fire and Rail or Road for Transportation? [Parts 1 and 2] – by Stan Sudol (February 2 and 4, 2013)

KWG Resources CEO Frank Smeenk holds a core sample from the Big Daddy chromite discovery. KWG with joint venture partner Spider Resources made history by drilling the first chromite discovery hole on March 6,2006, the first showings of this strategic mineral in the Ring of Fire. (Photo by Stan Sudol)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

This column was published in the February 2 and 4 editions of the Sudbury Star:

http://www.thesudburystar.com/2013/02/02/ring-of-fire-rail-or-road

http://www.thesudburystar.com/2013/02/04/cos-spar-over-ore-transport

stan.sudol@republicofmining.com

Without a doubt, the number one technical issue that will make or break the Ring of Fire’s enormous economic potential – currently estimated at $60 billion (MNDM) for world-class chromite deposits along side nickel, copper and PGMs – is transportation infrastructure.

Located in the isolated James Bay swampy lowlands of northern Ontario, the closest infrastructure to the Ring of Fire is 330 kms south in the tiny community of Nakina where the Canadian National railroad and the end of Highway 584 intersect.

Since Cliffs announced their decision to move their $3.2 billion chromite project into the feasibility phase, last May, and the Ontario Government’s decision to “support in principle” the North-South infrastructure corridor, junior explorer KWG Resources has been largely ignored. This might be a mistake as KWG CEO Frank Smeenk, through the company’s Canada Chrome subsidiary, controls the key strategic transportation route into the region as well as 30% of the Big Daddy chromite deposit.

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Fort William First Nation, Noront Resources discuss chromite processing plant – by Jeff Labine (tbnewswatch.com – January 25 2013)

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/

Fort William First Nation’s chief says his community is involved in preliminary talks with a mining company to bring a chromite processing plant to this area. Chief Peter Collins has met with officials with Noront Resources Ltd. to discuss the possibility of a processing plant.

Although the project is still in its early stages, the proposed plant is expected to take up 300-megawatt of power, which would put more strain on the Thunder Bay Generating Station. The project’s power needs was brought to the attention of Ontario’s Energy Minister Chris Bentley when he met with the Energy Task Force in Thunder Bay last week.

“We’ve been in early discussions with Noront and right now it is still a work in progress,” Collins said Friday. “If this does come to reality we would like ownership within the plant, and we made no bones about it. Jobs are also part of the discussions.”

He said the processing plant that Noront is looking for will be smaller than a third in size to the one that Cliffs Natural Resources is expected to build.

Fort William First Nation had discussed the possibility of hosting that processing plant, but Collins said that was managed as a joint effort with many communities in the district.

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Fort Severn demands halt to [Ontario MNDM] aerial surveying – by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – January 29, 2013)

http://wawataynews.ca/

Fort Severn Cree Nation has demanded that Ontario halt ongoing aerial geologic surveying of Fort Severn’s traditional lands.

The First Nation issued a letter to the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines (MNDM) on Jan. 25, requesting that aerial surveying stop immediately. Fort Severn said it was revoking its prior consent to the surveying.

Fort Severn cited Idle No More and the hunger strike by Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence in explaining the need for unity with other First Nations.

“We believe it is imperative to take this step to ensure our community stands in unity with other First Nations and our organization across Ontario and Canada as we struggle to establish meaningful nation-to-nation relationships with all governments interested in working with our traditional lands,” Fort Severn Cree Nation wrote in the letter.

The First Nation also attached a list of the demands made in the declaration signed by Spence and other leaders on Jan. 24.

Aerial surveying is done through the Ontario Geologic Survey, a branch of MNDM. The surveying around Fort Severn is a continuation of last year’s aerial surveying around Weenusk First Nation, as the OGS is attempting to survey the shore of Hudson Bay for the first time since the 1960s.

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Close ties with First Nations key to Canadian mining success – Fontaine – by Simon Rees (MiningWeekly.com – January 29, 2013)

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

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Few mining companies developing Canadian projects within First Nation (aboriginal) territory would do so without seeking to build a close working partnership.

Those who disregard or downplay the importance of First Nation consultation will find their projects languishing in a legal quagmire. Stemming from this, there can be a train of negative publicity, while subsequent and inevitable delays then dent potential investor confidence and shareholder opinion.

So why do some mining companies still make elementary mistakes in relation to First Nation communities? How can these be avoided and what are the best methods for fostering a close working relationship? If disputes do arise, what are the best methods to seek a fair and mutually-rewarding resolution?

Norton Rose’s senior advisor Phil Fontaine has a wealth of expertise within the field of advising mining companies how to build bonds with First Nations communities and how to construct strong and lasting partnerships. As a former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations (a post he held three times), Fontaine has also been instrumental in raising First Nations rights issues across Canada.

“The working environment has changed significantly,” he told Mining Weekly Online. “Even in the recent past there was no requirement to talk with First Nations communities.

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NEWS RELEASE: NAN CONGRATULATES NEW PREMIER BUT STANDS FIRM ON POSITIONS OF TREATY IMPLEMENTATION AND REVENUE SHARING

Monday, January 28, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THUNDER BAY, ON: Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Grand Chief Harvey Yesno looks forward to working with newly elected Ontario Liberal Party leader Kathleen Wynne and insists that the Ontario Premier’s Office work with the 49 NAN First Nations on core northern priorities such as resource development investments and establish an agreement on resource revenue sharing.

“Treaty and resource revenue sharing are key to addressing the pressing and dire challenges facing the remote First Nations of northern Ontario,” said NAN Grand Chief Harvey Yesno. “Our treaty partners, Canada and Ontario must come to the table to address these issues, and not just to dialogue or discuss but strategize and implement. NAN First Nations need the process for formal agreements to get underway.”

A former school board trustee, Wynne has held several posts in outgoing premier Dalton McGuinty’s cabinets, including education, transportation and aboriginal affairs. NAN leadership has declared that provincial relations with First Nations, specifically the sharing of resources in Ontario’s remote north that is poised for significant developments, should be high priority in the coming months.

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Developers struggle to balance exploration with native consultations – by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – January 28, 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.

OTTAWA — As the first aboriginal president of the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada, Glenn Nolan has a unique understanding of the resource sector’s increasingly onerous duty to consult with First Nations when developing mining or energy projects.

Mr. Nolan is vice-president of NorOnt Resources Ltd., one of the leading companies developing the mineral deposits in northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire district. He knows how critical it is, in a hyper-competitive industry, for mining companies to be able to move swiftly and secretively in establishing claims to promising tracts of land.

But as a former chief of the Missanabie Cree from northeastern Ontario, he is also acutely aware of the potential for resource development to help lift Canada’s First Nations out of crushing poverty, and the need for a respectful partnership between industry, government and the indigenous people.

“We’ve been saying all along to our [Prospectors & Developers Association] members that the best strategy is to go in at the earliest opportunity and talk to the community,” Mr. Nolan said. “And that means as soon as you’ve secured the land tenure.”

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NEWS RELEASE: RESPONSE FROM MISSANABIE CREE FIRST NATION CHIEF REGARDING NATIONAL POST COLUMN

 Tuesday, January 22, 2013

GARDEN RIVER, ON — Regarding an article published in the National Post January 8, 2013 where Glenn Nolan, a former Chief of the Missanabie Cree First Nation made comments regarding key First Nations issues and resource revenue sharing, current Chief Kim Rainville issues the following statement:

Let it be known that the support from the Missanabie Cree First Nation council and community have been instrumental in Mr. Nolan achieving his professional goals. Being the president of the Prospector’s and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) as well as an executive of a junior mining company embroiled in the Ring of Fire development, it would make it very difficult for Mr. Nolan to express support for such a significant movement as “Idle No More”. Mr. Nolan’s opinions do not reflect the belief of the Missanabie Cree First Nation regarding the actions taken by Attawapiskat’s Chief Spence or support of the Idle No More movement.

“I believe the agenda of the government smearing a courageous leader such as Chief Spence is reprehensible,” said Chief Kim Rainville. “To have it seemingly come from a former Chief undermines the changes which are being called for by the “Idle No More” movement and a denial of the realities faced by many first Nations citizens.”

The list of issues is long; inadequate housing, health care, education economic opportunities, youth suicide, family violence, policing and the list goes on. These are immediate issues which need to be addressed. Recognition of First Nation autonomy, sovereignty, changes to the Indian Act driven by a First Nations process are paramount to achieving our rightful place in society, resource revenue sharing but a component of righting the many injustices.

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No Means No: The Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug and the Fight for Indigenous Resource Sovereignty – by David Peerla

http://www.miningwatch.ca/

David Peerla is KI’s political advisor and former MiningWatch board member.

In 2006, the remote Ontario First Nation of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) said no to a mining company, was sued for $10 billion, had its leaders found in contempt of court and jailed but eventually prevailed when, three years later, the Ontario government paid the company $5 million to go away. This is how it happened.

KI, a remote First Nation community of 1200 or more people, is located on the shores of Big Trout Lake, on the margins of the Hudson Bay lowlands, in one of the largest remaining roadless areas in North America. Far from being simply a “wilderness,” the lands that the KI depend upon for their cultural and spiritual survival, their sacred and spiritual sites, were being staked and drilled in an extensive Canadian mining boom fueled by recent finds of diamonds and record high prices for gold, platinum, uranium, base metals and nickel (Strauss 2006). The boom threatened to “enclose” a commons that KI have occupied since time out of memory, and it triggered one of a global series of circulating struggles between the state, resource capital and Indigenous peoples in Canada and the global south.

The immediate context for these struggles in Ontario was the free entry regime, a legislative framework where so-called Crown lands are open for mineral exploration entry, unless they are specifically withdrawn. Free entry is a neo-liberal fantasy. There was no legislative requirement under the Mining Act that government consult First Nations or other land users, prior to opening lands for mineral exploration.

There was no prior planning to establish which tracts of Crown land are culturally sensitive, or serve as critical habitat for endangered species, or are valued ecosystem components. In the words of lawyer Kate Kempton, “The problem is this is called a free entry system and it allows anybody and their dog basically to go out there and stake a claim to the land, which is often traditional territory of First Nations, without any consideration at all of their rights” (Kempton 2007).

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Why proposed federal legislation concerns First Nations – (Wawatay News – January 16, 2013)

http://wawataynews.ca/

Prepared by Lorraine Land, Liora Zimmerman and Andrea Bradley Dec. 20, 2012 of Olthuis Kleer Townshend – LLP

Bill C-38 Budget Omnibus Bill #1

This 450-page bill changed more than 70 federal acts without proper Parliamentary debate. This bill dramatically changes Canada’s federal environmental legislation, removing many protections for water, fish, and the environment. The changes were made without consulting First Nations.

Bill C-45 Budget Omnibus Bill #2

This second bill also exceeds 450 pages, and changed 44 federal laws, again without proper Parliamentary debate. This bill removes many fish habitat protections and fails to recognize Aboriginal commercial fisheries.

Changes to the Navigable Waters Protection Act reduce the number of lakes and rivers where navigation and federal environmental assessment is required from 32,000 to just 97 lakes, and from 2.25 million to just 62 rivers. This means 99 per cent of Canada’s waterways lost their protection for navigation and federal enviro assessment purposes.

These changes were made without consulting First Nations.

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First nations’ growing voice pressures resource sector – by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – January 17, 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.

OTTAWA — Canada’s energy and mining companies are facing new challenges from first nations that are demanding the right to approve all resource projects on traditional territories and to participate in the revenues.

Saskatchewan Regional Chief Perry Bellegarde on Wednesday called on governments not to approve leases or other exploration rights unless companies can demonstrate they have properly consulted local aboriginal communities. He said resource companies should bring first nations into their planning at the earliest possible stages, and be prepared to treat them as full partners in development.

“We have to be involved in the economy – fully and no longer marginalized,” Mr. Bellegarde said. “Because if we keep talking about self-determination as indigenous peoples, that’s got to be linked to self-sufficiency.”

Spurred by “Idle No More” protests, many of the country’s chiefs met last week with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who committed to work more closely with them on treaty rights and economic development.

Chief Bellegarde is the lead spokesman for the Assembly of First Nations on treaty rights, and his comments echo demands from chiefs and protesters alike that aboriginal people must be given greater control over their traditional territory.

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Provinces need to be at negotiating table with natives – by Martin Papillon (Toronto Star – January 17, 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.

Martin Papillon is an associate professor of political studies at the University of Ottawa.

So, they met . . . and promise to talk more. Prime Minister Stephen Harper spent last Friday afternoon discussing treaty rights, land claims and economic development with Assembly of First Nations representatives.

The problem is, despite the good will of those involved, we know the impact of these high level discussions will be limited. The reason is quite simple: Real substantive change in the relationship between First Nations and Canada will have to involve provincial governments.

Provinces, not the federal government, are responsible for the management of public lands, natural resources, education, health care and many other key policy areas at the core of First Nations demands. This won’t be easy. First Nations, many of whom have signed treaties with the Crown, are reluctant to engage in formal relations with provinces.

Treaties, they argue, established a nation-to-nation relationship with the Crown in Right of Canada, not the provinces. From their standpoint, provincial engagement is a denial of their unique status and a step toward assimilation into the broader framework of Canadian citizenship.

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Canada’s energy juggernaut hits a native roadblock – by Linada McQuaig (Toronto Star – January 15, 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.

Those who believe we can freely trash the environment in our quest to make ourselves richer suffer from a serious delusion — a delusion that doesn’t appear to afflict aboriginal people.

Aboriginals tend to live in harmony with Mother Earth. Their approach has long baffled and irritated Canada’s white establishment, which regards it as a needless impediment to unbridled economic growth.

Nowhere is this irritation more palpable than inside Stephen Harper’s government, with its fierce determination to turn Canada into an “energy superpower,” regardless of the environmental consequences. So it’s hardly surprising that the Harper government has ended up in a confrontation with Canada’s First Nations.

Certainly the prime minister has shown a ruthlessness in pursuing his goal of energy superpowerdom. He has gutted long-standing Canadian laws protecting the environment, ramming changes through Parliament last December as part of his controversial omnibus bill. He has thumbed his nose at global efforts to tackle climate change, revoking Canada’s commitment to Kyoto.

And he’s launched a series of witch-hunt audits of environmental groups that dared to challenge the rampant development of Alberta’s oilsands — one of the world’s biggest sources of climate-changing emissions — as well as plans for pipelines through environmentally sensitive areas.

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First Nations leaders, Idle No More activists warn peaceful protests could turn into months-long blockades this spring – by Kathryn Blaze Carlson (National Post – January 15, 2013)

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

First Nations leaders and Idle No More activists have promised only peaceful protests on their national day of action Wednesday, but once the snow melts and warmer weather sets in, key highways — including the main road to Alberta’s Fort McMurray, a major oil production hub — could be blocked for days, weeks or even months, prompting what one chief called “chaos.”

These latest threats of economic upheaval come at a fragile moment in First Nations-Crown relations, especially now that National Chief Shawn Atleo announced on Monday that a regional chief will take over his duties while he takes a “brief” doctor-ordered stress leave.

Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Chief Allan Adam said that while there are no plans to shut down Highway 63, the only all-weather road to Fort McMurray, on Wednesday, the government should expect a months-long summer blockade if it does not repeal or amend its recently passed omnibus budget bill that made changes to the Indian Act and the Navigable Waterways Act.

“If we’re going to shut down that highway, we’re going to shut it down completely — and not just for one day,” he said, warning that “every major highway across the country” would fall to a similar fate. “It’s escalated to a point where people’s frustrations are beginning to run out, and when people’s frustrations run out, things happen.”

In Southern Ontario, Grand Chief Gordon Peters of the Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians warned that Wednesday’s planned disruption along Highway 401 near Windsor is just a taste of what could come if the Harper government does not acquiesce.

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First Nations leaders want in on natural resources boom – by Les Whittington (Toronto Star – January 11, 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.

OTTAWA—Over the next decade, a huge boom in Canadian natural resource projects — possibly worth $600 billion — is foreseen on or near First Nations lands. And this time, aboriginals are demanding their share of the economic pie.

Behind the complex issues of treaties and historic rights being raised by native leaders is the dollars-and-cents reality of who gets to pocket the benefits from Canada’s mining and petroleum riches.

Natural resources generate $30 billion in provincial and federal tax and royalty revenues annually, along with tens of billions of dollars in economic activity. With worldwide demand for commodities surging upward, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has anchored his government’s economic growth strategy on a massive expansion of the highly profitable natural resource sector.

For First Nations, gaining access to more of this wealth is vital to their hopes of improving their peoples’ living standards. So, new approaches to sharing resource riches will be a key part of any talks between Harper and aboriginal leaders.

At the same time, the ability of native groups to derail the Conservatives’ blueprint for prosperity by blocking natural resource projects has been made apparent by the Idle No More protests.

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Ring of Fire brings aboriginal issues to fore in Ontario Liberal leadership – by Teresa Smith (Ottawa Citizen – January 10, 2013)

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

OTTAWA — Ontario’s Liberal leadership candidates seem to agree that provincial relations with First Nations — specifically figuring out how to divvy up the resources in the province’s northern “Ring of Fire” — should be a high priority in the coming months.

For the past month, aboriginal leaders supporting Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence’s hunger strike have been demanding that Canada renew its “treaty relationship” with First Nations, and agree to share the wealth that comes from extracting natural resources found in their traditional territory.

In Ontario, however, the province is also a signatory to Treaty 9, which was signed in the early 20th century and covers 250,000 square miles of northern Ontario, including Attawapiskat and the Ring of Fire.

According to a former professor of political science who has been watching Canada’s relations with First Nations for 50 years, there can be no change to the treaty relationship unless the provincial government is at the table during discussions between aboriginal leaders and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

University of Toronto Professor Emeritus Peter Russell said Ontario’s government in the 1880s fought tooth and nail to be included in negotiations so it would have access to the vast land and resources, initially for trapping and logging.

Now, with the discovery of billions of dollars in mineral wealth in the ground around James Bay — Treaty 9 territory, which was supposed to be “shared” by the three treaty partners — the stakes are high.

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