Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas – Page 250

A bridge between two worlds [Aboriginal Communities and Canada Mining Sector] – by Diane Jermyn (Globe and Mail – May 18, 2011)

May 19, 2011

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous impact and influence on Canada’s political and business elite as well as the rest of the country’s print, radio and television media.

Miners have started engaging the aboriginal communities on whose land they dig. But is it enough?

Leanne Bellegarde tries to connect communities. She’s a member of the Kawacatoose First Nation in Saskatchewan, a lawyer, and now, the director of aboriginal strategy for PotashCorp.

Native people are the youngest and fastest growing demographic in Saskatchewan. PotashCorp, a global potash producer in the province, projects it will need 800 new workers over the next two years, thanks to expansion and retirements.

But what should be an ideal match – people wanting jobs and a company needing workers – presents deep challenges. Many jobs at PotashCorp require Grade 12 or equivalency. Ms. Bellegarde says it’s difficult to find people who meet that bar in First Nations and Métis communities. And so the jobs often go to qualified outsiders, frustrating aboriginal people.

PotashCorp is one of many mining companies in Canada that realize engagement with native communities isn’t just a feel-good enterprise but an economic growth strategy. But while this engagement goes far deeper than in the past, some say it’s just the beginning of what’s truly needed.

Push area’s [Sudbury’s] expertise, official suggests [for Ring of Fire business] – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – May 18, 2011)

September 13, 2018May 18, 2011

The Sudbury Star, the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper. This article was published on May 18, 2011. cmulligan@thesudburystar.com

Cities like Greater Sudbury looking to benefit from the Ring of Fire should market their soft skills such as their knowledge base and skilled workforce, and not just “hard infrastructure” to companies developing the massive deposit.

Communities throughout Northern Ontario are looking to capitalize on development of the 5,120-square-kilometre deposit of chromite, nickel, copper, zinc, gold and kimberlite located about 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay.

The co-ordinator of the Ring of Fire Secretariat, Christine Kaszycki, spoke to members of the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday about progress in developing the resource and how businesses might get involved.

Kaszycki, who heads the secretariat established by the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry last year, presented a high-level overview of the status of the Ring of Fire development.

A life of hope and hopelessness [for Aboriginal communities] – (Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal Editorial – May 13, 2011)

May 16, 2011

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario. This editorial was originally published on May 13, 2011.

BLARING headlines suggested then confirmed what many people in this city and this region had feared — that 15-year-old Jordan Wabasse had indeed died under the water of the Kam River.

Body Recovered, read the bold headline Wednesday, accompanied by a grim photo of the scene at shore. Body ID’d, read Thursday’s headline, an abbreviation for an abbreviated life.
News is harsh as often as it is good, and it is our responsibility to convey all of it to our readers. But in pressing to present details, we can be seen to override the sanctity that a moment like this deserves. Not intentionally, but by striving to write all of the chapters of an important story.

The tale of the disappearance of this aboriginal boy has been covered here extensively because it needed telling in all its tragic detail. Jordan came to Thunder Bay from remote Webequie, one in a parade of aboriginal youth seeking education, opportunity and adventure in the big city far away. Webequie is one of scores of dots on the northern map connected to the rest of Canada by planes, winter roads and TV and computer screens that beckon curious minds.

Law society paves way for Ontario’s first new law school in 43 years [in Thunder Bay] – Tracey Tyler (Toronto Star – May 11, 2011)

May 12, 2011

Tracey Tyler is the legal affairs reporter for the Toronto Star, which has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on Canada’s federal and provincial politics as well as shaping public opinion. This article was originally published May 11, 2011.

In many ways, the future of the legal profession isn’t on Bay St., he [Beardy] contends, but closer to major mining exploration projects in the James Bay lowlands known as the “ring of fire.” Northern Ontario is rich in diamonds, gold, platinum and a recently discovered deposit of chromite, a mineral used in stainless steel production and expected to be in high demand in countries with rapidly developing economies, including China and India, Beardy said.

Grand Chief Stan Beardy of Nishnawbe Aski Nation likes to joke about seeing a sasquatch in the forest behind his home in Muskrat Dam in Northern Ontario.

But when he looks some 600 kilometres south and into the future, Beardy sees a law school, one that will boost the ranks of First Nations lawyers and support economic development in the north.

That vision is inching closer to reality now that the Law Society of Upper Canada has approved a proposal from Lakehead University to open a law school in Thunder Bay. The university says the school would give preference to northerners and First Nations applicants.

North of 60: Frozen Out [Mining in the Northwest Territories] – by Bill Braden

May 4, 2011

The Canadian Mining Journal is Canada’s first mining publication. This article is from the magazine’s May, 2011 issue.

Why is NWT exploration slowing so drastically?

Grassroots explorers shun the NWT, discouraged by high cost, scant infrastructure, a regulatory system that’s still a work in progress, and two land claims

It’s not much of a dip — only $2 million from 2010 — but a new forecast for exploration spending in Canada confirms that mine finders have found friendlier places than the Northwest Territories to spend their exploration budgets.

Natural Resources Canada reported the trend in March, predicting the NWT will see only $83 million invested this year, less than half the money invested just five years ago.

Contrast that with Yukon’s projected $256.3 million this year, or Nunavut at $327.8 (up an eye-popping 71 and 24 per cent respectively from 2010) and it’s easy to see why the NWT should be worried, if not alarmed.

“The challenge is we’re facing a maturing [diamond] industry and it will take many [conventional] projects to replace an Ekati-size mine,” says Tom Hoefer, Executive Director of the NWT & Yukon Chamber of Mines. Currently, the territory has only four producing mines — three diamond, and the other, tungsten.

Order halts [mineral exploration] drilling [on traditional FN territory] – by Kate McLaren (The Daily Press – April 30, 2011)

May 2, 2011

The Daily Press is the newspaper of record for the city of Timmins.

First Nation gets court injunction

The community of Constance Lake First Nation (CLFN) has obtained an injunction to stop a mineral exploration company from drilling on traditional territory. The order was imposed Friday in the Ontario Superior Court in Toronto.

“This is a victory for us,” CLFN Chief Arthur Moore told The Daily Press Friday afternoon. “We’re very happy to have this time in the interim to go back to the negotiating table.”

The injunction was filed against Zenyetta Centures Ltd., a company in association to Cliffs Resources. Cliff Resources is involved in the Ring of Fire mineral discovery. The company has been prohibited from drilling until May 9 and have been ordered back to negotiations with the First Nations community.

Aboriginal Owned Junior Miner in holding pattern – by Ian Ross

April 14, 2011

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. This column was published in the April 2011 issue.

Bending Lake Iron examines site options for processing plant

An Aboriginally-owned mining company still has Atikokan in its sights for an iron ore processing plant despite delays in accessing a former open pit mine.

In mid-February, Bending Lake Iron Group president Henry Wetelainen was hopeful of signing a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) toward advancing their merchant pig iron project in northwestern Ontario.

He was expecting the agreement to be signed by Jan. 31, but nothing has happened yet when contacted in February.

The Thunder Bay company wants to mine iron ore near Ignace and process it into pig iron at the abandoned Steep Rock open pit mine near Atikokan.

[Boreal Forest Agreement] First Nations caught in ‘the big (land) squeeze’- Peggy Smith (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal-April 9, 2011)

April 14, 2011

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario. This letter to the editor was originally published on April 9, 2011.

Conservation has become a new form of development and
colonization that further restricts and ignores First
Nation rights to land and a way of life.
(Peggy Smith-Thunder Bay)

I have to disagree with Stephen Kakfwi (Boreal Forest Agreement: It’s Time to Forgive and Move Forward). First Nations in the boreal region of Northern Ontario are not in control of their lands.

The Province of Ontario has long ignored the treaties that First Nations signed over 100 years ago. Those treaties (Robinson-Huron, Robinson-Superior, Treaty 3, Treaty 5 and Treaty 9) were, in First Nations’ view, about sharing lands and resources.

While colonizers got rich on extracting resources from First Nation lands, First Nations were excluded from those benefits and spiralled into poverty and alienation from their lands — up until recently First Nations were not even allowed to cut firewood on Crown land without a permit. Even on federally-owned reserves, historically First Nations had to ask the Minister of Indian Affairs for permission to cut green wood.

Cutting through the fog [Aboriginal, Industry and Environment Relations]- (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal editorial – April 10, 2011)

April 11, 2011April 11, 2011

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario. This editorial was originally published on April 10, 2011.

AS the chasm of trust between Aboriginals and the rest of Canada widens, every effort to shrink it deserves encouragement. Two such initiatives have surfaced, and while one remains in play, the other has been batted away.

For decades, relations between conservation groups and the forest industry have been poisoned. Greenpeace banners hung from pulp mill smokestacks vividly portrayed an absence of will and trust.

So when 21 forest companies and nine environmental organizations quietly came up with the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement last year there was cause for celebration. The pact would regulate forest management practices across 72 million hectares of boreal forest and protect 29 million hectares from development.

Boreal Forest Agreement: It’s time to forgive and move forward – by Stephen Kakfwi (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal-April 4, 2011)

April 11, 2011April 4, 2011

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario. This opinion piece was originally published on April 4, 2011.

Stephen Kakfwi is the former premier of the Northwest Territories and former president of the Dene Nation.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Stan Beardy recently called for the termination of the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement (NAN Targets Boreal Agreement, Chronicle-Journal, March 22). While I agree that the process to reach that agreement was flawed, and that the announcement could have been handled better, I believe it is time for collaboration, not conflict.

Finding a way to protect our land and ways of life is essential if we want to survive. As Aboriginal people, we are first and foremost survivors. Since Europeans first arrived here in 1492, Aboriginal peoples have had a near-death experience. The spread of epidemics decimated our population, the invaders took our land and diminished our natural resources.

Ever since, native peoples have fought hard to take back our land and regain control of our lives. We even fought and changed the Constitution of Canada so that we could govern ourselves.

Still carrying a torch for the Ring of Fire – Lisa Wright (Toronto Star)

March 26, 2011

Lisa Wright is a business reporter with the Toronto Star, which has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on Canada’s federal and provincial politics as well as shaping public opinion. This article was originally published March 26, 2011.

For an extensive list of articles on this mineral discovery, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

Lisa Wright – Business Reporter (Toronto Star)

It has been described as the most significant base metals play in Canada since the lucrative Voisey’s Bay discovery in Labrador nearly 20 years ago.

The giant Ring of Fire deposit of chromite, nickel and copper — located in a remote corner of the James Bay lowlands — was first unveiled with fanfare in 2007. And it was highly touted in the Ontario throne speech last year as a cornerstone of the province’s future prosperity.

“It is the most promising mining opportunity in Canada in a century,” Lieutenant Governor David Onley said a year ago this month.

Superlatives aside, all the players involved have been going full tilt since then trying to get the Ring developed in an area twice the size of Prince Edward Island amid First Nations blockades and an extremely challenging environment that will require a major infrastructure build.

[Ring of Fire] Koper Lake blockade resumes; Marten Falls feels left out – by Rick Garrick (Wawatay News – March 17, 2011)

March 26, 2011

Wawatay News is Northern Ontario’s First Nation Voice with offices in Sioux Lookout, Timmins and Thunder Bay. This article was posted on their website on March 17, 2011. James Thom is the Editor – jamest@wawatay.on.ca

For an extensive list of articles on this mineral discovery, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

Citing rapidly moving development and inadequate involvement for Marten Falls, the community launched its second blockade of the Ring of Fire.

After taking part in a traditional ceremony March 3 at the community’s blockade site on Koper Lake in the James Bay lowlands, Marten Falls Chief Eli Moonias spoke with local and national media about his community’s concerns in the Ring of Fire mineral exploration area. Koper Lake is located about 128 kilometres north of Marten Falls in its traditional territory.

“We feel that the issues here and the development is getting away from us, too far ahead, without our adequate and meaningful involvement,” Moonias said.

The Ring of Fire contains chromite, a rare mineral used to make stainless steel. It falls in the traditional territory of Marten Falls and Webequie.

“We never got to the first stage yet where we have meaningful exploration agreements,” Moonias said during the blockade, adding his community plans to hire a negotiator to work on their concerns. “What we’re saying here is slow down a little bit.”

Quebec Crees offer advice [About Ring of Fire] – by James Thom (Wawatay News – March 17, 2011)

March 26, 2011

For an extensive list of articles on this mineral discovery, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

About 35 years ago, the James Bay Cree communities in Quebec faced similar obstacles and challenges to those facing the Matawa Ring of Fire communities today.

Anthony MacLeod, director of a Cree owned catering and janitorial services company, shared the story of how nine Cree communties banded together to find benefit when Hydro Quebec began damming rivers in their traditional lands to make hydro.

“What they are experiencing now – interest in their land, development likely coming soon – we were experiencing that 30 to 35 years ago,” MacLeod said, speaking at the Matawa First Nations Community Governance & Economic Development Conference March 1-2.

“We have been working with the Matawa communities for two years, showing them models we have as a nation, to show what we went through. It wasn’t all happy and successful. But we recognized we were much stronger as a united group than as individual nations.”

Ring of Fire development could move quickly: Kaszycki – by Chris Kornaki (Special to Wawatay News – March 3, 2011)

March 26, 2011

Wawatay News is Northern Ontario’s First Nation Voice with offices in Sioux Lookout, Timmins and Thunder Bay. This article was posted on their website on March 3, 2011. James Thom is the Editor – jamest@wawatay.on.ca

For an extensive list of articles on this mineral discovery, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

Christine Kaszycki is determined to work with First Nations to make sure no one is left out in the cold around the Ring of Fire. Kaszycki, assistant deputy minister for the Ring of Fire Secretariat with the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry (MNDMF), promised to balance the needs of industry and First Nations if a mine is in production by 2015.

Her job includes “working with the First Nation communities to ensure they have got the capacity they need to meaningfully participate and to ensure they have the right kinds of supports in place to actually engage as this project moves forward,” Kaszycki said.

She said MNDMF is listening to the communities about what they want and need from development to put the right kinds of programs and frameworks in place to allow it to happen. The province recognized the Ring of Fire – located in the traditional lands of Webequie and Marten Falls – as one of the most significant recent discoveries of minerals in the world.