Judy DaSilva of Grassy Narrows (in wheelchair) leads a group in the Mother Earth Song during a rally to raise concerns and opposition to the Ontario government's plans to expand mining operations in the Ring of Fire region, in Toronto on July 20.Cole Burston/The Canadian Press
A group of five Ontario First Nations staged a rally in Toronto on Thursday, protesting Premier Doug Ford’s mining policies as detrimental to the land they depend upon for sustenance, and accusing him of failing to adequately consult with them on development.
Attended by several hundred people, the rally follows a much smaller protest at the Ontario Legislature in the spring, and comes before a much bigger march planned for September that is aimed at marshalling broad-based public support for First Nations opposed to the Ontario government’s pro-development stance.
Sworn in in 2018, Mr. Ford has been an ardent booster of the provincial mining industry. On several occasions, he said he’d be willing to jump on a bulldozer himself in order to build roads into the long-stalled Ring of Fire critical minerals project in the province’s far North.
Last year, Mr. Ford named former long-time gold industry executive George Pirie as his Minister of Mines. Earlier this year, Mr. Pirie introduced measures aimed at speeding up mine development in Ontario, including allowing companies to defer payments related to mine closures.
Chief Rudy Turtle with Grassy Narrows First Nation, which was in the vicinity of a catastrophic paper mill mercury spill in the 1960s, stood in front on the Ontario mines ministry building in downtown Toronto, and said he’s deeply concerned about the impact resource development would have on the wildlife, waterways and plants his community relies on for food, drink and medicine.
“Stop encroaching on our land. Stop this development,” Mr.Turtle told supporters, who then chanted back in unison, ”Stop Ford. Land back.”
Chief Chris Moonias of Neskantaga First Nation said there will be no development in the Ring of Fire “without our free, prior and informed consent,” referring to an internationally adopted edict propagated by the United Nations concerning development on Indigenous land.
Neskantaga First Nation says it wasn’t adequately consulted in key Ring of Fire environmental study
In March, Mr. Moonias was escorted out of the Ontario Legislature after bellowing at Mr. Ford and accusing him of failing to adequately consult the tiny First Nation in a continuing environmental assessment looking at a proposed road construction into the Ring of Fire.
Located about 550 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, and discovered in 2006, the Ring of Fire has been held out by Premier Ford as a key project that could boost Ontario’s relatively weak standing in battery metals. Mr. Ford has repeatedly vowed to accelerate mining in the remote area, to supply electric-vehicle and battery factories in the south.
Neskantaga in 2021 filed a legal application against the province to pause the assessment because the community was in crisis and unable to respond to the province’s demands. With a population of just 400, Neskantaga is located about 430 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, and is among the most impoverished regions in Canada.
Mr. Moonias on Thursday accused the Ford government of not being sensitive to the day-to-day reality of life in the community, which is suffering through a severe housing shortage, a suicide crisis and lack of potable drinking water.
“How can you have consultation with somebody that has been under a boil-water advisory for 28 years,” Mr. Moonias, who was flanked by about 10 members of Neskantaga, told the crowd.
The First Nations group, which also included representatives from Wapekeka and Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, is planning another protest march in Toronto in late September and hopes to attract a crowd of thousands.
Wes Austin, spokesperson for Ontario mine minister Mr. Pirie wrote in an email to the Globe and Mail that the Ontario government will work towards building consensus on resource development “by carefully balancing the priorities, needs and concerns of Indigenous communities that exercise Aboriginal or treaty rights in the Northwest,” including Grassy Narrows, which holds rights under Treaty 3.
Pierre Gratton, president of The Mining Association of Canada, said while he empathizes with the plight of some First Nations that have had negative experiences with the mining industry, he points to massive mine projects such as Voisey’s Bay in Labrador, where relations have generally been positive.
“For every protest, there’s so many more examples of close collaboration and partnerships,” said Mr. Gratton.
He pointed to the roughly 600 agreements between Indigenous groups and the private sector in Canada around mines, accords that spell out parameters for jobs and business partnerships.
While some First Nations are opposed to development in the Ring of Fire, several are in favour, including Marten Falls First Nation and Webequie First Nation, both of which are leading environmental studies on a proposed road into the region.