AROLAND – Aroland First Nation’s chief would like to make it clear that he and his council do not support Bill 5 – and that they’re not in league with Premier Doug Ford’s government on Ring of Fire mining, either.
A news release issued Monday says the First Nation north of Geraldton “objects to Bill 5, the disrespect shown by the process toward it, and the threats to First Nations, the environment, democracy and basic human rights that its contents contain.”
On the same day, Bearskin Lake First Nation issued a statement calling for Bill 5’s repeal and the resignation of Indigenous Affairs Minister Greg Rickford.
Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, authorizes the province to create “special economic zones” where projects can be exempt from having to comply with provincial laws and regulations and municipal bylaws.
The Ford government has identified the mineral-rich Ring of Fire region north of Aroland as a potential special economic zone.
Many First Nations object to the legislation, which passed in the legislature and received royal assent last week, as an affront to their treaty and constitutional rights and an assault on the province’s duty to consult.
“We do stand in support of the other First Nations in Ontario who are opposed to Bill 5 and working to have it thrown out,” Aroland Chief Sonny Gagnon said in Monday’s release.
A Toronto Star article published last week quoted the premier as saying Gagnon supports quick development in the Ring of Fire through an agreement.
But the agreement being referenced is in support of a community access road for Marten Falls First Nation, so that the fly-in community in the Ring of Fire region would be “no longer remote,” said the Aroland news release.
Aroland won’t decide its position on Ring of Fire mining until a regional assessment weighs in on whether “mining in this sensitive and vulnerable peatlands region is safe for humanity, for us, for wildlife, climate and water,” Gagnon said.
“We don’t yet know that. More important – Ontario does not yet know that.”
Saying Bill 5 is “in direct violation of our inherent rights as Indigenous People,” Bearskin Lake’s statement to news media on Monday called for the law’s “immediate repeal.”
It also said Ford and Rickford “are not welcome in our territory” and demanded Rickford’s resignation for failure “in his duty to work with us and to engage us in discussions which involve our lands, our livelihoods and our way of life.”
Ford’s and Rickford's offices emailed a statement to Newswatch saying the government “will continue to engage with Indigenous partners including by working throughout the summer as the next step in developing mutually beneficial nation-building projects that will bring economic opportunity and critical infrastructure to First Nations communities."
“These consultations will directly form the regulations and criteria to create new special economic zones and Indigenous-led economic zones,” the statement continued.
“It has never been more important to work together. Zones will only be created after meaningful consultation.”