THUNDER BAY — Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, is “very concerning” in more ways than one, says Neskantaga First Nation Chief Gary Quisess.
The legislation tramples on First Nations’ rights and weakens protections for wildlife, Quisess told Newswatch Monday afternoon, just hours after other Indigenous leaders spoke against Bill 5 at the province’s legislative grounds.
Quisess, who took part in last week’s Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Chiefs Assembly that made a declaration against the big bill, said this is a tough time for his community to be in a fight over a proposed provincial law.
“My community is evacuated because our infrastructure is failing,” he said from the Thunder Bay hotel that is his temporary home.
Most of Neskantaga has been living in Thunder Bay since flooding and a fuel smell at the community’s nursing station prompted evacuations.
Bill 5 would permit the province to designate certain areas, such as the mineral-rich Ring of Fire in the James Bay lowlands, as “special economic zones” where regulatory processes can be fast-tracked.
Energy and Mines Minister Stephen Lecce has said that will safeguard Ontario’s critical minerals from hostile foreign actors and “ensure Canadian interests, jobs and sovereignty always prevail.”
Ontario Regional Chief Abram Benedict presented against the bill in a legislative committee hearing Monday morning in Toronto.
In a news conference at Queen’s Park shortly after Benedict’s committee presentation, NAN Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said NAN chiefs “oppose this bill in its entirety.”
“And I hope that the new prime minister, Mark Carney, is watching, or his ministers are watching this” Fiddler added.
“Because we're hearing that they're contemplating drafting or creating a similar piece of legislation … and this is not how you want to start your mandate as prime minister.”
Carney needs to “be respectful of our nation,” Fiddler said. “You need to be mindful of the obligations that you have under a treaty.
“And that was another message that was delivered by our leadership last week: to uphold and honour our treaties.”
Fiddler said "Ontario’s conduct has been anything but honourable throughout this process. Introducing this bill is an assault on our rights, our treaties and our lands.”
Benedict told reporters at the news conference the bill is “not going to work for First Nations.”
First Nations want prosperity and opportunity, but with respect for First Nations and treaties, he said.
Hanna Sewell, co-chair of the Ontario First Nations Young Peoples Council, said the bill “guts foundational laws” in favour of “a rushed one-stop approval process” for new mines.
“Bill 5 doesn't protect Ontario,” she said. “It protects corporate interests and short-term profits at the expense of our future generations, the air we breathe and the water we drink.”
Bill 5’s many components also include replacement of the province’s 2007 Endangered Species Act with the Species Conservation Act, 2025.
The non-profit organization Environmental Defence describes those changes as “the end of most meaningful provincial protections” for endangered and threatened species in Ontario.
At Monday’s meeting of the Standing Committee on the Interior, Sudbury MPP Jamie West moved to have a further public hearing held next week in Thunder Bay, but that motion was defeated by government MPPs.
Kiiwetinoong MPP Sol Mamakwa presented a nearly identical motion last week, with the same result.
The bill is to be brought forward soon for third reading in the legislature and possibly go to a final vote next month.