Rickford in hot seat over Far North pro-development stance: Neskantaga, Eabemetoong want more discussion, greater say on Ring of Fire process.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: Mining - Report

Greg Rickford took considerable heat from leaders of two remote First Nation communities that feel they've been left out of the loop in discussions to industrialize the Far North.

At a Nov. 21 assembly of Ontario Chiefs, Neskantaga's Wayne Moonias and Eabemetoong's Elizabeth Atiookan scolded the minister of energy, mines, Northern development and Indigenous affairs for isolating them from talks surrounding the construction of roads into the Ring of Fire.

Rickford's remarks about building a "corridor for prosperity" with road and hydro corridors to spin off regional economic development opportunities raised the anger of Atlookan, who felt the government isn't taking into account her community's concerns about the impact of mining on the land.

"You can't say here it's not about the Ring of Fire. Ultimately, that's what this (north-south) road is all about," she said.

"It's not so much about us. It's about prosperity. You're cutting red tape so you can move this along real quickly."

The communities are two of the five First Nations closest to the mineral deposits in the James Bay region. They are part of the nine member communities in the Matawa First Nations tribal council.

The two chiefs accused Rickford of repeatedly dodging them and being uncommunicative since the June provincial election. They claim his ministries are meeting only with those communities that support natural resource development.

The Ford government appears to be following the same track as the previous Wynne government, which mothballed the Regional Framework Agreement negotiations, started in 2014, to focus on making headway on the access roads by working with more development-ready communities.

Two Ring of Fire-area First Nations, Webequie and Marten Falls, have approved road planning and environmental assessments on their traditional lands, which will support mining operations, as an avenue to lift their communities out of poverty and isolation.

In referencing Eabemetoong's Supreme Court duty-to-consult victory against Ontario for a wrongly issued exploration permit to Landore Resources, Atlookan questioned how the government can be expected to advance a major industrial project without achieving consensus.

"It has to be a balanced approach, and I don't think Eabametoong has ever said no to development," she said. "Because two (First) Nations decide to build roads, you leave the rest of us out of the equation? I don't think that's fair."

Rickford, who once worked as a...