Webequie First Nation takes the lead on Ring of Fire supply road: Webequie First Nation hosts Thunder Bay open house to kick off EA process.

• Position: Design-Build

A First Nation community is breaking new ground in leading the environmental assessment (EA) and consultation process on a proposed short supply road to the Ring of Fire.

Webequie First Nation, the closest fly-in community to the James Bay mineral belt, kicked off the EA engagement process by hosting the first of a series of public information sessions in Thunder Bay in early October to share information with the public about the road project and gather feedback.

It's part of the early stages of a larger environmental assessment process that's underway for a planned 107-kilometre all-season road between the Webequie Airport and the area around McFaulds Lake, better known as the Ring of Fire, 535 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay.

The road would facilitate the movement of materials, supplies and people into the exploration and future mining camp.

All the public comments received will be incorporated into the terms of reference--or guidelines--by which the EA process will be carried out.

"This is the first environmental assessment in Ontario to be led and driven by a First Nation under the new Federal Impact Assessment Act," said Webequie Chief Cornelius Wabasse in a news release.

The first engagement session began Oct. 9 with the Webequie project team explaining the EA process and the draft terms of reference, which includes details about the project's framework, work plan, and outlines the studies conducted, consultation activities, and a review of the potential environmental effects.

The news release said this consultation and engagement process follows the community's own three-tier approach to economic development that revolves around the principles of community first, overall well-being, and preserving Indigenous culture.

"As a community, we are taking every measure to be proactive, transparent and collaborative in this process, respecting our people, our lands and our relation-ships," stated Wabasse.

The focus is to assess development opportunities while practising our First Nation environmental stewardship responsibilities to ensure both land protection and economic benefits.

He cautioned this open house and this part of the EA process is specific only to the road, not the mining projects.

It's important to emphasize that this project is NOT an environmental assessment for the Ring of Fire mining developments or for a road connecting to the provincial road network. This is...