{"id":331438,"date":"2025-12-08T01:41:32","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T01:41:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/331438\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T01:41:32","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T01:41:32","slug":"a-call-for-land-protection-amidst-ontarios-ring-of-fire-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/331438\/","title":{"rendered":"A call for land protection amidst Ontario\u2019s Ring of Fire talk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ontario Premier Doug Ford signed an agreement with the last of three First Nations along Ontario\u2019s proposed road to the Ring of Fire last week, promising it would \u201cchange lives.\u201d But the announcement comes as neighbouring nations urge the premier to balance his priorities with environmental protection and addressing long-standing issues in their communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Marten Falls First Nation \u2014 a small fly-in Anishinaabe community approximately 400 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay \u2014 signed the agreement<\/a> with the Ontario government on Nov. 27 to help manifest a more prosperous future, the chief said. Ford\u2019s Progressive Conservatives will give the nation $39.5 million to address local infrastructure issues in exchange for Marten Falls submitting its environmental assessment for the 184-kilometre road to the Ring of Fire by Feb. 20.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Ford government has made similar agreements with Webequie and Aroland First Nations, both of which are along the route to the mineral-rich Ring of Fire<\/a> \u2014 a crescent-shaped deposit in the James Bay Lowlands in northwestern Ontario that has become a linchpin in both federal and provincial plans to mitigate the impacts of U.S. trade tariffs<\/a>. The region can only be accessed by plane or winter roads<\/a>, routes that can be driven on for a few weeks in the snowy season to bring in essential supplies, everything from food and medicine to construction materials.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AThe Ontario government has secured agreements with Aroland, Webequie and Marten Falls First Nations, the three Indigenous communities along the proposed route to the Ring of Fire. Map: Ontario government<\/p>\n

With the funding from this agreement, Marten Falls First Nation believes it could build a new community centre, an upgraded wastewater system and a power line.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The community has been under a decades-long boil water advisory<\/a> and a separate state of emergency, due to a failure at its wastewater plant<\/a> that resulted in sewage leaking into a creek connected to its water treatment plant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about working in partnership and living together in peace and being able to prosper together,\u201d Chief Bruce Achneepineskum told reporters at Queen\u2019s Park on Nov. 25.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"OntarioOntario Premier Doug Ford shakes hands with Marten Falls First Nation Chief Bruce Achneepineskum, promising the agreement would \u201cchange their lives.\u201d Photo: Nathan Denette \/ The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

If all goes well, the Ford government expects to begin construction on the road in August 2026, \u201csubject to the federal government ending its duplicative impact assessments in the region,\u201d the government\u2019s news release of its agreement with Marten Falls said. Consultations for how to do that are open<\/a> now until Dec. 15.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time the federal government steps up and helps out. I\u2019ll be all over them on this one,\u201d Ford said when announcing the agreement. \u201cLet\u2019s get some money so that they can pave their runway, get money so that they can have a proper wastewater system.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut yeah, put down the cash, get out of the way and we\u2019ll handle everything else,\u201d Ford added.<\/p>\n

The draft environmental assessment<\/a> for the Marten Falls road found it could improve the quality of life for many people, but also affect cultural traditions and impact wildlife and the environment more broadly.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Ford told reporters he wants \u201call communities involved, even if it doesn\u2019t impact them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI want them all part of it. I want to change their lives,\u201d he said. \u201cYears down the road, when I\u2019m pushing out tulips, I hope they\u2019re saying, \u2018There\u2019s Ford, he helped us change our lives and gave us the electricity, gave us opportunity, gave us training, gave us, you know, x, y and z.\u2019 That\u2019s what I want to do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

But before any of that happens, the Ontario government has to secure buy-in from all Indigenous communities, which remains tenuous. While the Ford government has made agreements with three First Nations, others are continuing to make their opposition and demands clear \u2014 citing concerns<\/a> about lack of meaningful consultations<\/a>, environmental protections and clear information \u2014 as the spotlight firmly remains on their lands.<\/p>\n

Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug chief asks Doug Ford to \u2018balance it out\u2019 by permanently protecting the nation\u2019s homelands from mining<\/p>\n

An hour before the government announced its agreement with Marten Falls First Nation, leaders from neighbouring Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug and Wapekeka First Nation came to Queen\u2019s Park to demand the permanent protection of three million hectares of their homelands, just northwest of the Ring of Fire.<\/p>\n

About 20 years ago, both First Nations passed their own laws declaring their lands were closed off to mining claims<\/a> in perpetuity. These lands are 48 times larger than the city of Toronto and include boreal forest and sensitive peatlands, both sequestering massive amounts of carbon dioxide.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AnKitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug is asking the Ontario government to permanently protect three million hectares of its homelands, which include boreal forest and sensitive peatlands. Photo: Lyndon Nanokeesic<\/p>\n

Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug Chief Donny Morris challenged Ford to offer that same protection so that \u201cin the future, these lands are secured \u2014 secured in a way where there\u2019s no disturbances until we feel ourselves in that region that we\u2019re ready for whatever opportunities there are in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to do more to protect our waters, our lands and animals,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cAnd I think this is where we\u2019re asking Doug Ford, let\u2019s sit down. Let\u2019s have a discussion, government-to-government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chief Morris said if the premier was set on bringing mining to the Ring of Fire, he could \u201cbalance it out\u201d by preserving Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug and Wapekeka\u2019s homelands. \u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re here, offering [Doug Ford] an option to support us, walk with us. Let\u2019s see how far we can go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials from Neskantaga First Nation receive personal calls from Ford about another road to the Ring of Fire<\/p>\n

Neskantaga First Nation has been under a boil-water advisory for more than 30 years \u2014 the longest in effect in Canada. Still, Chief Gary Quisess said no one in the Ontario government has tried to help. \u201cI haven\u2019t seen any government people or provincial people come here in a community to support our needs,\u201d he told The Narwhal.<\/p>\n

Instead, in recent weeks, Quisess said senior officials with the nation have received phone calls from Ford and Indigenous Affairs Minister Greg Rickford seeking support for a new \u201ceast-west crossing\u201d \u2014 a proposed alternative to the Northern Road Link route that goes through Marten Falls, Webequie and Aroland First Nations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see this as an act of desperation,\u201d Quisess said, \u201cprobably to try and get their wish.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AMembers of Neskantaga First Nation continue to protest against the Ontario government\u2019s push to fast-track a road to and mining in the Ring of Fire. This has included demonstrations at Queen\u2019s Park, as seen above. Photo: Sid Naidu \/ The Narwhal<\/p>\n

A senior official from Rickford\u2019s office, speaking on background, told The Narwhal the government is broadly looking at all options to get to the Ring of Fire, including this one, and having many conversations about it.<\/p>\n

The east-west crossing was proposed in 2017 by the previous Liberal government led by former premier Kathleen Wynne. It was pitched as an overland route to the Ring of Fire, paving an existing winter road system that connects to provincial highways and follows the now-built Watay Power transmission line<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The government official told The Narwhal discussions about this crossing have been extremely preliminary; no route, path or plan has yet been decided.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AnThe government has begun preliminary conversations about other routes to the Ring of Fire, including one that would pave an existing winter-road network alongside Watay Power, a largely Indigenous-owned 1,800-kilometre transmission line, now curving through northern Ontario\u2019s peatlands. Photo: Supplied by Dan Garrity \/ Wataynikaneyap Power<\/p>\n

But Quisess remains skeptical as a leader who hasn\u2019t yet been officially consulted on any of this \u2014 while calls went to his officials, no one called him. The government, he said, \u201cis jumping over us,\u201d as members of his community have set up an encampment at a potential river crossing where the road could be built.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have lots of things that need to be fixed first before the Ring of Fire,\u201d he said. \u201c[The] Ring of Fire is not going to happen without Neskantaga.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, we have a lot of rich minerals in our backyard, but that\u2019s not going to be touched because we\u2019re not happy,\u201d he added. \u201cWe\u2019re getting excluded. We\u2019re getting bypassed. We are in the middle of this soup called Ring of Fire, which the whole world wants, but they don\u2019t care who\u2019s inside the Ring of Fire.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ontario Premier Doug Ford signed an agreement with the last of three First Nations along Ontario\u2019s proposed road…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-331438","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}