The Ontario government’s formal establishment of a Ring of Fire development corporation has one Aboriginal community questioning the transparency of the process.
“Our community members are upset,” said Webequie Chief Cornelius Wabasse. “We agreed as a community to negotiate with Ontario in good faith. This can’t happen if Ontario makes decisions without our involvement.”
The fly-in community of 600, 540 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, is one of the communities closet to the chromite and base metal deposits in the James Bay region. It’s also one of nine members in the Matawa Tribal Council that’s negotiating with the province on future mining and infrastructure development based on a memorandum of co-operation.
“We have been clear that we are willing to work with Ontario about Ring of Fire issues, but it has to be in a true spirit of partnership,” said Wabasse in a statement. “Decisions of this magnitude cannot be made by Ontario behind closed doors.”
The province announced last November it was creating a development corporation to bring miners, First Nations, and Ottawa together to kick-start development activity in the dormant mining camp.
On Aug. 29, Queen’s Park finally followed through with its formal establishment of the organization. Four provincial bureaucrats will sit on an interim board until a permanent board is made public. The province has earmarked a $1 billion for future infrastructure work, but Ottawa has yet to come on board with any matching dollars.
“We cannot participate in negotiations about development unless our title, rights and indigenous laws are respected,” added councilor Roy Spence. “Ontario promised to engage with us as true partners both in direct government-to-government negotiations and as part of a regional process with the other members of Matawa. Ontario’s unilateral announcement of the creation of an economic development corporation is exactly the opposite of the kind of respectful process that we expect.”
