Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Grand Chief Harvey Yesno said revenue sharing from natural resources projects is a “high priority” on the meeting agenda with Ontario's new premier.
“Treaty and resource revenue sharing are key to addressing the pressing and dire challenges facing the remote First Nations of Northern Ontario,” said Yesno in a Jan. 28 press release directed to Kathleen Wynne, a former Aboriginal Affairs minister.
“Our treaty partners, Canada and Ontario must come to the table to address these issues, and not just to dialogue or discuss, but strategize and implement. NAN First Nations need the process for formal agreements to get underway.”
The direction coming from NAN leadership in 49 communities is that Canada and Ontario must honour its treaty obligations with First Nations and agree to “share the wealth” from mining and harvesting resources on their traditional and treaty lands.
"Ontario is behind the times in terms of First Nations relations and the development of significant resource sharing agreements compared to other provinces across the country,” said Yesno. “Ontario needs to be more progressive and follow the examples of other provinces such as Quebec, B.C. and Manitoba to work with First Nations in a positive way.”