Not everyone got what they wanted, but the long-awaited changes to Ontario’s 100-year-old Mining Act should go a long way toward minimizing conflict on the land on mineral exploration issues.
In October, Queen’s Park unveiled the new-look act with a slate of amendments that will have a huge impact on the unlimited potential with resource development in Ontario’s Far North and in rekindling activity in former mining camps.
The amendments, which became law in October, were being hailed by Northern Development, Mines and Forestry Minister Michael Gravelle as "ground-breaking" legislation that will benefit miners, First Nations, communities and Ontario’s economy.
The new act enshrines Aboriginal consultation in the mine development cycle, supported by permitted checks and balances, and a dispute-resolution process for Aboriginal-related issues in mining.
"It’s not necessarily all that we wanted, but it’s what we expected," said Garry Clark, executive director of the Ontario Prospectors Association in Thunder Bay.
The bottom line for the mineral industry is explorationists get to keep their right to free entry access to land, the sector’s life’s blood.
The government said there will be a phased introduction of a map staking system over the next three to five years, starting with a paper-based system in southern Ontario, then gradually moving to an online electronic system across Ontario.
Clark said his group’s biggest concerns are that high speed Internet, for electronic staking, remains inconsistent across the North and that part of a prospector’s traditional source of revenue, of physically staking a claim on the land for a mining company, will eventually be phased out.
"But there are upsides and we have to move into the future."
Clark said the reaction from the prospecting community is an even one-third split ranging from satisfied to ambivalence to anger on the issue of map staking.
One great unknown is an overlapping piece of provincial legislation that will eventually become law, known as the Far North Act. Bill 191 proposes to set aside 225,000 square kilometres of protected land in Ontario’s Far North up to Hudson Bay.
What areas will be declared off-limits to prospectors and junior miners is undetermined. These places could vary from small culturally significant sites to vast tracts of land used for trapping and hunting.
The industry will likely lose access to prime exploration lands on its "frontier," said Clark, alluding to the huge and evolving exploration camp at McFauld’s Lake in the James Bay Lowlands.
"Losing land, and you don’t know what’s on there, is not good."
But there are some positive things in the amendments, including work permits, a dispute resolution mechanism and awareness training for licensed prospectors, he said.
Stan Beardy, Grand Chief of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN), acknowledged the new Act represents the "first time in the history of Ontario government that Aboriginal treaty rights are recognized and that’s a positive step forward."
But he said there is still work to be done to ensure there remains a collaborative approach with government to ensure Aboriginal communities realize the full benefits of natural resources development.
Although First Nations didn’t get full veto power on the issue of consult and accommodate at every stage of the mineral development cycle, Beardy said Aboriginal people in the Treaty 9 and 5 areas of northwestern Ontario are not against mining activities.
About 65 per cent of NAN communities are involved in mining, largely due to the engagement by the industry itself. But the Ontario government has been lagging behind with enabling legislation and practices to ensure Supreme Court of Canada decisions on Aboriginal treaty rights are legally supported, said Beardy.
He said there must be expanded discussion on resource benefit sharing arrangements to give First Nations a share of royalties and taxes as well as the technical skills and mining-related jobs to make them legitimate partners with industry.
"We need to have a say in what happens on our lands, then people will take us more seriously to negotiate and meet our expectations," said Beardy. "The only other alternative is conflict."
Monte Hummel, president of the World Wildlife Fund Canada, called the Mining Act revisions a "reasonable compromise" with both industry and First Nations coming away with something.
Prospectors retained the right of free entry and First Nations have a hammer at various stages of the mine development cycle, if they choose to use it, said Hummel.
"It was a delicate political balance and I think Gravelle’s done a pretty good job."
No doubt, said Hummel, the McGuinty government was under pressure to make changes after recent confrontations and legal battles between junior mining companies and residents in northwestern and eastern Ontario that resulted in protesters and Aboriginal leaders being jailed.
"Mining no doubt is, and should play, an important economic role in the future of Northern Ontario and we’re not against that," said Hummel, who grew up north of Kenora and is a licensed prospector.
Hummel said mineral exploration is a high-risk business and industry needs access to as much of the landscape as possible since less than one in 10,000 mineral prospects ever develops into a mine.
"There are reasons to be cranky about this from an environmental standpoint but I don’t think those objections are reasonable. There was an accommodation reached here. The industry got its main interest, which was to keep free entry alive."
Hummel said the amendments gives the industry the social and environmental license it needed to operate.
Hummel said those junior miners and prospectors that follow the rules, there should not have any major problems.
"Anybody who conducts themselves honourably with respect to both people and the environment will get their mine."
Hummel said those companies that consult with First Nations and employ best practices, will not only be permitted, but maybe even invited into community land use plans.
"Any company that is critical of this I have to wonder, what does that say about how you plan to operate? If you’re a good operator why would you be nervous about these changes?"
www.mndm.gov.on.ca/miningact/miningact_e.asp
