EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally appeared on The Trillium, a Village Media website devoted to covering provincial politics at Queen’s Park.
First Nation chiefs backing a legal challenge to halt federal and Ontario bills that could fast-track development projects in their communities say they have no choice but to go to court and defend their rights.
Nine First Nations are asking Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice to overturn the province’s Bill 5 and Ottawa’s C-5, claiming the laws violate their Charter rights, including the right to life, liberty, and security of the person.
Apitipi Anicinapek Nation Chief June Black is one of the nine First Nations leaders on the application and, at times, held back tears Wednesday while describing harms she believes will happen if the bills are not stopped.
Black told reporters she sees Bills 5 and C-5 as “probably the worst two bills there's ever been,” that could lead to “complete destruction of the earth in our territory.”
“We have a right to a way of life on our lands, and that way of life includes decision-making and governance authority,” she told reporters Wednesday. “Canada and Ontario cannot continue to make unilateral decisions about development and major projects.”
“We will not and do not tolerate Crown governments taking over our lands in whatever way they want.”
“Bill 5 and Bill C-5 have shown that the government is not interested in working together in a way that advances reconciliation and the original treaty promises,” said Oneida Nation of the Thames Chief Todd Cornelius Wednesday. “We have no choice but to take Ontario and Canada to court for this approach.”
In response to questions about the legal challenge, a spokesperson for Premier Doug Ford said, "We will continue to build consensus with First Nations on shared priorities including legacy infrastructure, all-season roads, and resource development, that support long-term prosperity."
Prime Minister Mark Carney's office did not immediately respond.
Reporters asked Carney about the legal challenge at an announcement in Hamilton Wednesday, and the prime minister said he didn’t think consulting after the C-5 had passed would jeopardize his goal of building new projects.
Carney also said he’s planning to engage and consult with Indigenous leaders starting Wednesday at a First Nations summit to figure out how C-5 “can work, how we can work together,” as well as what counts as a nation-building project.
“That's before any consultation on any specific project or types of projects,” he said.
Part of Ontario's bill enacts the Special Economic Zones Act, which allows cabinet to designate any area of the province as a special economic zone and designate trusted projects and project proponents within it. Cabinet can then waive or amend requirements of any provincial or local laws that would otherwise apply to them.
Bill C-5 similarly allows Ottawa to waive federal regulatory requirements that pertain to projects it designates as being in the national interest. But unlike the Ontario bill, it outlines the purpose of the legislation and criteria for project selection, and includes a schedule of which federal laws it can disapply.
The First Nations’ application, which has not been tested in court, was filed July 14, while Bills 5 and C-5 each passed last month.
Both Carney and Ford have pointed to Canada’s ongoing trade dispute with the United States as the spark for the new laws that aim to speed up development project timelines.
Lawyer Kate Kempton is representing the nine First Nations in the legal challenge.
On Wednesday, she characterized C-5 as created in a “knee-jerk reaction” to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, while suggesting the Ford government’s Bill 5 has been in the works for years.
“The Ford government is simply using the Trump tariffs as the latest excuse to bulldoze — and I use that term deliberately — over the environment, First Nations rights and their very lives and ability to survive,” she said.
Opposition parties back legal challenge
Ontario NDP MPP Jamie West similarly told reporters Wednesday he doesn’t believe Bill 5 is “really a reaction to Donald Trump” and pointed to parts of the legislation making a controversial proposed landfill plan in Dresden exempt from environmental assessment.
“We need a government that’s laser-focused on strengthening Ontario, bringing us together and making life more affordable, not a government that’s got to fight with another legal challenge in court,” he said.
“That's the last thing we need when we're up against Trump's tariffs.”
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner wrote in a statement Wednesday that First Nations had to challenge Bill 5 in court after being “completely ignored” by the Ford government.
“Bill 5 undermines First Nations rights, environmental and worker protections, and puts Ontario’s land and water at risk. It has delayed development by dragging this into the courts,” he said.
Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie wrote in a statement that her party “fully” respects the right of First Nations to challenge Bill 5 and Bill C-5 in court.
“We support that right without hesitation — because we believe in democracy and the rule of law.”
Crombie said C-5 has “basic safeguards” including consultation and environmental reviews, but argued Ford’s Bill 5 was “deliberately designed without these protections.”
Kempton declined to say whether other First Nations declined to be part of the application.
She said her firm had limited time to do a “full-scale reach out” to First Nations because of the speed of the application.
“I would never expect many First Nations to be able to be contacted and make a decision that quickly,” Kempton said. And so these nine were, for a variety of reasons, able to, and we knew we had to launch right away, and we did. But we'll see if others join later.”
Hat in hand comment ‘hijacked’ Ford’s meetings with chiefs
Alderville First Nation Chief Taynar Simpson said Wednesday he was among the few dozen Anishinabek Nation chiefs who met with Ford at Queen’s Park last month.
The meeting came a day after the premier derided First Nations for "coming hat in hand all the time to the government.” Ford apologized for the comment during the June 19 meeting with chiefs and to reporters afterwards.
Simpson said Wednesday the discussion about the “hat in hand” comment took up most of the June 19 meeting instead of dealing with Bill 5.
“I felt like, instead of talking business, talking about Bill 5, I needed to address why we have UNDRIP, why we have duty to consult, why we have these protections. So I went with a historic lesson,” he said, referring to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
“I think that the Bill 5 discussion got a little bit hijacked by those comments.”
Ford government officials have promised to consult with First Nations on Bill 5 throughout the summer, after the legislation passed in June.
A spokesperson for the premier previously told The Trillium that the province has “begun productive conversations with First Nations who share our vision of unlocking economic opportunity and critical infrastructure in their community and will continue these consultations throughout the summer.”
“These consultations will shape the regulations and criteria for new special economic zones and Indigenous-led economic zones," said Ford spokesperson Hannah Jensen, referring to the zones the Ford government proposed after backlash to Bill 5.
Simpson told reporters Wednesday he believes consultations that are happening are mostly “piecemeal” and should have taken place around the drafting of Bill 5, not after.
“You don't have consultation after the fact. And the fact that it was pushed through in less than a month shows that there were weaknesses.”
— With files from Jack Hauen
