Under the right conditions, $3 billion in capacity-building funding from Queen’s Park would be welcomed by First Nations, said Wabun Tribal Council executive director Jason Batise, “but in this case, the nations can’t be bought that way.”
While the Ford government’s messaging this week — to triple funding through the Indigenous Opportunities Financing Program and expand the eligibility to include critical minerals, energy and pipeline development — was intended to be a positive one, the signal ultimately fell flat with Indigenous leaders, like Batise.
More program money is always helpful, but Batise said the timing of a package of loan guarantees and scholarships doesn’t resolve all the issues following on the heels of the government’s attempted passage of the highly contentious Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act.
Since the bill’s introduction in mid-April, there’s been severe blowback by Ontario Indigenous leaders.
Batise and Ontario chiefs view Bill 5 as a unilateral move by the Ford government to fast-track mineral and infrastructure development, while ignoring First Nations rights and the requirement to do deep consultation with Indigenous communities.
The bill would also establish the Special Economic Zones Act that would allow cabinet to create designated zones that would exempt project proponents from provincial laws and regulations, and bylaws of municipalities and local boards that would normally apply in that area.
“The stuff they’re talking about,” said Batise, “ignoring communities and the right to consultation … and run roughshod over the land, it’s not gonna fly.”
Batise viewed the suspicious timing of this week’s program announcement as part of the provincial government’s strategy to “incentivize” communities to accept the highly contentious piece of legislation.
“I feel like I’m trying to be bought.”
Energy and Mines Minister Stephen Lecce said May 22 that the previous Aboriginal Loan Guarantee Program was often oversubscribed. Indigenous leaders, he said, had called on the province to step up funding for capacity building to help them navigate through numerous and complex consultations.
“The program enables the communities to have their say and be part of the process delivering greater efficiency for all the parties involved."
This spring budget item, Lecce said, complements the government’s One Project, One Process policy that streamlines the permitting process across various siloed ministries and will cut project permitting timeframes in half while respecting the duty to consult with First Nations.
“We know successful strong partnerships with First Nations are essential to getting Ontario’s critical minerals out of the ground,” said Lecce.
But Indigenous leaders and organizations don’t see it that way.
“Bill 5 is still the elephant in the room,” said Batise,” and no amount of money is going to help that.”
The nearly $3.1 billion in loans, grants and scholarships to invite Indigenous participation in the resource industry and get involved in equity plays “does not sweeten the pot” of communities’ unanimous distaste for the bill, Batise said.
Batise said no Northern Ontario cabinet minister, nor the mining minister, approached Wabun about their intentions with Bill 5, or notified them on where these special zones might be created, or even if they’ll have input.
Batise said he’s not against the province’s wishes to accelerate projects and permits, “but how are we going to do that together? This is not us together; this is Ontario by itself.”
Batise steers one of the most progressive and pro-development Indigenous organizations in Canada.
The Timmins-based tribal council has signed numerous mutually beneficial and transformative agreements with mining companies that’s allowed its communities to reap the rewards of mineral development activity on its traditional lands.
As a regional representative body for the First Nations of Brunswick House, Chapleau Ojibwe, Flying Post, Matachewan, Mattagami, and Beaverhouse in northeastern Ontario, Wabun’s traditional lands cover some of Ontario’s most historically productive mining camps in the Kirkland Lake and Timmins areas.
Bill 5 is now at second reading at Queen’s Park. Leading chiefs and Indigenous organizations have been asked to write letters to make their positions known.
“We’re writing to tell them to stop; kill the bill,” said Batise. Wabun also plans to send representation to speak before the standing committee.
Their contention is that the province is trying to remove all the levers that First Nations possess to fairly negotiate with mining companies, beginning with the removal of the Species at Risk Act, passed in 2007.
Though these levers are seldom used, Batise said community leaders take great comfort knowing that they exist. And companies are aware it’s in their best interest to strike agreements and abide by terms that garner First Nation support.
Batise said it’s understood that Indigenous communities can pose an element of risk for mining companies. If activities aren’t copacetic with nearby communities, First Nations can obfuscate, delay and do other things that create project risk.
“Those things are sort of being taken out. Our levers of influence are being removed. And that’s not okay with us.”
Batise said don’t expect First Nations to back off on taking a rights-based position and he urges the government to work with First Nation leaders to recraft the bill.
“Rarely do you see communities that are aligned in opposition or support for something. Well, in this case, all 134 nations have been speaking in opposition. There are no outliers here,” he said. “This has got us unified. It (the bill) needs to change.”
Batise believes the Ford government’s fixation on development in the Ring of Fire is the motivation behind Bill 5.
But he contends this legislation will only drive a wedge between industry and First Nations in other areas of the province where relationships are solid.
Batise said Wabun communities enjoy “wonderful relationships” with mining companies in their territory through business contracts and constant engagement. Any issues that crop up, they find ways to resolve them.
From talking to their mining partners operating in Wabun territory, Batise said even “the mining industry is saying, What are we doing?”
“There’s not a problem, so what are you doing? Why are you creating this imperative that doesn’t exist for most of the mine development in Ontario?”
As to the Ring of Fire? “Different story,” said Batise.
While Wabun communities have lived with mining in their backyards since 1906, Far North communities may not be as ready for industrial development.
“They have the right to move, or not to move, at their own pace,” said Batise of their approach. “I don’t blame them for their pace of play.”
Part of the Ford government’s message this week was that up-front investment in Indigenous capacity building helps improve Ontario’s image as an attractive place for investors in mining projects.
“Last I checked, Timmins was a booming economy,” answered Batise.
“Gold prices are through the roof. I can’t speak too much about critical minerals … but as far as we’re concerned, the investment environment around Timmins, the communities and our territories hasn’t changed and won’t change. It’s robust.”
The message he would send to the Ford cabinet on Bill 5 is to come talk to their leadership.
“We wanna work with Ontario to build it right, and I think there’s an avenue to do that together. It can’t be done unilaterally because it involves too many of our rights.
“The communities are upset, and rightly so. I think they need to wind it back, sit down with us, and let’s create a bill around critical minerals, and other things that we think we need, and do it together.”
