Leadership at a Treaty 9 First Nation set fire to documents about a proposed road to the Ring of Fire this week, sending a message of resistance to the Doug Ford government about its plans to kick-start mining in the region by pushing through Bill 5 without Indigenous consultation.
Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation Coun. Sam Mckay told The Narwhal that individuals, whose names he still doesn’t know, flew into the remote community north of Thunder Bay, Ont., unannounced on June 10 to deliver the draft environmental assessment. said the nation’s chief and councillors felt they had to respond.
The document burning, captured on video and posted online, is a symbol of the nation’s opposition to both the road and Bill 5, Premier Ford’s fast-tracking law that sped through Queen’s Park this month despite widespread First Nations opposition.
“We know the provincial government fast-tracked Bill 5. This is the reason why: so they can open and do whatever they want in our territories, with no regard for our own laws, our treaties and everything,” Mckay says in the video, as Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug Chief Donny Morris and a small crowd look on.
Mckay can be seen tearing off sheets of paper and placing them into a bowl where a fire had been started. At one point the camera pans over to show cardboard boxes stuffed with large ring binders, filled with hundreds of pages. Mckay and another band councillor told The Narwhal these boxes were delivered by plane without their consent.
“We’re going to destroy them publicly because we don’t want to be construed as being part of this supply road that’s going to be part of the Ring of Fire,” Mckay said in the video.
Bill 5 creates “special economic zones” where designated projects can be exempted from certain provincial and municipal rules. Ford wants the Ring of Fire to be one of these zones “as quickly as possible” and said the government would be consulting this summer with First Nations about the new law.
The Ontario government says it is committed to upholding its constitutional duty to consult Indigenous Peoples. But First Nations leaders say the province should have consulted with them before passing the law, especially since it involves fast-tracking industrial development on their lands.
“They’re saying that they’re willing to consult First Nations after they passed the bill. That’s not right,” Mckay said in an interview with The Narwhal. “How are we going to believe them that they’re going to consult with us before they do anything?”
Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug is part of a group of First Nations in Ontario that has formed an alliance to oppose resource extraction in their territories without their consent. In May, Chief Morris and two other Treaty 9 chiefs warned the province was using the threat of U.S. tariffs as an excuse to speed up development.
First Nations that do support a road to the Ring of Fire say it isn’t just about mining
There are no major, all-season roads to the Ring of Fire, making it expensive for those who live there to travel south for medical care, or to ship in daily necessities. The draft assessment Mckay and others set fire to is for the Webequie Supply Road, one of three proposed roads the Ontario government wants to build to link Ring of Fire mineral deposits to the provincial highway network.
The other two are the Marten Falls Community Access Road, for which a draft assessment was published in April, and the Northern Road Link, meant to connect the two.
Webequie First Nation leadership does support the supply road and released its draft assessment June 9. Mckay said the document burning was not meant to criticize the wider Webequie community, just those who want to build the road. The Narwhal reached out to Webequie Chief Cornelius Wabasse and Deputy Chief Selena Wabasse by email but did not receive a response before publication. Webequie was evacuated due to a wildfire earlier this month.
Several nations have expressed skepticism that the road proposals are being planned with better access for First Nations in mind, rather than simply for mining. Marten Falls First Nation has long said it needs its new road because its community can’t keep relying on dangerous winter roads that must be rebuilt each year, as climate change is shortening the season in which these roads can be open; but Chief Bruce Achneepineskum said earlier this month he is not okay with Bill 5 and is feeling conflicted.
In 2020, Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug informed Marten Falls and Webequie that it would not be participating in the road assessment and has declined invitations to participate ever since, Mckay said.
An ‘unauthorized visit’ for an unwelcome delivery
On June 10, Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug members got word that a plane had landed at the First Nation’s airport. The band office had not been informed someone was coming and the visit surprised Chief Morris and councillors.
When Coun. Beatrice Fox went to the airport to investigate, a person there pointed a camera at her, she told The Narwhal.
Fox said she asked four people standing there to identify themselves. One responded they were “a spokesperson for the delivery,” Fox said. They left soon after delivering the boxes, which Fox brought back to the band office.
The identities of the visitors remains unclear. The Narwhal reached out via email to AtkinsRéalis, the engineering firm formerly known as SNC-Lavalin that compiled the report, as well as a representative from Webequie First Nation connected with the assessment, but did not receive a response before publication.
Mckay, who had recently returned from Toronto after protesting Bill 5, opened the boxes on June 11 and discovered they were filled with binders containing copies of the draft assessment report.
“I was very concerned when I realized what it was and I voiced my concern to the rest of the council,” he said.
“Right away, all my red flags went up because, with Bill 5 being passed, why all of a sudden is it so urgent to deliver all these reports?”
Fox and Mckay drafted a letter, also published online, to Webequie and AtkinsRéalis representatives outlining the incident and pointing out that the visitors made an “unauthorized visit.” They stated that Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug refused the delivery of the documents.
“They just came and dropped them off very disrespectfully,” Mckay said.
“We wanted to show the government and the proponents — not necessarily Webequie the community, but the proponents and the government — that we did not accept these things.”
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This story is available for use by Canadian Press clients through an agreement with The Narwhal. It was originally published in The Narwhal, a non-profit online magazine that publishes in-depth journalism about the natural world in Canada. Sign up for weekly updates at thenarwhal.ca/newsletter.
Carl Meyer, The Narwhal
