I am a land user, Treaty…

I am a land user, Treaty rights holder, and protector of the land and fresh waters. My great grandfather was a signatory to Treaty no. 9 with the crown, Canada and Ontario. When he signed the treaty he agreed to sharing the land and resources with settlers in a mutually beneficial way for as long as the sun shines, the grass grows and the rivers flow.
Long before he signed this treaty, my ancestors entered into a treaty with the land, animals, waters, and all living things. The original treaty was passed down from the creator, and it is what gives us our responsibility to care for the land, and to use its resources wisely for future generations. It gives us our jurisdiction and sovereign rights.
The treaties with the crown, Canada and Ontario, have never been honoured. We have never been treated as partners in sharing the land and resources. As partners, our Nation would have played a role in drafting amendments to the Mining Act which heavily impact our lands, resources and future way of life. Instead, I am allowed to comment on Bill 71 and related regulatory amendments as an after-thought. Where is the respect here? Where is the long-term relationship building which would move us all forward together, in a good way?
Building meaningful nation-to-nation relationships between First Nations, Canada and Ontario is a foundation of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent, and this is the only way mineral development will move forward on our land. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples recognizes that mining projects and closure plans need to be reviewed by Indigenous people, whose consent is required. The world is moving forward in terms of Indigenous rights, and Ontario is recklessly jumping backwards. This is also the case for the environment. Already, Ontario doesn’t require mining projects to conduct environmental assessments, and the Building More Mines Act will rip away the little protection we had left for the environment and the people of Ontario and Canada.
It is in the best interests of all parties to strengthen our economy, create good jobs, and improve everyone’s quality of life. But we can’t rob our future of clean water and the precious carbon storing peat lands which help protect our environment just for the rich to get richer.

If Ontario passes this bill:
• Protection of the environment will be set back decades, making us look more and more like a developing nation
• mining companies will be less financially responsible for clean-up
• rehabilitation standards will be severely relaxed
• companies won’t need to have proper closure plans in place before operations begin

Removing closure plan accountability means that mining proponents won’t need to fully re-habilitate the peatlands in our area after mining, and this makes no sense from either a treaty rights perspective or a climate policy perspective. Moving towards this fully proponent-driven system won’t put the people of Ontario first, and it won’t uphold the Crown’s duty to consult and accommodate. The Building More Mines Act is about the rich getting richer. It’s a lose-lose situation for anyone or anything other than the rich. The people of Ontario are the ones who will suffer the consequences of this government’s short-sighted plan.
Supporters of this Bill say side-stepping environmental protections and Indigenous partnership will save our economy and allow us to build electric cars to save the environment. What everyone needs to understand is that Bill 71 is ignoring the responsibility of the government to achieve consent from First Nations. This will mean a series of costly legal nightmares for the province and proponents, and devastating environmental impacts for our grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Our future must be more important than the rich getting richer.