The Attawapiskat River of…

The Attawapiskat River of Northern Ontario supports an aquatic population of lake sturgeon that is now part of a traditional fisheries harvest for resident First Nation. This accelerated mining approach change submitted to legislation and associated planned road access required to reach and service communities and mining development in the Ring of Fire could possibly affect drastically lake sturgeon population.
Crossing the Attawapiskat posted recently will open more possibilities to illegally harvesting lake sturgeon caviar and meat for sales. The event of 2013 on the Mississagi River where lake sturgeon was poached illegally and in transit is a clear example of what can happen to the traditional lands of First Nation if we allow this bill to move forward as laid down. We had commercial lake sturgeon fisheries here in Northern Ontario till the mid 80s and the result of this led to a near total loss of this species in some of the reaches of the Moose River Basin watershed. In the Near North, we installed many hydro generation stations to supply needed energy for our existing mining operations. Because of the remote Ring of Fire and life expectancy, the nearby rivers will likely need to be harnessed and again this will affect natural aquatic migrations of many species including lake sturgeon. To conclude this comment, I want to say not only to drop this bill but to stay away from the Ring of Fire and although this bill will cover province wide mining projects, I still say that it is for mainly to move forward the Ring of Fire.