Raymond Ferris thinks it might soon be time for action over the Ring of Fire. As Matawa’s Ring of Fire co-ordinator, Ferris said he was disappointed but not surprised by Cliffs Natural Resources’ decision to build a $1.8 billion ferrochrome processor near Sudbury instead of somewhere in Northwestern Ontario.
It’s the latest example of governments and industry moving ahead with initiatives without taking any First Nations recommendations into consideration he said.
“Whether the smelter was a good thing or not is something that we wanted to conduct as a study for ourselves so that our membership can be well informed then they can make a decision on their own,” Ferris said Thursday afternoon. “We never had that opportunity.”
Ferris said a smelter in the region could have had countless economic spinoffs for First Nations communities if they were tied to the grid. Communities around Lake Nipigon have everything from solar to wind projects that are just waiting to be tied to the hydro grid, something that could have happened with the arrival of the processor.
“I think the governments and the industry failed to look at all these initiatives that could have helped out a lot of first nations not just Matawa,” he said. “Nobody wanted to listen to those plans so how can anybody say we’ve been engaged?”
First Nations communities haven’t been given a chance to even review information from governments and industry over projects in the Ring of Fire. They are welcomed into communities but don’t listen to what people there have to say.
Ferris said Matawa communities weren’t even given a chance to conduct their own environmental assessments to determine a mine’s impact on everything from fish to water to long-term impacts once the mine’s life is over.
“It could have very well been that First Nations and industry could have been holding hands and going to apply for the environmental assessment together rather than the industry doing it themselves and taking a paternalistic view of First Nations just like Indian affairs does,” Ferris said.
Aboriginal Affairs minister Kathleen Wynne said Wednesday morning that there are two paths with regard to the Ring of Fire, one of prosperity or one of conflict. Ferris said First Nations have tried many times to negotiate but haven’t been heard.
“I just want to tell everyone that the road to conflict was not started by the First Nations,” he said.
Conflict could take on many forms, from the courts to campaigning that anything taken from the Ring of Fire be considered “conflict chromite” Ferris said.
“We want to do things peacefully but if that can’t be done then there’s no choice but to resort to alternatives.”
Area chiefs will meet in the coming days to discuss strategies on next steps Ferris said.