The Liberal government may be buoyant about the mining boom it hopes will juice up the economy, but recent events have many wondering if mining firms are capable of delivering fair treatment to First Nations living over or near those subterranean resources.
A few weeks back, the Libs wrapped up the feedback process for their long-awaited revamp of the Ontario Mining Act, a target of native groups and mining watchdogs. The act enshrines the right of prospectors to subsurface minerals on land owned by others, and activists want changes allowing communities the right to refuse.
Alas, the province released its draft amendments earlier this year, and the fine print reveals major loopholes. Exploration firms would still be able to stake and sample claims without notifying First Nations; consultations would only be required for high-level prospecting.
Most striking, however, is the absence of any reference to the right of refusal. “We want to have the authority to say no, and I think we have that authority,” says Chief Donny Morris of northwestern Ontario’s Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI), which has had mining run-ins with the Libs.
The province’s lack of follow-through on the native file verges on the ridiculous. In March, the government issued a temporary stop to all mining activity on KI land, but the moratorium didn’t apply to T.O.-based God’s Lake Resources, which staked its claims early enough to get in under the wire. A month later, pressured by a KI campaign, the government was forced to pay $3.5 mil to the company to abandon its claims.
It’s not the first time money’s changed hands to make up for flaws in the governance process. In 2008, six members of KI, including Morris, were jailed trying to stop Platinex from prospecting on traditional KI land. The province backed down and paid $5 mil to buy out the firm’s claims and leases.
That $8.5 million grand total is the cost of a botched consultation process that doesn’t appear to be remedied in the act’s new draft.
At MiningWatch Canada, Ramsey Hart says his group has been lobbying the province to adopt the standards set by the UN Declaration On The Rights Of Indigenous People, which insists that actual consent be required. “We’re still very much in the realm of consultation, which is quite ambiguous,” Hart says.
KI isn’t the only community wrestling with a mining onslaught.
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