Ontario First Nation asks for halt to Ring of Fire mining development

An Ontario First Nation that has worked toward road access to the mineral-rich Ring of Fire on its traditional territory is now asking the courts to prevent the provincial and federal governments from mineral development in the region.

Marten Falls First Nation, located about 400 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, has filed a statement of claim asking for interim and permanent injunctions preventing Ontario and Canada from funding or participating in mining-related activities in the Ring of Fire.

The claim centres on a series of massive projects between the 1930s and 1950s that the First Nation says diverted river systems on their territory using dams and artificial channels to benefit residents and industry in the southern part of the province and harmed their way of life.

The First Nation now worries that a pair of contentious federal and provincial laws known as Bill C-5 and Bill 5 could be used to push through Ring of Fire development, including hydroelectric projects to serve as a power supply, over environmental concerns.

Chief Bruce Achneepineskum says his people have seen the ill-effects of development on their territory without their consent, with the water diversion destroying fish populations and drying up canoe routes, and they do not want it to happen again.

Marten Falls First Nation has been working on environmental assessments for roads that would both connect its community to the provincial highway system and lead to the Ring of Fire, and an Ontario government spokesperson says in a statement that Marten Falls has shown "steadfast support" for the Ring of Fire since 2018.

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Allison Jones