Urban journalists hundreds of kilometres away might not get it, but regional opposition to Ring of Fire development is anything but unanimous. That’s emphasized in a recent post by Republic of Mining commentator Stan Sudol: Not all the region’s native bands oppose development. Those that do, moreover, have traditional territories outside the proposed mining areas.
“As with non-Aboriginal society, First Nations do not speak with one voice,” he points out. Two of five regional chiefs got considerable news coverage by criticizing a proposed road that would connect the provincial highway system with the mineral-rich region. Those chiefs represent the Eabametoong and Neskantaga bands, both with traditional territories outside the Ring of Fire.
“In fact, the Eabametoong reserve is a little over 170 kilometres southwest of the proposed first mine in the Ring of Fire—Noront Resources’ Eagle’s Nest underground nickel-copper mine—while Neskantaga is about 130 kilometres in the same direction.”
Concerns about a mine accident affecting water on their territories are unfounded, maintains Sudol, probably Canada’s most incisive mining commentator. “Eabametoong and Neskantaga are both up-river so if some problem did occur—and the risk for this is very, very low—neither community would be affected as the water flows eastward toward James Bay.”
Three other regional native communities consist of Nibinamik, Marten Falls and Webequie. The latter two have environmental assessments underway to study the proposed highway link. “And again it must be clearly stated the known Ring of Fire mineral discoveries and the proposed north/south road are on the traditional territories of Marten Falls and Webequie,” Sudol notes. “There are some overlapping claims between these two communities but they are not letting that issue stand in the way of the proposed north/south road.”
That’s not surprising when, as Marten Falls Chief Bruce Achneepineskum said last month, “This project is an opportunity to move forward on addressing many socio-economic needs of the community, including access to more affordable food and housing, access to training, education, health care and employment and access to neighbouring communities.”
Read Basic facts about the Ring of Fire including FNs’ traditional territories, by Stan Sudol.
This article was posted by Greg Klein - Resource Clips on Tuesday, December 4th, 2018 at 9:47 am.