Neskantaga wants to be heardhttps://www.chroniclejournal.com/content/news/local/2012/06/20/neskantaga-chief-wants-talks-ring-fire-benefits
Neskantaga chief wants talks on Ring of Fire benefits
Carl Clutchey
Wednesday, June 20, 2012 - 08:30
Neskantaga First Nation Chief Peter Moonias said his community will continue to feel “ignored and infringed upon” until the provincial and federal governments engage in face-to-face meetings about how the remote reserve could benefit by future chromite and nickel mines to be located about 80 kilometres away.
“The government wants to give us a sweater that fits everybody, but one size doesn’t fit all,” Moonias said Tuesday.
Moonias was referring to earlier announcements regarding memorandums of understanding reached between the province and other First Nations in the Ring of Fire mining belt.
Neskantaga, formerly known as Landsdowne House, is home to about 300 Oji-Cree on a large lake southeast of the proposed Ring of Fire mining sites.
Moonias said the community is not opposed to the mines, but they “must be developed in the right way.”
Projects like Cliffs Natural Resources’ proposed chromite mine can’t proceed, said Moonias, before Neskantaga has sat down with the province to establish a framework that would allow the band to receive a portion of the taxes generated from Cliffs and other mines.
“We are talking about billions of dollars,” said Moonias. “We are the ones who live up here, using the land.”
“The decisions we have to make are not simply about a road, mines and a refinery,” Moonias said in a news release.
“They are decisions about our own plans and priorities for the development of our lands and resources.”
Moonias said it’s discouraging to see the province and Cliffs making plans to build a 340-kilometre all-weather road into the Ring of Fire site when remote reserves like his continue to suffer from housing shortages as well as a substandard health and educational services.
“In order for our communities to support the Ring of Fire, Canada and Ontario must make a serious financial commitment to address the social and economic disparities of our communities, not just offer to train workers,” Moonias said.