Noront Resources

Hi,

It is very clear that no matter which direction you look, whether First Nations or some in the mining industry, there is a complete lack of understanding of the legislation surrounding mining and First Nations. On the other hand, it is equally clear that the Minister of Northern Development and Mines does understand the legislation and is using it to give the appearance of doing something special for Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI). Unfortunately, in doing so, he has muddied the waters and caused many to think that some sort of exception is being made for KI. I assure you that KI is getting nothing special here and I would surely encourage KI and the Ontario Prospectors Association to both learn how to read and then endeavour to pick up the legislation and read it.

I will partly repeat myself from a post that I made on March 5th. There are two shiny new Acts of Parliament in Ontario. One is the Far North Act and the other is the revised (new and improved) Mining Act. If one was to open up these two acts and read them, one would find that they both contain a mutually supportive clause. I will paraphrase it here as follows: No new mine development will be allowed in Northern Ontario on any First Nation Traditional Use areas until Community Based Land Use Plans are completed by the respective First Nations.

This means exactly what it says. Quite frankly, all of Ontario's far north is under a development "moratorium" by law. This is not necessarily a bad thing as some might at first think. The reason that both Noront Resources, and Cliffs Resources are spending a good deal of their time developing their relationships with the surrounding First Nations is, in fact, to deal with this very matter. Both of these companies clearly understand that they need to develop their respective mines within the context of Community Based Land Use Plans that incorporate their operations. As it turns out, most of the First Nations surrounding the Ring of Fire are either well engaged or have begun the process of developing these plans under the sponsorship and/or encouragement of both the Ontario Government and the two companies. While you see all kinds of jockeying around for position in the public forum, the truth is that behind the scenes, everyone is slowly but surely headed toward the completion of these plans so that new development can take place and they can all benefit. The reality of all of this is that both the companies and the government understand that this process will ultimately give them the security and certainty that they require for long term investment and they realize that they can achieve this in an organized fashion, as above, or they can invite failure and do it the hard way as in the past. They have all chosen the former. So have, for the most part now, the First Nations around the ring of fire.

The recent signing by five (not four as in the news article) First Nations on to support the East-West Corridor with Noront is an excellent sign of where all of this is going. To those on this site who have been behaving poorly in your comments with regard to First Nations, keep in mind that those First Nations supporting the ultimate development of the ring of fire are, in fact, in the majority of those directly affected. They are the "good guys". If you think that the delays so far are all that serious, then I would suggest that you are investing in the wrong business. It is extremely widely known that the average mine startup pretty much anywhere is in the vicinity of 10 years. The ring of fire mines will likely be much sooner than that by all accounts. It is actually going quite well in the normal mining scheme of things. If anyone here is holding long and thinks that means a few months, then you had better get a good handle on what long really means. Keep in mind that the international mining community continually finds itself in highly confrontational and virtually unresolvable situations with indigenous people in other countries. In Canada, what you see is very civilized indeed by comparison.

While others are working through all of this in a somewhat diligent fashion, KI has refused to become involved and has, apparently, been stonewalling all advances by the government to "sign on" and get to work on developing land use plans for their traditional use area. In a perhaps somewhat disingenuous attempt to make KI feel special, the Minister has publicly announced a "moratorium" on KI's traditional use area. Well, if eveyone would read the legislation, they would quickly understand that there was already a "moratorium". It is mind boggling to me that so many who should know better and be much better informed about their own affairs, have not noticed this.

Now for a word about the direction that KI is taking. Over the past number of years, there have been several landmark court cases in Canada that have confirmed the need for full and informed (meaningful) consultation (not consent) with First Nations. All of the legislation and land use planning activity being undertaken in Ontario is, in fact, a serious attempt to provide this very thing to First Nations. That is to say, Ontario is trying as hard as it can to live up to the directives of the courts. Conversely, it follows that if a First Nation is freely offerred this opportunity and refuses to become engaged in it, then they would not be following the directives of the courts. I will leave it up to KI and others to consider where that might lead them. One might suggest that it is not to a good place.

Remember that this is Canada and our highly respected democracy is based upon the rule of law. Those (and remember that they are in the extreme minority) who fall outside of the law will very probably fail.

RHammer