Comment Guide: Key Messages When Writing about the Proposed Ring of Fire

As the provincial and federal governments keep pushing for the proposed Ring of Fire mining project in Northern Ontario, it is essential that we continue to advocate for the protection of this culturally and ecologically important ecosystem. 

Proposed mining activities are often posted for public comment, such as on the Environmental Registry of Ontario or the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada registry, creating important opportunities for you to have your say and express opposition to mining activities in the proposed Ring of Fire area. 

Here are some key messages you can include in your comments: 

1. The proposed Ring of Fire is located in the Hudson-James Bay Lowlands – known as the Breathing Lands – and is a region of profound environmental and cultural significance. Protecting the health of these lands and the surrounding watersheds is necessary if Indigenous communities – and future generations – are to continue practicing their Treaty rights and accessing our territories for food, water, medicine, and sacred spaces, which is an indivisible part of cultural identity and spirituality.

   The carbon-rich Hudson-James Bay Lowlands, including the Attawapiskat, Kapiskau, Ekwan, Oppinagau, Albany and Winisk watersheds are critical to protecting biodiversity and storing carbon. The muskeg, or peatland, in this area is the

   second largest peatland ecosystem in the world. These wetlands play a critical role in preventing and mitigating the effects of climate change, providing wildlife habitat, minimizing flood risk, and ensuring safe drinking water.

   The Hudson-James Bay lowlands stores nearly 35 gigatons of carbon – that’s

   more than 5 times more carbon per square hectare than the Amazon rainforest. Mining will disturb the peatland and release much of this stored carbon into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change. Protecting the carbon-rich lowlands is critical to meeting Ontario’s and Canada’s commitments to mitigate climate change and protect biodiversity, including the habitat of the threatened and culturally significant boreal caribou.

    

2. Current and future development activities in this region will have irreversible cumulative impacts on these lands and waters. These effects cannot be considered when proposed activities are assessed on a case-by-case basis, and this approach allows the Crown to downplay the impacts of the activities which, if considered in their entirety, will have profound negative impacts on the land, environment and rights of Indigenous people. This is the reason the federal government decided to undertake a regional assessment for the proposed Ring of Fire, and we strongly urge the Crown to respect and follow its findings. As stated in the Interim Report for the Regional Assessment, “This report cannot be a summary of findings that sit on a shelf and collect dust. We must see implementation of a plan that will benefit the health and quality of life in our communities” (see page 2 of the Interim Report).

    

3. The Crown must respect the call for an immediate moratorium for all mining activities (including mineral exploration, assessments for proposed road projects, and other potential developments and associated infrastructure projects) in the proposed Ring of Fire area, until, at a minimum:
   • Comprehensive protection plans for the region’s sensitive wetlands and watersheds are in place, based on the best available science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge, and reflects the global significance of the carbon rich Hudson Bay-James Bay Lowland, including the Attawapiskat, Kapiskau, Albany, Ekwan, Opinnagau and Winisk Rivers and the thousands of streams that flow into Hudson Bay and James Bay;
   • Reliable access to clean water, housing, education, health and social services have been secured for all upstream and downstream communities from the proposed Ring of Fire; and
   • Significant and immediate action is taken to prevent ongoing violence to Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people that is exacerbated by resource extraction projects (as stated on page 584 of the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls).
     
4. The Crown must honour Treaty promises to share the land, to be honest and to be kind. Mining interests cannot continue to be prioritized over the health, lands, and natural laws of Indigenous communities. Living up to the promise of reconciliation means action is required to prevent further violations of Indigenous rights.

    

5. The Crown must respect the rights enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), including but not limited to:
   • Article 21, which provides the right without discrimination to the improvement of social and economic conditions, including in the areas of education, employment, housing, sanitation and health;
   • Articles 23 and 32(1), which provide the right to determine and develop priorities and strategies for exercising their right to development and use of their lands or territories and other resources;
   • Article 26, which provides the right to own, use, develop, protect, and control the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or used/acquired;
   • Article 29(1), which provides the right to the conservation and protection of the environment and the productive capacity of their lands or territories and resources; and
   • Articles 32(2) and (3), which requires States to consult and cooperate with Indigenous peoples in good faith through their own representative institutions to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before approving any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources, particularly in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of mineral, water or other resources, and to provide effective mechanisms for redress for any such activities.

      

6. The Crown must disrupt the pattern of environmental racism, recognizing that Indigenous communities bear a disproportionate burden of human health, social, cultural, ecological and other adverse impacts of environmental harm caused by resource extraction while being denied benefits. Environmental racism faced by Indigenous people is a product of colonialism, as the Crown’s history of broken Treaty promises, discriminatory acts and policies aimed at assimilation, and appropriation of land and resources to the exclusion of Indigenous people continues to shape environmental policies and practices today (Maya Venkataraman et al, “Environmental racism in Canada” (2022) 68:8 Can Fam Physician 567 at 567).

   
   By authorizing resource extraction in Treaty 9 territory without the consent of the communities who rely on the lands and waters for their mental, physical and spiritual health (and who have historically been excluded from the decision-making table due to colonization and disenfranchisement), the Crown “widens the gap between the historically disadvantaged group and the rest of society rather than narrowing it”, which is discrimination (

   Kahkewistahaw First Nation v Taypotat, 2015 SCC 30 at para 20).

Learn more and take action 

Thank you for showing your support for the protection of nature and Indigenous rights! We invite you to learn more about the importance of Indigenous-led conservation in protecting Treaty 9 lands and waters and our efforts against Bill 5 – including by supporting Indigenous voices in court. In addition to adding your name to the Friends of the Attawapiskat River’s Protection Declaration, we encourage you to send a message to Ontario, calling for the repeal of Bill 5 (deemed an affront to Indigenous rights and Natural Law). 

→ Contact us with any questions or concerns at info@naturesdefence.ca 

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Note: The information contained in this blog post is legal information only. It is not legal advice nor a replacement for legal advice.