Strong opinions about the proposed “Ring of Fire” development in the James Bay lowlands of northern Ontario dominated the keynote session at the PDAC conference in Toronto in early March, but there was hardly an audience to hear them.
Although the conference drew more than 25,000 attendees, most of the seats in the giant theatre were empty during the keynote, suggesting investors have tired of hearing about the $60 billion worth of minerals that seem destined to remain in the ground indefinitely, or at least until government, industry and First Nations groups agree on a way to mine them.
The deadlock was perhaps best illustrated by Natural Resources Canada Minister Joe Oliver’s reluctance to actively participate in the “smudge” ceremony at the opening of the conference, a cleansing ritual practised by most First Nations that is meant to sweep away negative energy and emotions.
Still, the complex issues affecting the Ring of Fire are becoming more relevant to resource developments across Canada and throughout the world. Aboriginal and community groups are more powerful then ever before and mining projects will simply not proceed without their blessing.
“This is a systemic problem which the world is addressing in a variety of ways,” said Bob Rae, former Ontario premier and lead negotiator for the Matawa Tribal Council that represents aboriginals in the Ring of Fire. “The challenge of social responsibility, transparency, accountability and inclusion is not simply an Ontario challenge or a Canadian challenge, it’s a challenge worldwide.”
In Canada, the Supreme Court has determined that there is a duty to consult First Nations about resource projects, but has left it up to governments and First Nations to negotiate what that duty means. This has led to a string of legal battles nationwide, with First Nations groups emerging mostly victorious.
The Ring of Fire is complicated by its location within the province of Ontario, where treaties with First Nations were signed more than a century ago. Provinces that did not have treaties, such as Quebec and British Columbia, are much further ahead in their resource partnerships because they started negotiations with a clean slate, said Rae.
The poverty, health problems and social dysfunction endemic in First Nations communities are added challenges because it’s difficult for leaders to focus on resource negotiations when their communities have no running water, or their youth are committing suicide.
But the image of the disenfranchised aboriginal is no longer relevant, argued Bill Gallagher, who served as a strategist to the Voisey’s Bay Nickel Company when the nickel miner was forging native impact and benefits agreements in Newfoundland & Labrador. On the contrary, he told the audience that First Nations groups are “riding a winning streak” with a power over resource development that industry underestimates at its peril.
“Whoever aligns with the aboriginals will have the most control in determining development of a project,” Gallagher said. “They have fundamentally reordered the legal underpinnings of the review process for resource projects.”