Grassy Narrows First Nation is taking legal action against Ontario for issuing nine mining exploration permits which authorize companies to drill for gold on its traditional territory.
The first nation is bringing its judicial application to the Ontario Divisional Court.
The legal action asks the court to cancel the permits which the first nation says were issued without consulting the community, and without their consent.
Leadership stress the permits violate Grassy Narrows’ Indigenous law, Ontario’s own laws, as well as the Constitution of Canada.
Chief Randy Fobister says they need their forest intact, but the government isn’t working with them, they are working against them.
Fobister adds since Premier Ford came into power there has been a huge expansion of mining claims and permits on their territory, and now the government is starting to play for more industrial logging.
He says the government needs to stop logging and mining to allow their land to heal.
Fobister says, “It is long past time for Ontario to listen to Grassy Narrows and walk with us on the path of protection, healing, and reconciliation.”
The first nation says the permits overlap with the area that Grassy Narrows declared as an Indigenous Sovereignty and Protected Area under Grassy Narrows law in 2018.
Fobister says, “Ontario says they didn’t know that Grassy Narrows cared about the area that these permits overlap. That is very hard to believe because my people have been fighting to protect this same area for decades in the courts, in negotiations, blockades, and boycotts. Unless your head is in the sand, you have to know that this is Grassy Narrows Territory, and we are protecting it.”
NDP Critic Peter Tabuns says, “Issuing these permits is a violation of the Mining Act and Section 35 of the constitution, the duty to consult. Grassy Narrows says mining exploration will compile the harm that mercury and clear-cut logging have already done to their land and their people.”
But Parliament Assistant for Indigenous Affairs Dave Smith says they take their duty to consult seriously and are committed to meeting their constitutional obligations.
Smith adds exploration activity does not mean mining activity.
(With files from Tim Davidson: Kenora)
