Ring of Fire hot topic at chiefs meeting

Resource development in the Ring of Fire mineral exploration area in the James Bay lowlands was the major topic of discussion during a special chiefs assembly Nov. 22-24 in Thunder Bay.
“There were a number of concerns – number one was to make sure the environment was protected as much as possible,” Beardy said. “Two is the chiefs want to know exactly how they can support each other but also the relationship that needs to exist around economic participation in the projects.”
Beardy said the poor housing conditions in Attawapiskat were also a topic of concern during the assembly, noting that the De Beers diamond mine located in Attawapiskat traditional territory “will potentially be making billions of dollars.”
“And yet their (Attawapiskat’s) people are living in tent sites and some homes have up to 20 people living in it,” Beardy said.
With the situation in Attawapiskat, Beardy figured that was why so much discussion with the Ring of Fire was taking place, since a similar situation could come up with communities around the Ring of Fire.
Beardy said the communities are concerned that once the natural environment is disturbed in the Ring of Fire there will be nothing left to live on.
“If they don’t have any economic return on their consent to proceed with the resource extraction, it’s going to have a devastating impact on the people in the long term,” Beardy said.
Webequie Chief Cornelius Wabasse said his community does not want to end up in the situation Attawapiskat currently finds itself in. They want to prosper, he said, with houses, education and employment.
“I was surprised when I heard these people were living in tents,” Wabasse said. “Here they have a mine out there. They shouldn’t be living in tents while there is a mine out there and we don’t want that to happen to our community.”
Wabasse said his community also wants to be involved in the Ring of Fire development process, including the environmental study process.
“We want to be there side by side saying we want this, we want that,” Wabasse said. “Webequie First Nation has their own community position paper and accommodation and protocol processes that they want to follow and hopefully the industry and the government will work with us through those processes.”
About 46 chiefs attended the assembly, which featured discussions on Aboriginal post-secondary education, governance and education jurisdiction, a leadership selection process, housing, economic development, lands and resources, and a Mushkegowuk Council treaty presentation.