A wall of First Nations opposition to the proposed Energy East oil pipeline is emerging in northwestern Ontario, where Treaty 3 Anishinaabe chiefs unanimously endorsed a declaration on crude shipments through their territory.

“We are joined to Declare to our Nation, as the political leadership we are determined to ensure that no oil or bitumen shall be transported through Anishinaabe Aki without our full, prior and informed consent,” the eleven-point declaration signed on February 26th in Couchiching First Nation reads.

Much like the Save the Fraser Declaration, which galvanized First Nations opposition against the Northern Gateway pipeline in British Columbia, this document demonstrates Treaty 3 chiefs are also concerned about the risks of piping oil and oilsands (also called tar sands) bitumen through their traditional territory and drinking water supply.

“Water is sacred. Water is life,” Chief Fawn Wapioke of Iskatewizaagegan (Shoal Lake #39 First Nation), a signatory of the declaration, said.

Treaty 3 First Nation comprises twenty-five Anishinaabe (Ojibwe in English) First Nations. Some Treaty chiefs were not able to attend the two-day special assembly last week, but there appears to have been no disagreement amongst the chiefs present on endorsing the declaration.  

“It’s good to have a united position in our territory. There was no opposition. Everyone is on the same page,” Wapioke told DeSmog Canada.

This is the not the first time Treaty 3 has raised their concerns publicly about the proposed 4,600-kilometer TransCanada pipeline from Alberta to New Brunswick either.

Treaty 3 Grand Chief Warren White made it clear last February at a Ontario Energy Board meeting he had no intention of being remembered as the “grand chief who consented to a pipeline that’s going to destroy 30 per cent of the fresh water in Ontario, in Treaty 3 territory.”

With the declaration, Treaty 3 First Nation is emerging as the epicenter of First Nations’ opposition to the 1.1 million barrels-a-day pipeline project.

“This is a very critical issue to us and our future,” Chief Wapioke said.

No Pipeline Without Treaty 3 Consent

Treaty 3 also asserts in the declaration their “consent” must obtained for the Energy East project to go forward, a reference to the relatively new international standard of “free, prior and informed consent” found in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP).

“First Nations are not just another stakeholder. Chief Stan Beardy, head of the Chiefs of Ontario, an organization representing 133 First Nations, said. “Under Section 35 [of the constitution] we are the only group with our own legally, constitutionally recognized aboriginal and treaty rights.”

“We want to give our consent, we are not saying no [to development]. But we want to be able to make an informed decision in terms of how we expect to be accommodated under international law,” Beardy told DeSmog Canada.

Although, Canada signed the UN declaration, no Canadian court has upheld the right to “free, prior and informed consent.” Recent court rulings in Canada have established the federal government has the legal duty to consult with First Nations, Inuit and Metis on projects that may negatively impact their constitutional protected rights. 

Consultations with First Nations Have Been "Inadequate" to Date

Beardy describes the current consultations with First Nations through the regulatory process on the Energy East proposal as “totally inadequate.” Real consultations needs to be face-to-face and not “online consultation” according to Beardy.

The Chiefs of Ontario asked the National Energy Board, federal pipeline regulator, to halt the process temporarily in order for adequate consultations with First Nations to take place. There is no indication the board plans on fulfilling the request. 

Grand Chief White of Treaty 3 has also accused TransCanada trying to “pull a fast one” on Treaty 3 chiefs by failing to engage in meaningful consultations with Treaty 3 chiefs.

At 1.1 million barrels of bitumen and oil a day, TransCanada’s Energy East project would be the largest oil pipeline in Canada. The Calgary-based pipeline company proposes to retrofit 3,000 kilometers of an existing natural gas pipeline and build another 1,600 kilometres of pipeline for the project.

The existing, TransCanada operated natural gas pipeline goes through Treaty 3 territory.

“We are concerned about the potential impacts to water of this project. It could devastate our watershed,” Chief Wapioke of Iskatewizaagegan told DeSmog Canada.

Image Credit: TransCanada

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“I do not want to be the grand chief who consented to a pipeline that’s going to destroy 30 per cent of the fresh water in Ontario, in Treaty 3 territory,” Treaty 3 Grand Chief Warren White said in a speech outlining his objections to TransCanada’s proposed Energy East oil pipeline last week.

“I did not come here for consultation. I came here to let everyone know what Energy East is all about…In unity in Treaty 3 we will be the ones to stop this. Our communities, our youth, our leadership are being called on by other nations,” White, while presenting at a public meeting hosted by the Ontario Energy Board in Kenora, Ontario, stated.

TransCanada “low balled” and “tried to pull a fast one” on Treaty 3 chiefs, according to White. The pipeline company agreed to participate in a consultation process based on Treaty 3 Resource Law or Manito Aki Inakonigaawin in Anishinaabe (Ojibwe), but failed to actually engaged in the process. TransCanada was a no-show for a meeting with Treaty 3 chiefs on December 21st last year.

“I am very upset right now and you put that in your report that Energy East, TransCanada whatever you wanna call it, are there for the dollar signs, and nothing about the land, nothing about how we survive,” White said.

"I do not want to be the grand chief that’s remembered as, 'all he wanted was the money.' I do not want to be the grand chief known as the destroyer of the lands, waters, sacred sites, rivers, trees, animals, birds…We are going to get another Grassy Narrows situation, an oil spill will happen no matter how safe you guys say it is.”

If approved, the 1.1 million barrel a day pipeline stretching from Alberta to New Brunswick would operate on Treaty 3 territory. The Treaty 3 First Nation represents over twenty-five Anishinaabe First Nations whose traditional territory covers an area of northwestern Ontario larger than Newfoundland.

White’s speech was part of the ongoing public consultations Ontario’s energy regulator – Ontario Energy Board – is conducting with communities and First Nations along Energy East’s proposed route in northern and eastern Ontario. The board will be in Ottawa Thursday.

The provincial government claimed it will partly base its position on Energy East in light of the board’s findings. Ontario plans on arguing its case for or against Energy East at the National Energy Board (NEB) hearings on the pipeline project expected to take place later this year.

Ontario has identified seven conditions for its approval of the pipeline. Included is the condition that “proponents and governments” fulfill their constitutional duty to consult with the province’s First Nations on the project.

“When you send me correspondence and I never participated that does not constitute consultation. We keep hearing [from] government about meaningful consultation, the duty to consult. I never consented to be part of this [regulatory] process,” White told the Ontario Energy Board.

The federal government has the constitutional duty to consult with First Nations, Metis and Inuit on projects that may infringe upon their aboriginal and treaty rights according to the Supreme Court of Canada decision in Haida First Nation vs British Columbia in 2004. There is no indication yet that the federal government plans to fulfill this legal duty in the case of Energy East.

White expressed his lack of faith that the Ontario Energy Board and National Energy Board processes are interested in protecting Treaty 3 rights:

“No matter what we say as intervenor or [in] protest to the Ontario Energy Board and National Energy Board we know you are still going to move forward [with the pipeline], but without our consent,” White said.

Ontario, although calling itself a “climate leader,” has come under fire recently from pipeline critics for weakening its stance on Energy East. Premier Kathleen Wynne announced last December the province would not take into account the potential upstream greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of Energy East when deciding whether to support the project.

The Ontario Energy Board has also been criticized for its claims Energy East, North America’s largest proposed pipeline project, will likely have a “relatively modest” impact on GHG emissions in Canada.

Image Credit: Ontario.ca

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Two Ontario-based environmental organizations are calling on the recently reelected Ontario Liberal government to assess the potential cumulative social and environmental impacts of mining projects in northern Ontario's ‘Ring of Fire’ before mining begins. The ecological services Ontario’s Far North provides Canada and the world are too valuable to take for granted the organizations argue in a report released last week.

“Simply put, this is not a place that can be “offset” or restored if it is damaged or destroyed by poorly planned development,” the report, Getting it Right in Ontario’s Far North, states.

Northern Ontario is the single largest intact extant of boreal forest in the world. It is the last refuge for species at risk such as caribou, wolverine and lake sturgeon and the nesting grounds for thousands of songbirds. The region is a “critical storehouse” of carbon in the fight against climate change. The forests and peat lands of Ontario’s Far North absorb 12.5 million tonnes of global warming carbon dioxide emissions annually, and store ninety-seven billion tonnes of carbon.

The federal government estimates between thirty to fifty billion dollars worth of mineral resources lay beneath ground of the so-called Ring of Fire, a five thousands kilometer squared area (roughly the size of PEI) five hundred kilometers north of Thunder Bay in the northern James Bay Lowlands.

“We need a planning process that is equal to the scale and complexity of the challenge, rather than continuing to depend on piecemeal efforts that put wildlife species and human communities at higher risk in the face of global pressures like climate change and a race for resources,” Cheryl Chetkiewicz, associate conservation scientist with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Canada, said.

The authors of the report – Wildlife Conservation Society and Ecojustice – detail the need for the Ontario government to change its assessment approach to the Ring of Fire, the largest mineral find in Ontario in decades. The report recommends Ontario conduct a regional strategic environmental assessment (R-SEA) that would investigate the potential social and environmental impacts of mining and associated infrastructure developments on the entire region. 

“Adopting an R-SEA planning process is a way of building consensus around where, when, and in what form development is appropriate as opposed to our current processes that ask communities – social and ecological – to bear the long-term impacts of new development,” Chetkiewicz said in a statement.

Ontario’s current assessment process only looks at the impacts of a proposed infrastructure project or mine when a company applies. This ignores the overall impacts on multiple mining and infrastructure operations in an area that has seen very little industrial development.

First Nations Must Be Decision-Makers Before Mines Are Approved

The report also advocates ensuring First Nations peoples living in the Ring of Fire – the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) and Omushkego (Cree) – have greater influence in the approval process and in a regional strategic environmental assessment of the proposed development area:

“First Nations also must be decision-makers in the process or any development will be mired in delays and conflict,” the report states.

Although the Anishinaabe/Omushkego* have been generally supportive of Ring of Fire development, both groups insist they recieve adequate consultation on the risks and benefits of mining in the area before any project is approved and receive their fair share of economic benefits. 

“R-SEA, by contrast, requires a proactive, participatory approach that engages decision makers such as government and First Nations and other stakeholders, including local communities, NGOs and industry, to determine what the future looks like and how we will get there,” the report concludes.

Last year, the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs warned the Anishinaabe/Omushkego were “some of the most socioeconomically disadvantaged communities in all of Canada,” which could impede their ability to economically benefit from the Ring of Fire development.

Uncertainties In Developing the Ring of Fire Remain

Premier Kathleen Wynne pledged one billion dollars to develop the Ring of Fire during the Ontario provincial election earlier this month but, as the report points out, beyond building a road there are no comprehensive plans for the development. Even the building of the road, an access road, remains in dispute.

It is unclear what exactly Wynne's one billion dollars can accomplish at this stage. And as the newly released report highlights, it also remains far from certain if development can proceed without causing irreparable damage to the fragile ecosystems of Ontario’s Far North.

“We question whether the Ring of Fire can be mined without being a massive financial burden on Ontario taxpayers, or without trashing the province's most pristine watershed,” Ramsey Hart, Canada program coordinator for MiningWatch Canada said in an interview with DeSmog Canada last year.

Chromite, an essential ingredient in the making stainless steel was accidentally discovered in the area in 2008. It turned out to be the largest deposit of chromite in North America.

*Anishinaabe and Omushkego are the names for the “Ojibwe” and “Muskeg Cree” First Nations peoples of northern Ontario in their own languages. The author has used “Anishinaabe/Omushkego” instead of “Anishinaabe and Omushkego” to recognize the interconnection and sharing between these two cultures that has taken place in northern Ontario.

Image Credits: John Cutfeet, Wildlands League; Wildlife Conservation Society Canada: Government of Ontario

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The Chippewas of the Thames First Nation have launched a legal challenge against the National Energy Board’s (NEB) decision to approve Enbridge’s Line 9 oil pipeline project in southern Ontario and southern Quebec. The NEB – Canada’s independent energy regulator – approved the project to ship 300,000 barrels a day of oil and oilsands bitumen last month with soft conditions.

“This 40-year old pipe is subject to corrosion and heavy crude is going to be shipped through in higher volumes. We feel that this raises the possibility of new impacts beyond the right-of-way and we are concerned about our water resources and the environment,” says Chief Joe Miskokomon of the Chippewas of the Thames or Deshkaan Ziibing* in the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) language.

Deshkaan Ziibing is one of fourteen Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee (Six Nations), and Lenape (Delaware) First Nations living along or near the 38-year old Line 9 pipeline. DeSmog Canada reported last November that the federal government’s failure to fulfill its legal duty to consult with all of these First Nations could land the federal government and the Line 9 project in court.

The legal challenge was filed last Monday with the Federal Court of Appeal on the grounds the NEB approved Line 9 without the federal government “conducting any meaningful consultation” with Deshkaan Ziibing.

“The federal government has to consider our treaty and aboriginal rights enshrined within the constitution,” states Miskokomon in a press release. 

Federal Government Has Legal Duty to Consult on Line 9

“We still need to be consulted and we are willing to listen,” Myeengun Henry, a band councilor with Deshkaan Ziibing said in an interview with DeSmog Canada the night of Line 9’s approval.

The federal government did not attempt to consult any of the First Nations along the route of Line 9.

Both the Canadian Constitution and the Supreme Court have made clear the federal government’s legal duty to consult indigenous peoples in Canada (First Nations, Metis, Inuit) if a decision under contemplation may have adverse impacts on their constitutionally-protected indigenous and treaty rights:

“The honour of the Crown requires that these (indigenous) rights be determined, recognized and respected. This, in turn, requires the Crown, acting honourably, to participate in processes of negotiation. While this process continues, the honour of the Crown may require it to consult and, where indicated, accommodate Aboriginal interests” – Supreme Court’s ruling in Haida First Nation v. British Columbia (2004).

Proposed Changes to Line 9 Triggers the Duty to Consult

The NEB approved changes for Line 9 – increasing the capacity of the pipeline by 20 per cent to transport oilsands bitumen – carry with them new risks and new potential impacts on Deshkaan Ziibing and other First Nations in Ontario and Quebec. According to a pipeline safety expert who spoke with DeSmog last October the odds of a Line 9 rupture, given proposed changes, are 90 per cent.

“This is not an issue of inadequate or improper consultation with First Nations. No consultation by the federal government has taken place whatsoever,” lawyer Scott Smith told DeSmog Canada in an interview last November. Smith represented Deshkaan Ziibing and Aamjiwnaang First Nation in the Line 9 hearings. Deshkaan Ziibing and Aamjiwnaang are both in southwestern Ontario.

The federal government is expected to contest that changes to the pipeline give rise to new potential risks and impacts.

“We are being denied the dialogue to be included in solutions where Aboriginal and treaty rights are impacted by significant economic proposals put forward by industry and backed by the Canadian government,” says Chief Miskokomon. “We are not going away and part of our fate rests with this appeal.”

Deshkaan Ziibing provided evidence during the Line 9 hearings by means of a traditional land use study demonstrating to the NEB that the members of Deshkaan Ziibing still exercise their “aboriginal and treaty rights within the same territory occupied by Line 9.” Hunting, trapping, fishing, and collecting medicinal plants are just some of the traditional practices and rights still exercised by members of Deshkaan Ziibing in the Thames River valley. Line 9 crosses through the river.

Public Challenges Against the Line 9 Project

This is the second legal challenge against the Line 9 project. Last summer ForestEthics Advocacy launched a lawsuit against the federal government’s restrictions on public participation in pipeline project hearings. During the Line 9 hearings, participating citizens were prevented from commenting on the impacts the pipeline would have on climate change and the expansion of the oilsands in Alberta. ForestEthics argues this is a violation of the freedom expression under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Two Ontario municipalities – Toronto and Whitby – have passed motions demanding the provincial government conduct an environmental assessment of the Line 9 project. The NEB-ordered environmental assessment of Line 9 was only conducted on the pipeline’s pumping stations, not on the pipeline itself. Surprisingly, the assessment failed to take in consideration what would happen if the pipeline ruptured.

*Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Lenape are the names for the “Ojibwe,” “Six Nations” or “Iroquois,” and “Delaware” in their respective languages. Deshkaan Ziibing is the Anishinaabe name for “Chippewas of the Thames.”

Image Credits: Chief Joe Miskokomon by Greg Plain | Line 9 map from Enbridge

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Ontario's largest mining find in decades – a 5000 square km region known as the Ring of Fire – won't be developed by Cleveland-based Cliffs Natural Resources without facing significant obstacles.

“We question whether the Ring of Fire can be mined without being a massive financial burden on Ontario taxpayers, or without trashing the province's most pristine watershed,” says Ramsey Hart, Canada program coordinator for MiningWatch Canada, an Ottawa-based organization.

“It is also unclear if this development will proceed in the best interests of the First Nations living in the Ring of Fire,” Hart told DeSmog Canada.

A briefing note to the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs from earlier this year warns that the Anishinaabe/Omushkego* (First Nations of the Ring of Fire) “are some of the most socioeconomically disadvantaged communities in all of Canada” and this could prevent the Anishinaabe/Omushkego from benefitting from the Ring of Fire mega mining project.

Stumbling Upon the Ring of Fire

The Ring of Fire is a proposed mining development the size of Prince Edward Island located in the Northern James Bay Lowlands of northern Ontario. The prize for the mining industry in Ring of Fire is “chromite,” a key ingredient in the making stainless steel which was accidentally discovered in the area in 2008. It turned out to be the largest deposit of chromite in North America.

Mining the Ring of Fire enjoys the rare support of practically all parties involved – federally, provincially and even quite a few Anishinaabe/Omushkego members. The federal government estimates between $30 billion and $50 billion worth of mineral resources lay in the ground.

“The entire province will feel the positive economic impact, especially the north with its mining consulting and equipment industries, as well as its supply and service sectors. We have to get it right, especially for the Aboriginal communities to ensure they have the tools to fully participate in the development,” says Christine Kaszycki, coordinator of the Ontario government's Ring of Fire secretariat, the provincial body responsible for developing the Ring of Fire.

‘Getting it Right’ With the Ring of Fire

Using the catch-phrase ‘getting it right’ when discussing the Ring of Fire mining project has become as popular as the region's Johnny-Cash-song-title name. The mayor of Thunder Bay wants his city, which lies 500 km to the south, to be “the next Fort McMurray” referring to the tar sands-boom town in Alberta. However the mayor insists “we’re hoping to do it right” if the development is approved.

‘Getting it right’ to ensure the Anishinaabe/Omushkego are positively, not negatively, affected by mining the Ring of Fire will most likely prove more difficult than mining chromite in the area.

A briefing note to the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs obtained by the CBC last June warned low education levels, housing shortages and lack of access to clean drinking water could “jeopardize” the ability of the Anishinaabe/Omushkego to enjoy the economic benefits of the Ring of Fire development.

The 70% high school drop out rate in Anishinaabe/Omushkego communities creates a huge skills gap between Anishinaabe/Omushkego hoping for employment in mining the Ring of Fire and the skills and qualifications mining companies will seek for their operations.

Canada and Mining Company Thwarting Anishinaabe/Omushkego Call For Joint Review Panel

Although proponents of mining the Ring of Fire claim they want to do what is best for the Anishinaabe/Omushkego, the behaviour of some proponents seems to indicate otherwise.

The Matawa chiefs of the Anishinaabe/Omushkego mounted a legal challenge in 2011 demanding a independent joint review panel (JRP) be established to deliberate over mining company Cliffs Natural Resources' chromite project called 'Black Thor' instead of relying on an environmental assessment conducted by Cliffs.

“What we have now is a paper-based (environmental assessment) process, run completely outside of the communities affected, with no meaningful involvement of First Nations, and is non-transparent,” said Aroland First Nation Chief Sonny Gagnon in a statement.  

“It needs to be made accessible, by holding hearings in the First Nations and using an independent panel,” Gagnon concluded.

A JRP would be more thorough and require more time than the comprehensive environmental assessment Cliffs and the federal government want. The JRP would also be required to travel Anishinaabe/Omushkego communities to hold meetings and consultations with residents.

Cliffs claims the legal challenge is “impeding the progression” of their project. Last March a federal judge ruled in favour of the Matawa chiefs and a judicial review on whether a JRP should be conducted on the Black Thor project will take place this summer. The judge also criticized Cliffs and the federal government for causing unnecessary delays in the case.

“Cliffs has been neither cooperative or helpful during this entire process. They should not be surprised that they themselves are facing delays with their project,” says Hart of MiningWatch. MiningWatch is one of a handful of organizations supporting the Matawa chiefs' call for the JRP.

The Ring of Fire May Not Be Economically Feasible

The necessary infrastructure investment alone to mine the Ring of Fire will be at least $1 billion and mining companies are looking for Ontario or the federal government to foot a big chunk of this bill. This area is a relatively untouched wilderness with few roads.

In addition massive investments into the Ring of Fire project – whether by a company or a government – may be difficult to justify given the recent decline in commodity prices.

An Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) analyst described the economics of Cliffs' Black Thor project as questionable given the current price of refined chromite or ferrochrome.

Value-added jobs such as refining chromite for Ontarians will not be in abundance as many had expected. Cliffs wants to refine 40% of Black Thor's chromite outside of Canada. The other half is to be processed in Sudbury, Ontario but a processing centre still needs to be built. It is anticipated Cliffs will likely rely on subsidized Ontario electricity rates to off-set the cost of energy-intensive chromite refining.

“The world is not going to stop using stainless steel anytime soon. The chromite in the Ring of Fire is not going anywhere. There is no need to rush the development," Hart told DeSmog Canada.

“If mining the Ring of Fire is truly in the public's interest – and that is a big if – why not take the time to do it right?” he said.

*Anishinaabe and Omushkego are the names for the “Ojibwe” and “Cree” First Nations peoples of northern Ontario in their own languages. The author has used “Anishinaabe/Omushkego” instead of “Anishinaabe and Omushkego” to recognize the interconnection and sharing between these two cultures that has taken place in northern Ontario.

Image Credit: Tony Dang Flickr, Government of Ontario

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