PMO taking a look at Ring of Fire plan to rival Ontario’s: Cree chief

By James Munson | Jan 24, 2015 5:00 am | 15 comments |

A snowmobile rides down the main street Tuesday, December 18, 2012, on the Fort Hope First Nation, Ont. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

The Prime Minister’s Office has expressed interest in a First Nations-led plan to build a new seaport and railroad across northern Ontario to the Ring of Fire mineral deposit, an election-year effort that would rival Premier Kathleen Wynne’s own designs for the region.

The Mushkegowuk Council and TGR Rail Company are preparing a joint purchase of the Ontario Northland rail line between North Bay and Moosonee, pending the First Nation group’s approval from its council of chiefs this week, said Mushkegowuk Council grand chief Lawrence Martin Friday.

The plan would open the door to a east-to-west rail, transmission line and telecommunications corridor to the Ring of Fire, a 5,120 square kilometre crescent of ore that could bring a $9.4 billion increase to Ontario’s GDP over the next decade if developed.

After more than a year of what Wynne has characterized as foot dragging from Ottawa on a federal-provincial plan, the PMO and Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford’s office called TRG Rail in the past three weeks expressing interest in the new plan, Martin told iPolitics.

“We’ve even had a call from the PMO office asking for information for our project,” said Martin, adding it was TGR Rail, a Toronto-based rail company, that took the call. “It’s gaining momentum, so it looks like it’s going ahead.”

TGR Rail would not comment on the corridor plan, saying only that the firm would issue a news release Monday.

The PMO also did not respond to a request to clarify their interest in the Mushkegowuk plan, while Rickford’s office was still looking into the issue at deadline.

At an Ottawa meeting in December, 2013, Wynne and Harper apparently made progress on their differences over Ring of Fire development. Progress then stalled, which Wynne used as an election issue during her re-election campaign last spring. Harper and Wynne famously did not meet again face to face until this January 5th in Toronto, after which Wynne told reporters they had discussed her request for $1 billion to develop transportation infrastructure for the Ring of Fire.

Mining companies interested in the Ring of Fire have in the past planned for a transportation corridor from the mining deposit to the rail and road networks that run along the north shore of Lake Superior.

In recent years, the Ontario government has also focused on opening the Ring of Fire with an emphasis on communities west and south of the area.

Wynne launched a development corporation and opened negotiations for a regional framework between the province and First Nations communities in the northwest of the province. Those First Nations, despite operating as individual communities, often negotiate with outside groups as the Matawa First Nations, who have hired former premier and federal Liberal Leader Bob Rae as their chief negotiator.

The Mushkegowuk, who reside further to the east and have Cree ancestry, are against the development corporation because it would dilute First Nations power in the development of the Ring of Fire, said Martin. They are lobbying the Matawa First Nations to join the east-to-west corridor plan and leave the development corporation behind, he said.

“We’re offering it as a partnership with them, “ said Martin. “It would be a business, there’d be dividends and everything would be run in that fashion.”

The Matawa First Nations’ participation in the Mushkegowuk plan would deal a serious blow to Wynne’s aims in the region.

Her development corporation, which the province launched unilaterally in the fall of 2013, is meant to be a clearinghouse for all the major economic and industrial investment that needs to happen to develop in the Ring of Fire. The mining deposit contains chromium, nickel and other ores and could increase Ontario’s GDP by $9.4 billion over the next decade, according to Ontario’s Chamber of Commerce.

Chiefs from two of the Mattawa communities closest to the Ring of Fire deposit, the Webequie First Nation and the Marten Falls First Nation, were not available to comment on their position Friday.

Martin, for his part, sees the effort as one that would give a better deal for First Nation than the plan currently on offer from Ontario.

“We’re against (the development corporation) because we only get one seat on this corporation,” said Martin. “We’d rather have a majority share in that corporation, so we’re saying how about we set up our own with Matawa and Mushkegowuk, then we’d have much more control over what goes on, how it goes on and how we can benefit even better.”

The new plan requires buying Ontario Northland, which already runs a railroad from North Bay north to the town of Moosonee on the coast of James Bay.

The Mushkegowuk would then like to invest in transmission lines and telecommunications to the seaport and the Ring of Fire, said Martin. The Mushkegowuk already own transmission lines around Moosonee in northwestern Ontario that connect to Ontario Hydro’s infrastructure through a company called Five Nations Energy Inc., he said.

The Mushkegowuk are speaking with the Cree communities on the Quebec side of James Bay and Hydro-Quebec to see if they would be interested in connecting their grid to the Mushkegowuk’s power lines. Quebec and Ontario are already engaged in talks to create more grid connections and increase their trade in energy.

“That’s happening between the two premiers,” said Martin. “Can’t we tag along on that particular motion that’s now in place?”

Energy from Hydro-Quebec could be up to 42 per cent cheaper for the communities around the Ring of Fire compared to the diesel they currently use, said Martin.

A corridor for a railroad, transmission lines and telecom wires could then be extended from Moosonee eastward, first toward somewhere on the coastline of James Bay or Hudson’s Bay, where a seaport could be installed, and then diagonally to the southwest toward the Ring of Fire, said Martin.

Five Nations Energy would own and run the transmission line to the seaport and the Ring of Fire. The Mushkegowuk’s internet company would bring telecom services to the region, said Martin.

Aside from the development corporation, Wynne has also initiated a regional framework negotiation to settle the legal issues around the Ring of Fire, where the Matawa First Nations have demanded their consultation and land rights be respected. The Mushkegowuk were not invited to partake in the regional framework, said Martin.

The Mushkegowuk corridor will only go ahead if member First Nations, represented by their chiefs, agree to the memorandum of understanding Martin has signed with TGR Rail. The Mushkegowuk Council is holding its annual general assembly at the Kashechewan First Nation on Monday, said Martin.

If the council agrees to partner with TGR, the pressure will then be on Matawa to decide whether to join, he said.

“From my perspective, they’re leaning towards what we’re talking about,” said Martin.