Is Ontario’s Far North Act anti-aboriginal?

By Stan Sudol

De Beers Canada and its Victor diamond mine is currently in the media spotlight regarding the poverty in the nearby First Nations community of Attawapiskat. Many are questioning why the community is not significantly benefiting from this diamond mine, located on its traditional territory. The Victor deposit — which is the smallest of Canada’s four diamond mines — just started production in July 2008 and has an expected life of 11 years. The mine employs about 500 people, half of whom are of First Nations background and 100 come from Attawapiskat.

This controversy highlights the widespread problem of aboriginal poverty, much of which lies at the feet of Premier Dalton McGuinty, environmentalism and the product of this marriage — the much-detested Far North Act. Praised by the south’s many well-funded and powerful environmental movements, this legislation cuts off half of the Far North to resource development — 225,000 square kilometres or roughly 21% of the province’s land mass — and turns it into parks.

The horrific downside to this green ideology is that mineral exploration and potential mines — the only form of economic development that could reduce the impoverished, Third World living conditions in First Nations communities — is being reduced or stopped in the affected territory.

A generation ago, the destruction of the fur industry in northern aboriginal communities by an aggressive, media-savvy environmental movement caused enormous economic hardships and contributed many social ills. Are McGuinty and his environmental allies doing the same with their parks agenda? Is the Far North Act inherently “anti-aboriginal”?

For the geographically illiterate, let’s be crystal clear about how much land is being affected by the act. The total land area of the province is 907,573 square kilometers. Southern Ontario is 102,326 square kilometers. Double that territory and then some and you will get a good idea of how much land will be off limits to low-impact mining exploration and potential sustainable development.

By comparison, the trillion-dollar Sudbury Basin, which has been in economic production for over 120 years, is an oval-shaped basin measuring only 60 by 30 kilometres. We still have no idea of the geological potential of the Far North and at the present time there are no plans or enough money to do a thorough geo-science assessment of that vast geography.

What if the north contains another Sudbury Basin, the richest mining district in North America, or another Abitibi Greenstone Belt, the source of Canada’s greatest gold mining districts or another Ring of Fire whose mineral treasures we have just begun to discover? This economic madness comes at a time of global economic uncertainty, massive provincial deficits and fears about significant cutbacks to unsustainable social programs and services. Once proud Ontario is now a have-not province, receiving $2.2-billion in equalization payments during fiscal 2011-2012.

“The uncertainty of land tenure in the Far North Act has made it difficult for prospecting companies in Vancouver and Toronto to raise funds for development,” said Harold Wilson, Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce president. “This excitement over the mineral-rich Ring of Fire would likely not be happening if the Far North Act was in effect eight years ago.”

Due to massive industrialization and urbanization in China, India and many other developing countries, there is a ravenous global appetite for mineral products — a commodity super-cycle. Every year, China builds two cities the size of Toronto and Sydney, Australia, in the largest rural-urban migration in the history of man.

With one high-profile exception, the vast majority of aboriginal communities in Northern Ontario welcome the benefits and jobs from mining. In fact, there are almost 200 types of economic partnership agreements between First Nations and senior miners or junior exploration companies across Canada and about 90 of those accords are in the province’s North. At an June, 2011 International Indigenous Summit on Energy and Mining in Niagara Falls, Ont., Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo said, “This is truly an exciting time for indigenous peoples in Canada and around the world.… We see the opportunities in resource development as a key to unlock the full potential of indigenous peoples across the globe in ways that are responsible, sustainable and mutually beneficial to all parties.”

The mining industry is the largest private-sector employer of aboriginal people in the country, making up about 7.5% of the workforce. According to a June, 2011 study from TD Economics, the “aboriginal population has been beneficiaries of the booms in the resource sector since the past decade.”

Last summer, a visit by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to Agnico-Eagle’s Meadowbank gold mine near Baker Lake, Nunavut highlighted the enormous benefits of mining for the local Inuit. Approximately 38% of the 1,100 employed are Inuit from the Kivalliq Region. Agnico-Eagle has implemented extensive internal training programs to help Inuit advance in the workforce by learning new skills. Last year, almost 48% or $57-million of Meadowbank mining expenditures went to Nunavut based suppliers. And royalties will be flowing to the Inuit through their umbrella organization, the Nunavut Iunngavik Inc.

A February 2011 study on the north by the Conference Board of Canada reported that the gross domestic product of Nunavut increase almost 12%, largely due to the economic impact of the Meadowbank mine.

During the past 12 years, the social influence of the Northwest Territories three diamond mines have included $600-million in aboriginal business revenues, increased First Nations secondary school enrolment — from 36% to 56% — and a 50% reduction of aboriginal recipients on social assistance.

During the development/construction phase at Vale’s Voisey’s Bay, Newfoundland nickel mine, in excess of $500-million was spent with aboriginal contractors. About 54% of the workforce at Voisey’s Bay is from surrounding First Nations communities and almost 80% of the mine’s annual operating expenditures are with aboriginal businesses. There are many more success stories between aboriginal communities and the mining industry.

Even the junior exploration sector — which does not have the financial clout of the majors, as it has no cash flow and all its funding comes from the capital markets — is contributing jobs, opportunities and social projects for aboriginal communities.

Noront Resources, the junior with the largest land holdings in the Ring of Fire region, has sponsored mining camps for aboriginal youth in Thunder Bay and in Webequie and Marten Falls, the two closest communities to their mineral deposits. Noront is encouraging the youth to stay in school and get the skills needed to staff the company’s proposed Eagle’s Nest mine.

Polar Bear Provincial Park, which was established in 1970, is on the western shore of Hudson Bay and is the largest Ontario provincial park at 23,552 square kilometres. The park had about 100 tourists in 2009 and 65 visitors the following year. The nearby impoverished First Nation community sees very little tourism or economic benefits from this massive park. The remote tourism industry is very small, wage rates are not high and its economic impact will not significantly reduce aboriginal poverty. Salaries at Agnico-Eagle’s Meadowbank gold mine can range from $70,000 to $100,000 per year. The amount of people on social assistance has plummeted in the surrounding Inuit communities.

It’s rather ironic that the supposedly “conservative mining industry” is consulting and making various agreements that ensure aboriginal communities get maximum benefits from mineral development of their traditional territories and that adhere to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples commitment to “prior and informed consent.”

Conversely, the Liberal-left McGuinty government and its environmental allies force unwanted parks on First Nations communities with a condescending colonial mindset from the past century.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Grand Chief Stan Beardy — who represents 49 northern Ontario First Nations — has repeatedly stated that the Far North Act will stop his impoverished membership “from achieving economic independence by preventing development needed to build a viable economic base for NAN communities, while strengthening the Ontario economy.”

If southern Ontario’s political and media elites as well as the general public are truly concerned about the impoverished living conditions, high teenage suicide rates, and hopelessness in the North’s aboriginal communities than the Far North Act must be significantly changed to allow mineral exploration and sustainable mine development to flourish. This is the only way to both alleviate native poverty and give hope to the growing numbers of aboriginal youth.