Critics of the province’s announcement in late August to establish an interim board for a Ring of Fire development corporation said it’s too little, too late.

Political adversaries of the Wynne government said the announcement will not result in any momentum at all in developing the $60-billion mining camp.

“We're no further ahead today than we were four or five years ago,” said Sudbury MPP Joe Cimino of the NDP. “There's been work in the last few years to communicate with the First Nations, but not from day one.”

Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli, the Progressive Conservatives' finance critic, said the announcement marked “the sixth time in nine months the government has announced the Ring of Fire development corporation. Yet despite that considerable length of time, key industry, First Nations and Ontario Northland still haven’t been invited to the table.”

Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle said the government met its commitment to establish a development corporation for the dormant Far North mining camp 60 days after the premier’s July 3 throne speech.

“We are now in a position where we can formalize discussions between the potential partners and determine which partners are in a position to sign on in a more formal way through an agreement in principle,” he said.

Based on Thunder Bay, the corporation’s interim board made up of four senior bureaucrats – Bill Thornton, assistant deputy minister for Northern Development and Mines; Rob Dowler, assistant deputy minister from cabinet office; Linda McAusland, assistant deputy minister of transportation; and Ehren Cory, executive vice-president of Infrastructure Ontario – who will be tasked with laying the groundwork for discussions between First Nations, public and private sector partners on how the province's $1 billion for Ring of Fire infrastructure will be spent.

Gravelle said a fifth representative, from the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, could be added to the interim board.

But First Nation communities in the area of the Ring felt blindsided.

Leading the Aboriginal backlash was Webequie Chief Cornelius Wabasse, who called the province’s decision to move “unilaterally” ahead with the establishment of a corporation, “disappointing.”

“We have been clear that we are willing to work with Ontario about Ring of Fire issues, but it has to be in a true spirit of partnership. Decisions of this magnitude cannot be made by Ontario behind closed doors.”

Wabasse was one of the signatories to a regional framework agreement struck between the chiefs of the Matawa First Nations and Premier Kathleen Wynne in late April. The foundational document sets in motion discussions to negotiate future development, benefits, and environmental safeguards for the nine communities closest to the mineral deposits in the James Bay region.

Wabasse said his community’s confidence in the regional process has been “shaken.”

“Our community members are upset. We agreed as a community to negotiate with Ontario in good faith. This can’t happen if Ontario makes decisions without our involvement.”

The head of a Ring of Fire junior mining was somewhat pleased with the government’s announcement.

“It's important to recognize that Premier Wynne gave herself a very short window within which to do this,” said Frank Smeenk, president and CEO of KWG Resources. “They've actually exceeded expectations. That's the first time we've seen somebody beat the deadline.”

Smeenk said he was especially happy to see the interim board will be overseeing an economic and technical baseline feasibility report on transportation infrastructure for the Ring of Fire.

He said the large number of suggested infrastructure proposals for the region, including two proposed east-west transportation corridors, a few north-south proposals and additional plans for transportation infrastructure or pipelines will need to be studied carefully.

“I've come to understand that there's an opportunity to build what we could call a logging road,” Smeenk added.

The road would serve First Nations communities in the region by connecting the remote communities of Pickle Lake and Marten Falls.

But Smeenk said he was also getting impatient with the government's slow pace of progress on the Ring of Fire file.

“The bad news is, 'When will this horse drink?'” he said

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