This part is interesting...."The duty to consult is not the vehicle to address historical grievances. The subject of the consultation is the impact on the claimed rights of the current decision under consideration."

And I would like to comment on this point make by Hoov.."imagine that someone was making a proposal to irreversibly alter your community."

I believe that any mining project is going to leave a footprint...without a doubt....and this needs to be weighted against the obvious benefits (jobs, roads, hydro and general living conditions).  What's concerning, is that after all this time, I'm not hearing alot from the natives about what their concerns really are, with respect to the negative impacts this project will have.

My understanding is that issues not related to the development of the ROF are at play here....such as issues surrounding missing and murdered aboriginal women. Furthermore, my understanding with respect to the money provided to the four first nations communities for road studies (I believe about $780,000), resulted in concerns about cuts to money provided to those communities due to them not being so isolated, rather than some environmental impact.

I am certainly not in favor of mining projects that destroy peoples lives....make people ill and cause grave harm to our environment.  However, what I am hearing is that this project will provide good paying jobs to all the people, improve transportation, and provide hydro and other luxeries shared by others with minimal environmental impact.

Am I wrong in my thinking?