THUNDER BAY — The new Protect Ontario act is designed to help the province be competitive – and not to take away anyone’s rights, Thunder Bay–Atikokan MPP Kevin Holland said Friday.
“Bill 5 isn’t about taking away rights and the duty to consult with First Nations communities across the province,” he told Newswatch.
Holland, an associate minister in Premier Doug Ford’s cabinet, said the legislation “is really about making sure that we are in a better position to compete globally with the opportunities that exist, particularly across northern Ontario.
“If we can’t get new mines operating quicker than 15 years, we’re going to lose that investment.
“(Investors) are going to go to other parts of the world that have less-than-favourable human rights records, less-than-favourable environmental records, and we’re going to miss out on a huge opportunity that we really need in the North to advance our economy.”
Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, passed in the legislature on Wednesday and received royal assent Thursday to become law.
It authorizes the government to create “special economic zones” where provincial laws and regulations and local bylaws can be skirted to get a mine or other project started quickly.
First Nations say that amounts to trampling on their treaty and constitutional rights, as well as the spirit and substance of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Many First Nations leaders have vowed resistance. Chief Gary Quisess of Neskantaga First Nation is one of them.
“We will not stand idle in the face of attempts to destroy our homelands, our river, our medicine and sturgeon,” he said in an official statement issued Thursday.
“We will fight for our rights. We will fight for our future.”
Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said last month the “fierce resistance” will be “Idle No More 2.0,” referencing a grassroots movement that included protests and blockades in 2012 to resist federal legislation.
NAN and its northern communities – including Neskantaga in the mineral-rich Ring of Fire region – will be resisting now that Bill 5 has become law, Fiddler told Newswatch on Friday.
“I know our people will be part of that effort, because we’re the ones that are going to be most impacted by Bill 5,” he said.
“Now that it’s passed, our people are going to be resisting it.”
His words reinforced a NAN statement posted Thursday on social media saying “this is not the end – this is only the beginning.”
“We are not giving up on this fight and are looking at every option available,” the statement continued. “The government clearly does not respect the direction of the rights holders. We will need to make them listen.”
Ontario Regional Chief Abram Benedict similarly said in a Chiefs of Ontario news release that “the fight is not over.”
“If needed, First Nations will meet the government with resistance, on the ground, and in the courts,” Benedict said.
