The Ontario government is pushing legislation to designate the Ring of Fire as a “special economic zone”. Bill 5 would eliminate regulations for major infrastructure, mining and resource projects.
According to Premier Doug Ford, it’s necessary to respond to the economic warfare of US President Donald Trump. However, this legislation amends the Ontario Heritage Act, Ontario Energy Board Act, Environmental Assessment Act, Mining Act, Environmental Protection Act, Electricity Act, Endangered Species Act and Rebuilding Ontario Place Act.
This is no minor tweak to existing laws. It is a frontal assault on environmental protections.
The Ring of Fire is in northern Ontario just west of the James Bay lowlands and my home community of Attawapiskat. The proposed development affects the headwaters of the Attawapiskat River, meaning all the region’s water flowing out to James Bay.
According to the Chiefs of Ontario, “Bill 5 significantly weakens environmental protections, reduces oversight of mining and development projects, and limits opportunities for First Nations consultation and consent.”
First Nation leaders protesting this development include the Nishnawbe-Aski Nation and Anishinabek Nation. At Queen’s Park, both the provincial NDP and Liberals also oppose the bill.
The rise of global warming and changing global environment are examples of what happens with à unrestricted corporate growth. Just look at the sky this summer. Recently, I looked up to see a red glowing ball in the sky in an orange haze of light. Forest fire smoke obscures the sky with unhealthy amounts of ash particles from the estimated 1.7 million acres of forest currently burning in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
In a report by The Guardian in 2017, they estimated that just 100 major global companies had been responsible for about 70% of greenhouse gas emissions from 1988 to 2017. In 2024, Oxfam reported that “Fifty of the world’s richest billionaires on average produce more carbon through their investments, private jets and yachts in just over an hour and a half than the average person does in their entire lifetime.”
It’s clear to see that all of us may be responsible to a degree for global warming, but it is the activities of the most powerful corporations that drive global warming.
These are the reasons why Indigenous leaders fight government initiatives like Bill 5. Poorly regulated corporations, especially in resource development, have a long track record of environmental devastation. That devastation is left for those who live on the land to deal with. When the companies finish their work and have made their money, it is the people, especially the local First Nations who are left to deal with the aftereffects and contamination.
Attawapiskat has already dealt with the development of the DeBeers diamond mine just west of the community in what was once pristine wilderness. In a short space of time from 2008 to 2019, the company carved out a space in the James Bay mushkeg, dug past the swamp and deep into the rock. After all that work and effort, the company left a huge scar on the land and contributed to negative effects on the general environment.
In the long run of human history, it will be all of us who will face the aftereffects of global warming if we continue to not properly deal with unrestricted and uncontrolled exploitation of our natural resources and disrespect of Mother Earth. How many poisoned rivers, burning forests and toxic air will it take for us to realize that we need to take better care of our world, the land, the water, the air and the creatures who live there?
Are we to trust governments and corporations to do the right thing in the wake of a Bill 5? I don’t think so.