Ford, Carney governments told to ‘do some homework’ on duties to First Nations
The group of Ontario First Nations taking the federal and provincial governments to court over fast-track legislation, which will sidestep or suspend a range of legal protections, says the Crown is failing in its duties.
A lawyer representing the coalition of nine First Nations filed a legal application against both the Ford and Carney governments on Monday evening. The action looks to have a court rule the entirety of Ontario’s Bill 5 unconstitutional, as well as large parts of the federal government’s Bill C-5.
At Queen’s Park on Wednesday, four of the First Nations leaders involved spoke about their concerns with Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Prime Minister Mark Carney’s approach.
“I would say they’re less informed,” Alderville First Nation Chief Taynar Simpson said. “I would say they need to do some homework on these issues. They need to go back to the history books, they need to listen to elders, they need to listen to First Nations.”
The Ford government passed Bill 5 in June, which allows it to create special economic zones where municipal and provincial laws can be suspended.
Similarly, Bill C-5 allows the federal cabinet to quickly grant federal approvals for big projects deemed to be in the national interest, like mines, by sidestepping existing laws.
The legal action filed against both bills involves nine of Ontario’s 134 First Nations. They said Wednesday they believed others supported their push but needed to get the action off the ground quickly.
Chief June Black, who represents the Apitipi Anicinapek Nation, whose land is subject to a number of mining claims, said that the two governments’ handling of their first-track legislation was problematic.
“Speeding through projects and exempting projects from approvals is far from honourable,” she said. “Approving projects without the consent of First Nations people who have been on this land forever is even less honourable.”
In response to the legal action, a spokesperson for the Ontario premier’s office said the government remained focused on meaningful engagement with First Nations on Bill 5.
“We will continue to build consensus with First Nations on shared priorities including legacy infrastructure, all-season roads, and resource development, that support long-term prosperity,” they said in a statement.
“We have begun productive conversations with First Nations who share our vision of unlocking economic opportunity and critical infrastructure in their community and will continue these consultations throughout the summer.”
A spokesperson for the federal Privy Council Office said they wanted to push the legislation forward “in partnership with Indigenous Peoples.”
“Canada is committed to upholding commitments and obligations under the UN Declaration Act and constitutionally protected rights, including Aboriginal and treaty rights,” they wrote. “The Building Canada Act ensures that Indigenous Peoples whose rights may be affected are consulted at key stages: before a project is designated as being in the national interest, before the issuance of the conditions document, and before any amendment to the conditions document.”
In Ontario, the Ford government has found itself apologizing twice to First Nations leaders since Bill 5 was passed.
First, Premier Ford made comments about First Nations “coming cap in hand,” for which he apologized. Then, his environment minister had to issue an apology after he asked the federal government to stand down clean drinking water legislation.
The government’s comments, Chief Simpson suggested, have made it harder for First Nations to get down to full consultations.
“When we met with Doug Ford, that was one day after he made those ‘hat in hand’ comments, so unfortunately, that discussion probably took up more time than we would have liked,” he said on Wednesday.
“I felt like instead of talking business about Bill 5, I needed to address why we have duty to consult, why we have these protections. So I went with the historic lesson. So instead of talking about business, I was talking about history. I think the Bill 5 discussion got a bit hijacked by his comments.”
Kate Kempton, lead counsel for the group, said it could take a year for hearings on the legal action to begin.
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