Latest news with #SylviaKoostachin-Metatawabin
15-07-2025
- Business
9 Ontario First Nations ask for injunction against Bill 5, say law represents 'clear and present danger'
Nine First Nations in Ontario are asking a court to declare a pair of federal and provincial laws meant to fast-track infrastructure projects unconstitutional and are seeking an injunction that would prevent the governments from using some of the most contentious aspects. The Indigenous communities say in the legal challenge filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice that the federal law known as Bill C-5 and the Ontario law known as Bill 5 both represent a clear and present danger to the First Nations' self-determination rights to ways of life on their territories. While the laws do leave open or commit that there will be some First Nation consultation at the very first stage ... involvement in that decision alone is a smoke and mirrors trick, deflecting attention from all the other ways the laws necessarily diminish the ability of First Nations to engage on the regimes' broader consequences, they write in the court challenge. Bill C-5 allows cabinet to quickly grant federal approvals for big projects deemed to be in the national interest such as mines, ports and pipelines by sidestepping existing laws, while Ontario's bill allows its cabinet to suspend provincial and municipal laws through the creation of so-called special economic zones. The First Nations are asking the court for an injunction prohibiting the federal government from naming national interest projects and prohibition Ontario from implementing special economic zones. Both the federal and Ontario governments have said their laws are tools to counteract the effects of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs by allowing Canadian development, such as natural resource development, to proceed more quickly. WATCH | Ontario passes controversial mining law: Début du widget Widget. Passer le widget ? Fin du widget Widget. Retourner au début du widget ? But this is not a battle of development versus no development, the First Nations argue. Rather, they advocate for doing it right by ensuring that necessary information is gathered before proceeding, and rights and protections are respected so the real costs of development do not end up far exceeding their asserted benefit. Fragmentation and delay results from Crown choices and unwieldy bureaucracies, not from First Nations, they write in the court document. "Making changes now in some effort to 'streamline' (or ram through) projects, cannot be at the cost of First Nations, their rights, the Constitution and reconciliation." The First Nations argue the laws are unconstitutional because they violate charter right to life, liberty and security of the person, as well as equality rights. Representatives of both governments have said they will respect the duty to consult Indigenous people, but the nine First Nations argue that rings hollow because the laws authorize the opposite. Chief Sylvia Koostachin-Metatawabin of Attawapiskat First Nation said that their way of life is not a pawn in some political game. Rushing headlong into major projects without knowing the costs, means the governments are playing a dangerous game with our lands and futures, she wrote. Allison Jones (new window) · The Canadian Press
Winnipeg Free Press
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
First Nations to launch legal challenge against Ontario, federal bills 5 and C-5
TORONTO – Lawyers representing nine Ontario First Nations say they are launching a constitutional challenge against provincial and federal laws meant to fast-track infrastructure projects that the Indigenous communities say infringes upon their rights. Details of the legal challenge have not yet been made public, but the lawyers say they will reveal more at a press conference on Wednesday. The federal Bill C-5 allows cabinet to quickly grant federal approvals for big industrial projects such as mines, ports and pipelines by sidestepping existing laws, while Ontario's bill allows its cabinet to suspend provincial and municipal laws through the creation of so-called 'special economic zones.' Chief Sylvia Koostachin-Metatawabin of Attawapiskat First Nation, one of the communities involved in the legal challenge, says in a press release that governments are playing a dangerous game with her people's lands and their futures. Chief Todd Cornelius from Oneida Nation of the Thames says the First Nations involved in the challenge are not against all development, rather this is a battle between 'doing things recklessly and doing things right.' Both the federal and Ontario governments have said their laws are tools to counteract the effects of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs by allowing Canadian development, such as natural resource development, to proceed more quickly. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 15, 2025.
