First Nations need to be ‘managers and beneficiaries’ over land use planning in Far North

To the Editor:
Even in the explanatory notes, and in the main body of the proposed Bill 191, the area of interest is referred as the Far North area.
For the Ojibway and Cree Nations, it is their homelands. Their common heritages, languages and territories bestow their sovereignty and nationhood status. These sovereign nations signed a treaty in 1905 and 1929 with another sovereign nation represented by the Crown of England.
Today, the Far North area is the Treaty 9 territory. Bill 191 fails to recognize this historical, legal, international, and political status of our homelands.
The successor state for upholding treaty obligations is Canada. It is responsible for upholding the honour of the Crown. They are responsible for protecting our treaty relationship, just as the Cree and Ojibway Nations are upholding their responsibilities. Canada needs to intervene, as well as be at the table.
Bill 191 passed third reading in the legislature last month and will be enacted into law when it receives royal assent by the Lieutenant Governor. What is alarming is Ontario proclaiming support of Bill 191 by First Nations who are currently participating in community-based land use plans.
These land use plans will be integrated into Bill 191 after it passes.
In essence, these land use plans are already implementing Bill 191 before it becomes law. It is up to each Indigenous community or tribal council to determine how they will respond.
Bill 191 was heralded as a dynamic environmental policy to fight climate change and global warming. Their answer to this problem is to protect 225,000 square kilometres of forest as a carbon bed and sequestration to appease the environmental groups and force them to support Bill 191 at the expense of the Indigenous nations.
It is also an economic policy to open Treaty 9 to resource development. They have continued approving mining claims, forestry licenses, roads and energy development to the general public while Bill 191 is being debated and passed. If this is the case, then what will be left for the First Nations’ land use plans after Bill 191 becomes law?
In numerous sections it states Bill 191 has exceptions such as “...the right to acquire, use or occupy public land or to carry out activities on public land if the person exercising the right acquired it before the day the plan comes into force...” and Section 11 (1) states “ no person shall undertake any of the following developments in the area except if the required authorization for the development has been obtained before the day this Act comes into force.”
The present community-based land use plans will be approved only if they do not affect authorized developments and only if they meet the government’s strategy and policy statements.
In addition, they have to be approved by cabinet of the Ontario government including the premier.
The government should have called a moratorium on resource development and permits for new initiatives until after Bill 191 was passed. Perhaps the Cree and Ojibway nations can declare this moratorium until their positions are recognized by Ontario. It would include suspension of their community based land use plans, MOUs and negotiations with developers.
There are many other concerns on the bill but what is more important is the absence of Indigenous rights, jurisdiction and treaty relations.
Bill 191 does not have provisions on how First Nations will share in the future decision making over their lands; nothing on resource management, conservation and environmental protection; nothing on enforcing their plans.
There are no guarantees how natural resource revenues and benefits will be shared by the private and government sectors.
The only aspects of future involvement is being on advisory boards and review of land use plans every 10 years. This is not good enough!
The Cree and Ojibway Nations residing in the Treaty 9 region must have a collective strategy based on unity of purpose. Some of this strategy has already been aired by our leaders but, they need to follow through with their public statements or risk loss of integrity.
One option is to develop our own collective regional development plans and land use plans that will guide resource development and related infrastructure in our territory. It’s time.
We don’t need the permission of foreign governments to do this. We have to start exercising our authority and jurisdictions as governments.
If Ontario, Canada or its capitalist system wants to get involved, they can do so as partners and investors.
But we have to be the managers and beneficiaries of the change we desire.
Dean Cromarty
Wunnumin Lake