Marten Falls ends Ring of Fire blockade

Citing a lack of support from other First Nations, Marten Falls called off its Ring of Fire blockade.
“It closed Friday (March 11),” said Marten Falls Chief Eli Moonias. “We didn’t get any support from the communities. Nobody showed up there.”
Moonias said his community was expecting other Matawa First Nations communities to help with the blockade, noting it cost his community about $90,000 for the two-month 2010 Ring of Fire blockade.
“Surely if you have a territory there you should stand up for it,” Moonias said. “That’s what we did.”
Marten Falls set up the blockade March 3 at Koper Lake to protest the construction of a 40-man camp on muskeg as well as inadequate involvement for the community in mineral resource developments taking place within the Ring of Fire mineral resource area. Koper Lake is located in the James Bay lowlands about 128 kilometres north of Marten Falls.
Webequie Chief Cornelius Wabasse, who took part in the 2010 Ring of Fire blockade along with Moonias, said his community has a neutral position where it is not opposed to development but also requests the government work with the First Nation communities.
“Even though Webequie says we are not opposed to development, that doesn’t mean that we fully support what the government is doing,” Wabasse said.
He is concerned about how First Nations are not included in the Ring of Fire planning, noting that his community is looking for employment, training and community development opportunities in the Ring of Fire.
“We want to be able to have our people working and at the same time I want to be able to develop my community,” Wabasse said. “Our community is suffering from financial debt. The funding we get from INAC (Indian and Northern Affairs Canada) is not sufficient enough for us so we have to look into other resources. This mining activity is the other resource.”
Wabasse said his community wants to work with the surrounding First Nations that are mostly impacted by the Ring of Fire.
“For the past two years I have been meeting with the government,” Wabasse said. “We’ve been talking about the Ring of Fire; we’re still talking about the Ring of Fire.”
He said his community wants to see benefits flowing in now, not 10 years into the future.
“Webequie has been without housing for the past 10 years,” Wabasse said. “There’s no money. We are in deficit.”
Moonias said his community is now focused on long-term issues to achieve a good deal for the future. He is looking for community members to gain employment in a variety of positions at the mines, including mining equipment operators, cooks and camp maintenance.”
“What I want is for (our) people to have real work, good jobs they are proud to have,” Moonias said.
Since the blockade went down, Moonias said the blasting and advanced stage of development have begun on the Ring of Fire after Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. received a permit from the provincial government allowing them to further investigate the potential of its Black Thor chromite deposit at McFaulds Lake.
“This rock (being blasted out of the Ring of Fire) is going to tell them if they are going to go ahead with the mine,” Moonias said.
Moonias said the community was supposed to have an advanced exploration study in place before the company could move on to the advanced stage of development, but that was ignored.
“They just went ahead with that permit,” Moonias said.
Joanne Ghiz, a Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry spokewoman said one of the conditions of the permit is that Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. works closely with Marten Falls First Nation to ensure potential impacts are addressed and minimized accordingly.
Constance Lake Chief Arthur Moore said the Matawa communities need to look at employment opportunities and procurement of contracts with the Ring of Fire mineral resource companies.
“What we’re doing too is creating partnerships with major mining companies so First Nations will participate and have an equal opportunity,” Moore said, noting the success achieved by CREECO in Quebec. “They own their own company for catering these big major mining companies. That is the direction we are going to ensure that we take ownership as well to control our destiny down the road so we have sustainable communities.”