Onotassiniik Fall 2014

FALL 2014 ONOTASSINIIK.COMWawatay’s Mining QuarterlyOnotassiniik

B U Y I N G I N : F i r s t N a t i o n s d r a f t i n g l a n d u s e p l a n s i n F a r N o r t h 5

Commentary: NADF’s Brian Davey 3 | Claims: Chief Peter Moonias, Premier Wynne 2

Colour

Ring of FirePRIORITY ONE:community crises response,basic infrastructure4

ONTARIO MINING

FORUM

‘WESTERN COUSINS’sources of cash,knowledge8

GOLIATH GOLDPROJECT

Back on Trackin Dryden area

6

ᐅᐡᑭ ᐱᒧᒋᑫᐃᐧᐣ ᒋᐊᔑᑎᓂᑕᐧ ᐊᓂᔑᓂᓂᐊᐧᐠ

ᐱᐊᐧᐱᑯᑲᓂ ᐊᓄᑭᐃ ᐠ9

2 FALL 2014

Can we interest you in something from our menu?We are certain you will find something to satisfy your appetite.

Wawatay Radio NetworkNorthern Ontario’s premier station for Aboriginal peopleWawatay Radio Network provides radio programming to more than 300,000 Aboriginal people in Nishnawbe Aski Nation and Treaty 3 area. WRN provides regional, national, and international news of interest to its audience broadcast in the Aboriginal languages of Northern Ontario - Ojibway, Oji-Cree, and Cree. Broadcasts also consist of local events, community announcements, special programs for Elders, youth and women, interactive call-in shows such as question and answer panels, and dedications and greetings.

Wawatay NewsNorthern Ontario’s First Nation VoicePublished by Wawatay Native Communications Society since 1974, the newspaper is distributed to more than 80 First Nations across Northern Ontario and to Aboriginal people living in the region’s towns and cities. Wawatay News features Aboriginal news, people, culture and language published in English and the Aboriginal languages of Northern Ontario – Ojibway, OjiCree and Cree. Wawatay News coverage and distribution area serves an Aboriginal population of almost 58,000.

SagatayWasaya’s In-fight MagazinePublishing each season, this full colour, glossy magazine is distributed on all Wasaya flights, in regional airports and in First Nation communities served by Wasaya. In addition to learning more about their carrier, Wasaya passengers will enjoy reading entertaining stories about the places they travel to, special events they’ll want to enjoy, and special people they’ll want to meet when they get to their destination. Wasaya passengers will also be interested in reading about the services available to them in their destination community. This publication provides an economical means of advertising your products and services to these travellers.

SevenNishnawbe Youth MagazineSEVEN Magazine provides Aboriginal youth in Northern Ontario with opportunities to share their struggles & triumphs, fears & hopes, stories & creativity. In expressing themselves through media, participating youth develop communication skills, gain self-confidence & experience personal growth. At the same time, they support, inform & inspire their peers in creating positive change & celebrating life.

OnotassiniikWawatay’s Mining QuarterlyOnotassiniik sets out to provide knowledge and information about the mining industry in northern Ontario to First Nations communities, individuals and leaders throughout the region. Wawatay’s Mining Quarterly emphasizes best practices within the mining industry, while helping to share information about mining activities and mining agreements with and between First Nations of northern Ontario.

wawataynews.caThe online home for Wawatay wawataynews.ca serves as a portal to all of Wawatay Native Communications Society’s products and services. The site is Northern Ontario’sFirst Nation voice and is visited by Aboriginal and Non-aboriginal residents of the region and around the globe. The site receives over 50,000unique visitors every month worldwide. All ads displayed on the website include a “click through” to their own website.

For print and online advertising, contact:

Tom Scura

Sales RepresentativeToll Free: 1-888-575-2349Email: [email protected]

For radio commercials and live broadcast bookings, contact:

Mark KakekagumickClient Services RepresentativeToll Free: 1-800-243-9059Email: [email protected]

WAWATAY NEWS AD PROOF

6 COLUMNSX

108 AGATES

Select one of the following: � Run as is � Run ad with changes

(no additional proof required) � Require new proof � DO NOT RUN AD

(in for quote only)

Please proof your ad and return it no later than 12 noon on the Monday prior to publication. Otherwise, your ad will run as it appears on this proof.January 29, 2014 4:41 PM

Date Completed:

ONO SPRING2014 WNCS SalesFile ID:

Matthew BradleyCompleted by:

Note:Ad proof may not print out the same size as in the newspaper.

Client Signature

Size

Colour

MAY 2014RESEARCH REPORT

MiCHAEl ClElAnd

nExEn ExECuTivE-in-RESidEnCE

Earning Public Support for Resource Development

From the ground up

“If I have the privilege of being re-elected, I will not consider my premiership successful unless we have seen significant progress on the Ring of Fire. It’s that important to us as a government.”

–Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne tells

media during an Ontario election campaign

stop in Sudbury. On election day, June 12,

Ontario voters returned Wynne and her party to

power with a majority government.

“Our young people have incredible opportunities ahead of them. Education is going to play a key role in their success and in our communities’ success.”

–JP Gladu, president and CEO of the Canadian Council for

Aboriginal Business, responds to a Wawatay Radio question

about lessons learned from two decades of working in the natural

resources sector. A member of Sand Point First Nation in northwestern

Ontario, Gladu has earned a forestry technician diploma, an

undergraduate degree in forestry, and an executive master of business administration degree from Queen’s

University.

CLAIMS“Four thousand

jobs are important, OK, we know that. The lives of the people here that live in the area, about 5,000 or 6,000 people, are also important to consider.”

–Chief Peter Moonias of Neskantaga, puts

Ring of Fire mining development in First

Nation perspective during a May 26

interview with CBC News. First Nation

consent is required development can go

ahead, Moonias said, and proper consultation

will include informing community members

about any potential environmental harm.

“Canada’s current approach to building public support (also known as ‘social licence’) for resource development is inadequate to meet the challenges ahead of us. … The only long-term route to a more stable environment for securing public support requires federal, provincial and territorial governments to be much more active and systematic in their approaches to everything from land use planning and environmental regulation

to scientific monitoring and the duty to consult Aboriginal communities.”

–Michael Cleland explains why in his 35-page research report, titled ‘From the ground up,’ for the Canada West

Foundation’s Centre for Natural Resources Policy. He also details “actions needed” to earn public support. The report

is available on the Foundation’s website: cwf.ca

“We (Matawa First Nations) have a framework agreement in which the province says we will have an environmental assessment process which must be negotiated with you. We will negotiate how to improve education (and) health care and we will negotiate revenue sharing. … How that development goes is going to be more up to First Nations than people might think.”

–Bob Rae, negotiator for Matawa First Nations for a regional Ring of

Fire strategy, talks in Fort McMurray about the result of First Nations people asserting authority and

jurisdiction on traditional lands. He delivered a speech June 1 at a

conference titled “As Long as the Rivers Flow: Coming Back to the

Treaty Relationship in Our Time.”photo: Shared Value Solutions

3WAWATAY’S MINING QUARTERLY

Published quarterly by Wawatay Native Communications Societywww.wawataynews.ca

A/CEO & Sales Manager James Brohm Magazines Editor/Writer Bryan Phelan Sales Representative Tom Scura Graphic Designer Matthew Bradley Translator Vicky Angees Circulation Co-ordinator Grant Keesic

ContributorsBrian Davey/NADF, Insight Information, Matawa First Nations Management, Ryan Lijdsman/Troy Media, Laura Taylor/Shared Value Solutions, Treasury Metals, Wawatay Radio

CommentsBryan [email protected]

SubscriptionsGrant [email protected]

phone (807) 737-2951toll free 1-800-243-9059fax (807) 737-2263

16 Fift h Ave. P.O. Box 1180 Sioux Lookout, ON P8T 1B7

AdvertisingTom [email protected]

phone (807) 344-3022toll free 1-888-575-2349fax (807) 344-3182

2nd Floor Royal Bank Building, Suite 202Victoriaville Centre620 Victoria Ave. EastThunder Bay, ON P7C 1A9

VOLUME 2, NUMBER 3

onotassiniik.com

Onotassiniik (translated from Oji-Cree as ‘People Who Work With Rocks’) is a forum for

sharing knowledge about the mining industry in northern Ontario with First Nation communities,

individuals and leaders. The magazine emphasizes best practices within the industry,

while providing information about mining activities and agreements involving First Nations.

On the Coverphoto: Treasury Metals

This aerial view of excavation at the Goliath Gold project site, near Wabigoon in northwestern Ontario, shows the main ore body exposed at the surface. Treasury Metals will consult with six surrounding First Nations as it works toward having its proposed gold mine in production as early as 2006.

For full details, please see the stories on pages 6 and 7.

ONTARIO MINING FORUM 2014

Learning what it takes to make a mining project successful

The 4th annual Ontario Mining Forum, hosted by Insight

Information, took place June 18 and 19 at the Valhalla Inn in Thunder Bay. About 60 people attended, representing First Nation businesses and development corporations; mining companies and industries that serve them; and federal, provincial and municipal agencies.

Society’s expectations of mining development have changed over the decades in Canada and around the world, noted forum chairman Michael Fox, president of Fox High Impact Consulting and a former partnership development advisor at Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund.

Health and safety became a priority in the 1960s and ’70s, Fox previously learned from a veteran mining engineer. In the 1980s and ’90s, the focus turned to environmental issues. Now, it’s community and social issues that have moved to the forefront, the engineer observed.

“Listening to the folks who have adapted to those changes in society is pretty enlightening … (about) how to create a successful mining project,” Fox said to open Day 2 of this year’s Mining Forum.

Day 1 featured presentations about “building consensus for mining development in the Ring of Fire” from a panel of First Nations leaders: Chief Cornelius Wabasse of Webequie First Nation; David Paul Achneepineskum, CEO of Matawa First Nations; and Deputy Grand Chief Les Louttit of Nishnawbe Aski Nation. You can read about some of what they and other presenters had to say in the Onotassiniik stories that follow.

JP Gladu of Sand Point First Nation, president and CEO of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business, delivered a keynote speech at the Forum on the topic of “First Nation economic development participation in mining.”

The week before that speech, Gladu spoke to Wawatay Radio about the benefit of participating

in events like the Ontario Mining Forum. These are opportunities for “understanding who the players are, understanding what best practices are, understanding where the challenges lie, and coming together in an open and transparent way to figure a path forward. These types of events off er us that platform to have that conversation.”

In the course of this conversation, Gladu said, valuable relationships and networks develop. Values and opinions are shared, and sometimes debated. “We do not all think the same, which is fantastic, because that adds strength to future projects,” he said.

“You need to become informed … to make meaningful decisions.”

–Bryan PhelanEditor, Onotassiniik

Making sure First Nations gain from resource developmentBrian DaveyExecutive DirectorNishnawbe Aski Development Fund

Much has been said about the Ring of Fire, impact and benefit agreements, new

mines coming online, new infrastructure and employment opportunities. Many First Nation communities are probably wondering how we will actually benefit, or more importantly, how do we make sure we benefit? The last thing we want is a repeat of years gone by where First Nations received little or no benefit in terms of the business and employment opportunities stemming from resource development.

The first thing First Nation leaders must decide is whether we accept the outside government’s decision-making process on mines and related infrastructure, including whether the project is environmentally sound or has the approval to proceed. If the answer is ‘no,’ we should not engage in any form of participation that could be interpreted as consultation. If we do accept the framework that includes the government’s environmental assessment process and its right to permit, subject to our meaningful consultation or consent, then we are also telling our people that we are ready to negotiate with the developer in good faith to develop the traditional lands on behalf of our people.

For some, this may mean we are parking the sovereignty issue and our understanding of the Treaty. This may not be acceptable for some Treaty people, while others will be unwilling to risk the potential of losing opportunities that could lead to better living conditions. Aft er all, the intent of the Treaty is to take care of our well-being for the benefit of our people.

Whatever we decide as a people, one thing is certain: resource development is not going away. There will be tremendous pressure on the community if a project has a valid business case, where governments, including First Nations, stand to make millions or billions of dollars over the long term. The pressure may not be significant at this stage but in time it will become evident. The real reason Cliff s Natural Resources

backed out of the Ring of Fire development has more to do with world market conditions than anything else, not because of government or First Nation issues. Cliff s, or some larger company, will be back when world markets turn around and access to capital becomes available once again.

In the interim, aside from deciding on the larger jurisdictional or Treaty issues, First Nations can prepare in capacity building, creating an entrepreneurial culture, training and establishing businesses. Getting ahead of the game, or ‘skating to the spot where we think the puck is going,’ should be our game plan. As with any professional hockey team, the plan must be well executed, with all its players acting collectively. If we have too many individual stars who want to carry the puck all the way, chances are we will not succeed in our game plan. We must act as one.

There are many components to developing a winning strategy for benefitting from

resource development. One crucial element to such a strategy is to

understand the importance of interdependence in creating wealth with people and companies that have already created wealth.

Second, make sure the agreements your First Nation strikes with resource developers can be leveraged to ensure First Nation majority-owned businesses are awarded contracts, subject to the quality of their service or product and price competitiveness. All things being equal, the First Nation business should get the business.

Thirdly, clearly visualize the goal you believe we are capable of delivering – what you expect to see once the plan is fully executed. Having the vision before starting any major undertaking in our lives or as a community has always been important to our people. The elders and spiritual leaders play a key role in helping us in this regard. Seeing the end game is paramount.

Fourthly, make sure the people are kept informed and not left behind. Many Treaty people are willing to let their leaders lead, but they quickly become dismayed when they are not kept informed on business

development in their communities or on their lands. The aspirations of all families are the same everywhere in the world – the usual four elements are to be healthy, happy, loving, and fulfilled. Resource development, if it is done right and respects the land, can be a contributing factor in achieving for our communities all four elements stated above.

Finally, once operations begin on any resource development project there will always be bumps and bruises in the relationships involved. It’s important to plan for these potential diff erences upfront to prevent any strains in the relationships. It’s not possible to prevent them all but let’s try to reduce them. This is usually done through the main project agreements.

I will close with this: the vision is First Nations prosperity and there are many diff erent ways to achieve that end. In regard to the larger community, prosperity in the First Nations community means prosperity for northern Ontario as a whole by virtue of the principle of interdependence. Ultimately, our success in generating wealth will not only be felt loc ally but will reach throughout the province and across the country.

Brian Davey has more than 35 years of experience working on First Nation business and economic development issues as an elected First Nations leader, executive, manager, management consultant, and employee in both the public and private sectors. Much of his experience is focused in northern Ontario in the resource sector, infrastructure development and financing. Presently, he is executive director of the Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund. In the past, he worked for Matawa First Nations Management, First Nations Equity, Economic Renewal Initiative, and the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, including work as a private consultant.

Davey is a Native Studies graduate from Trent University. Born in Moose Factory and a member of the Moose Cree First Nation, he currently resides with his wife Leesa in Thunder Bay. He has two daughters, Courtney and Breanne, and two grandsons, Phoenix and Cohen.

photo: Bryan PhelanNishnawbe Aski Development Fund and executive director Brian Davey, shown here at the 2013 NADF Mining Ready Summit in Timmins, will host this year’s Summit Oct. 28-29 in Thunder Bay.

4 FALL 2014


Chiefs may demand basic services before developmentBryan PhelanOnotassiniik

The same day in June that David Paul Achneepineskum, CEO for Matawa First Nations Management (MFNM), spoke at the Ontario

Mining Forum, CBC News reported on a drinking water emergency in Marten Falls First Nation.

Marten Falls, one of nine First Nations that receive advisory and support services from the MFNM tribal council, had been without potable water since a boil-water advisory was issued in 2005, CBC reported June 18. The situation became worse this April when a water filter broke at the community’s water treatment plant, making the water unsafe even for bathing. Chief Eli Moonias said subsequent requests for emergency federal and provincial funding to fix the water treatment plant had to that point been ignored.

Achneepineskum, formerly a band manager and councillor in Marten Falls, referenced this issue and its broader implications while speaking in Thunder Bay as part of a Mining Forum panel on building consensus for mining development in the Ring of Fire.

“If you go to our communities, any one of them, they talk about the social and health issues, they talk about housing, they talk about bad water … particularly water,” he said. “We want proper water treatment, schools, health programs. And in some cases, our chiefs may push that this will be a prerequisite before any development happens, not after the fact.”

In March, the nine members of the Matawa Chiefs Council signed a framework agreement with Ontario that will guide regional negotiations for development in the Ring of Fire, in the traditional territories of several Matawa communities. “This is just the beginning of much more work and planning …, especially in terms of health and social wellness, and infrastructure,” Ginoogaming Chief Celia Echum said of the framework agreement.

Youth counsellors, prescription drug treatment

Indeed, one of three top priorities identified in the agreement for the next stage of negotiations between Matawa and Ontario is better social and economic development supports in the First Nations.

Christine Kaszycki, assistant deputy minister for the Ring of Fire Secretariat of the ministry of northern development and mines (MNDM), said at the Mining Forum these negotiations for improved “community well-being” will have “a particular focus on mental health.”

She noted the provincial government has already funded youth mental health workers for some Matawa First Nations. In late 2012, the Ministry of Children and Youth Services announced it had designated 80 new workers to provide culturally appropriate mental health services to almost 4,000 Aboriginal children and youth in Ontario. For Matawa communities, the services are being delivered through the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority, Onotassiniik was told by Julia Bennett, a spokeswoman for MNDM. “These new workers are providing counselling, individual and group

therapy, crisis intervention and a range of traditional health services, including traditional teachings and ceremonies, to Eabametoong, Marten Falls, Neskantaga, Nibinamik and Webequie First Nations.”

In her Mining Forum presentation on “getting it right in the Ring of Fire,” Kaszycki also highlighted another health service provided to Matawa communities in recent years – treatment for prescription drug addiction. Again, Bennett filled in details afterwards: “Health Canada has been delivering prescription drug abuse treatment since 2011, and we understand that 900 Matawa clients have received services,” she said. “Programming includes accredited training; workshops; community-based withdrawal-treatment projects; credentialed mental health and addictions specialists; and aftercare supports for those on opioid maintenance programs.”

Still, as Chief Echum suggested, there is still much work to be done in the areas of health, social wellness and infrastructure. In some cases the need is desperate.

Just a month after Echum and other Matawa chiefs signed the framework agreement with Ontario, Chief Peter Moonias of Neskantaga was in Toronto making a public “call to action” to address “Fourth World” living conditions in the community of about 420. Ten youth had committed suicide over the previous two years. Moonias linked the suicides to deplorable living conditions that included: an unsafe drinking water supply for almost 20 years; lack of access to affordable, nutritious food; overcrowded houses infested with black mold; an unemployment rate exceeding 80 per cent; and the ongoing effects of intergenerational trauma.

“The community needs to heal before decisions can properly be made on any development,” Moonias added. “Neskantaga is wounded very badly.”

LeverageAt the Mining Forum in Thunder Bay, Achneepineskum emphasized

that Matawa communities are working for development, not against it, as long as it’s environmentally and socially responsible.

“Our communities and people financially right now are destitute, and development brings hope for a better future,” he said. “We have the wealth in our lands and our rivers.”

The estimated value of chromite and nickel deposits in the Ring of Fire is $60 billion, mined over 30 years, Kaszycki said. There is also economic potential in the area for mining copper, gold and platinum group metals, she added.

Remarked Achneepineskum, later: “There is something the people from outside want in our territories, from our lands … the minerals. So that is one of the reasons the regional framework (agreement) was achieved – because our First Nations had leverage.”

The Crown’s narrow interpretation of past treaties with First Nations – historically respecting only the English letter of the treaties, not oral promises made by treaty commissioners and passed down by elders – has left a legacy of injustice and hurt, said Achneepineskum. “The injustices are many and have damaged and destroyed many of our people. The legacy of the residential school system, the Indian Act, and displacement of our people from their lands onto reserves has taken a horrific toll on us, which continues today. We must all acknowledge that our people were almost destroyed by the policies and the legislation of the government with the purpose of dispossessing us of our land, identity and culture.”

It has been a high price to pay “to stay intact as the people of the land,” Achneepineskum said. “Our people have said they will never, ever permit again those kind of things to happen – that someone will come to our lands, get wealthy from our lands and we sit on the sidelines and get nothing.”

With development in the Ring of Fire, he said, they want to become the miners and lawyers, business owners and even mine owners. They want infrastructure to come right to their communities – roads, electrification and fibre optics, for example – and they want to build and own that infrastructure.

“But also we will need help with our social and health crises in order to fully participate in the opportunities coming to our region,” said Achneepineskum. “We’re really talking about a lot of these problems that have to be solved one way or the other before any development happens.”

‘Building our society and economy’Government and industry should be open to new approaches, Webequie chief says

Bryan PhelanOnotassiniik

Cornelius Wabasse says he has focused his three terms as chief of Webequie First Nation on community development; on

finding ways for his community to prosper.At the same time, “We have a lot of community needs, social

problems as well,” Wabasse said as a panelist at the Ontario Mining Forum. It would take $28 million to bring infrastructure for the 765 people in Webequie up to the Canadian standard, according to a band study finding made public last year.

Webequie is located 540 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, where the Mining Forum took place June 18-19. It’s also close to the Ring of Fire, a geologically rich area of minerals.

Wabasse and leaders of eight other First Nations that make up the Matawa Chiefs Council signed a framework agreement with Ontario in the spring to guide regional negotiations for mining development in the area.

“We must enter into enduring agreements, new relationships, with both (the federal and provincial) governments and industry as part of the Ring of Fire development,” Wabasse said of the challenges ahead. “We must be involved in ways that respect our treaty rights, support our communities, protect our culture, and build our society and economy. We expect both government and industry to be open to new and innovative ways for these benefits to be realized.”

David Paul Achneepineskum, CEO for Matawa First Nations Management (MFNM), a tribal council providing support services to the nine First Nations of Matawa, sat alongside Wabasse as a panelist at the Mining Forum.

“The province has come to the table to negotiate critical elements of development with us, on education, training, environmental monitoring, infrastructure, and resource revenue sharing,” Achneepineskum said of priorities under the framework agreement with Ontario.

He also welcomed the June 12 provincial election result that returned the Liberals to power. “I want to congratulate Kathleen Wynne in her majority win for (forming) the next Ontario government,” Achneepineskum said. “We believe we have made major developments in our relations with her and her government. We believe the next four years can be a win-win situation for all.

“We hope the federal government will soon become engaged in development talks and processes,” he added.

Achneepineskum warned that Matawa chiefs might insist that critical health, social and infrastructure problems are solved before any mining development takes place in the Ring of Fire. “The chief (Wabasse) and I have been talking about our people wanting to be involved in discussions, wanting to be meaningfully engaged, and it’s not just about mining issues or the environment,” he said. “We have a lot of social and health issues that we need to deal with. We need a lot of help in that.”

Asked by Onotassiniik about the prospect of such issues having to be solved before any Ring of Fire development proceeds, Alan Coutts, president and CEO of Noront Resources responded in part: “To me, that sounds like a discussion for the provincial and the federal governments more than the mining companies.”

Pending environmental assessment approval, Noront hopes to begin this coming winter on construction of an all-season road to its proposed Eagle’s Nest mine for nickel, copper, platinum and palladium, Coutts said.

“We think we’re part of the solution. We like to think that by getting involved with the communities and developing the operations we can help deal with some of those other important community issues. We’re happy our project could potentially benefit, albeit indirectly, in some of those areas.”

Noront’s project is at the most advanced stage of any in the Ring of Fire but Eagle’s Nest won’t be a producing mine until at least 2018, added Coutts. The mine site is located on the traditional lands of Webequie and two other Matawa First Nations, Marten Falls and Neskantaga.

Christine Kaszycki, assistant deputy minister, Ring of Fire Secretariat.

photo: Bryan Phelan David Paul Achneepineskum, Matawa CEO: ‘Help needed with social and health crises.’

Webequie Chief Cornelius Wabasse.


Majority of Far North communities draft ing land use plansBryan PhelanOnotassiniik

Most of the 31 First Nations in the Far North of Ontario have engaged with the province

for development of land use plans, despite past opposition to the law that makes the plans necessary.

Under the Far North Act, which became provincial law in 2010, land use plans are required for most major development in the region, such as the opening of a mine or the building an all-weather road. The act also requires that at least half of the Far North be protected from development.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN), a political organization of 49 First Nations in northern Ontario including all but one in the Far North, has opposed the Far North Act, arguing that it makes core elements of every community land use plan subject to provincial veto. “The problem with that is the minister of natural resources has the final say whether or not that particular plan can be approved,” explained Les Louttit, NAN deputy grand chief, at the Ontario Mining Forum in June.

“We have been calling for more involvement by First Nations to determine that approval through a regional body … a joint body,” Louttit said at the Thunder Bay event. “That hasn’t happened yet. But now that the new (provincial Liberal) government has been elected, I think we have to pursue that and make sure the First Nations being impacted most will have majority say on whether or not those community plans are going to be approved.”

As of the spring of 2013, NAN Chiefs-in-Assembly had passed nine resolutions opposing the Far North Act. That fall, Louttit suggested NAN’s concerns could potentially be addressed through discussions with the provincial government and revisions to the act.

A spokeswoman for MNDM said a joint body for land use planning, with 50 per cent First Nations-50 per cent Ontario membership, can be established under the current act. “The joint body would advise the minister on the development,

implementation and co-ordination of land use planning,” said Julia Bennett, a media co-ordinator for MNDM. However, at two meetings with First Nation community representatives in 2012, “First Nations advised that establishing such a ‘joint body’ was premature,” citing the need for more communication at the community level first, Bennett noted by e-mail to Onotassiniik this July. “We remain open to the possibility of establishing one.”

As for approvals under the existing act, “Ontario and the First Nation community jointly prepare and approve the plan,” wrote Bennett. “Ontario cannot do land use planning on its own.”

It’s also First Nations that initiate land use plans and set timelines for the process, she added.

Most First Nations in the Far North – 27 of 31 as of July – have gone ahead with participation in land use planning processes, to varying degrees, according to MNDM.

Three First Nations – Pikangikum, Cat Lake and Slate Falls – have already completed land use plans that have been jointly approved with Ontario.

Four more First Nations – Marten Falls, Eabametoong, Mishkeegogamang, and Deer Lake – have finished their terms of reference for land use plans. “Terms of reference formally initiate the public consultation process and means these communities are now working with MNRF (Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry) towards a draft land use plan,” said Bennett.

As for other communities, “Almost all First Nations in the Far North are now engaged with MNRF in the early stages of preparing a community-based land use plan,” she said. Those First Nations include Webequie, Nibinamik and Neskantaga, which like Marten Falls and Eabametoong are members of the Matawa tribal council and are located near the Ring of Fire mining camp. Not formally engaged in joint planning processes with Ontario as of July were the First Nations of Bearskin Lake, Kingfisher Lake, Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, and Wunnumin Lake.


Colour

No ‘veto power’ for First Nations, lawyer explainsBryan PhelanOnotoassiniik

The duty to consult First Nations doesn’t, from a legal perspective, give rise to First Nations

“veto power” over mining projects, a lawyer advised at the Ontario Mining Forum.

David Henry, a lawyer from Sudbury now based in Ottawa with the law firm Borden Ladner Gervais, said there a lot of misconceptions about the duty to consult. He dealt with several of them during his Mining Forum presentation in Thunder Bay on June 19, including the question of whether the duty to consult with First Nations also gives them veto power.

“That’s certainly not the case,” Henry said of the veto question, citing a 2004 Supreme Court of Canada decision in the case of Haida Nation versus British Columbia.

Instead, he said, “The consultation is aimed at determining if there is an adverse impact on an established or asserted Aboriginal or treaty right and in order to see if that impact can be mitigated or, in some circumstances, if the project itself needs to be revised on abandoned.”

The legal foundation for the duty to consult comes from Sec. 35 of the Canadian Constitution Act of 1982, which recognized and aff irmed existing rights of Aboriginal peoples, and case law that has developed since, Henry explained. “The term Aboriginal rights refers to the distinct customs, traditions and practices of the Indigenous peoples of Canada that were integral to their way of life prior to the arrival of European settlers … communal rights that would include hunting, fishing, trapping, harvesting.” Over time, he said, case law has recognized that Sec. 35 aims at the reconciliation of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians and ultimately enforces what’s known as “the honour of the Crown.” Today, that’s interpreted as “the broader requirement that governments must interact

with Aboriginal communities in a manner consistent with an ideal of honourable conduct.”

But one question led to another in Henry’s presentation: Is the duty to consult meaningless if non-First Nation governments can ultimately approve a project?

“It’s definitely not meaningless,” he said. “While governments can approve a project, they’re required to act in good faith and to consult and accommodate with Aboriginal peoples by taking into account the issues identified in the consultation process.”

If governments don’t do that, he said, they won’t have fulfilled their duty and there will be

consequences. “Projects have been modified in some instances as a result of the consultation process, or they have been halted.”

Henry cited the recent example of the New Prosperity gold and copper mine in B.C. proposed by Taseko Mines and approved by the provincial government. Twice the project has been rejected by federal panels – citing damage to fish and fish habitat – and by the federal government. In February, federal Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq concluded the mine was likely to cause irreversible environmental damage. Members of Tsilhqot’in First Nation have opposed the project, arguing it would damage a lake they considered sacred.

The duty to consult only applies to new impacts from government action,” Henry noted. “Historic breaches of Aboriginal or treaty rights that continue without any new impact from a government decision

under current contemplation are not going to give rise to any duty to consult issues. There may be a legitimate issue as to a past breach of a treaty right, but that is generally dealt with under other legal doctrines.”

‘Law of our peoples’David Paul Achneepineskum, CEO for the

Matawa tribal council of nine First Nations in northern Ontario, also spoke at the Mining Forum about Aboriginal rights.

“Many of those rights are man-made rights but the inherent right is given to us by our Creator, to be stewards of the land and … to live and

take sustenance from our lands,” he said. “Most importantly, we have inherent rights.”

Achneepineskum, from Marten Falls, reiterated a consistent position taken by the First Nations of Matawa: “that free, prior and informed consent is necessary for the development of the Ring of Fire and for all development in our territory.”

Such consent from indigenous peoples “before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may aff ect them” – like issuing a permit or licence, for example – is a provision in the United Nations Declaration of Rights on Indigenous Peoples, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2007. But in a November 2010 statement of support for the UN Declaration, Canada at the same time described it as “a non-legally binding document” and re-stated its concern with the provision of free, prior and informed consent when used as a veto. During a visit to Thunder Bay two years later, Tony Clement, then Canadian minister for FedNor, said the duty to consult with First Nations doesn’t give them a veto over resource development.

However, Nishnawbe Aski Nation Chiefs-in-Assembly, who include leaders of the nine First Nations of Matawa, passed their own resolution on consent in 2010. It states in part: “Proposed private development or Canadian government policy that aff ects any part of the NAN territory cannot proceed without the free, prior and informed consent of the aff ected NAN First Nation or First Nations.”

And in June this year, leaders representing the 133 First Nations in Ontario examined ways to collectively assert inherent rights on traditional territories and ancestral homelands, according to a news release from Chiefs of Ontario.

Consent can only come from community-driven consultation and engagement, Achneepineskum said at the Mining Forum. “That is the law of our peoples.”

photo: Bryan PhelanDavid Henry: ‘Duty to consult not meaningless.’

6 FALL 2014

Colour

GOLIATH REVIVEDFinancial lifeline for Dryden area gold project Bryan PhelanOnotassiniik

The Goliath gold project is back on track to becoming a producing mine after Treasury

Metals last winter secured about $10 million through a South African financier.

Goliath, located just off the Trans-Canada Highway between Dryden and Wabigoon, is the flagship project of Treasury Metals, a mining exploration and development company. Treasury has also done early exploration work at its only other property, Goldcliff, located about half an hour south of Dryden down the highway to Fort Frances.

The company projects it will cost about $100 million to develop Goliath first as an open-pit mine and then underground, with a total mine life of 10-12 years. That capital expense will include an ore processing plant expected to process 70-80,000 ounces of gold a year.

So far, over the past three years, Treasury has raised $30 million for the project.

Of that amount, it arranged almost $10 million in December through RMB Resources, based in South Africa. RMB specializes in providing financing solutions for small- to mid-tier resource companies around the world.

“We basically took a pretty big pause last year, like most junior mining companies,” Norm Bush, Treasury’s vice-president for its Goliath project, said June 19 at the Ontario Mining Forum in Thunder Bay. “We had a heckuva time raising enough capital to move forward on a meaningful basis.” As a result, Bush said, Goliath was essentially on hiatus for almost all of 2013. “But once we got our financing in December, we’ve been full bore on our environmental impact studies and work.”

Goliath is one of just six gold mining projects in Ontario currently in the mine permitting process, Bush noted.

To help describe Goliath’s geology, he pointed to a diagram that showed its deposits are like two sheets that cut into the earth at a 70-degree

angle. As of a November 2011 estimate, the deposits were thought to hold 1.7 million ounces of gold, but more exploratory drilling took place after that date and Treasury has plans for additional exploration. As a result, Treasury’s president and CEO, Martin Walter, predicted in a June interview with Mining Weekly Online that its Goliath gold estimate would be upgraded this year beyond two million ounces.

“On a good day when we hear hooting and hollering coming out of the core shack, that’s when our geologists and our core-cutters actually find some visible gold,” Bush said at the Mining Forum. “We hear it often enough to know that we’ve got a good project.”

Treasury had its project description for Goliath approved by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency in late 2012. This summer, it planned to submit an environmental impact statement for federal approval and to start work on a pre-feasibility study.

Bush estimated provincial environmental assessment rules will also require at least 40 and as many as 70 permits for the Goliath project to go ahead. Various baseline environmental studies have already been done over the past four years.

“The area we’re studying is about a five-kilometre radius around the site, for air, dust, emissions, noise, et cetera, and also for the complete water basin for the creeks that flow into and past the site, and that will take our effluent back down to Wabigoon Lake.”

If all goes according to plan, the Goliath mine will be built in 2016 and production will start late that year or early the next. It helps that key infrastructure is already in place: road access from the mine site to the Trans-Canada; hydro lines running adjacent to the Goliath property; and a natural gas pipeline that cuts across it.

The RMB financing will carry the project to the ‘shovel ready’ stage. “Next year … we should have a new, strategic financial partner involved,” Bush said at the Mining Forum. “We’ve got several irons in the fire now in that regard.”


“On a good day when we hear hooting and hollering coming out of the core shack, that’s when our geologists and our core-cutters actually find some visible gold. We hear it often enough to know that we’ve got a good project.”

–Norm BushVice-president, Goliath Gold Project

Treasury Metals

images: Treasury Metals

Clockwise, from above:

A local area map of the Goliath Gold project site.An illustration showing the proposed open-pit mine shells and the ore bodies.The Treasury Metals engineering and exploration team.Some of the thousands of core boxes at Treasury’s operation.


Colour

Treasury Metals will consult 6 First NationsBryan PhelanOnotassiniik

Treasury Metals has been engaged in “pre-consultation” meetings with six First Nations regarding its Goliath

gold project. The Goliath project site, where Treasury hopes to have a

gold mine built and operating as soon as 2016, is located about 20 kilometres east of Dryden, just north of the Trans-Canada Highway and near the village of Wabigoon.

Treasury, which has its corporate head office is in Toronto but a Goliath project office in the Dryden area, owns most of the project land. “About 85 per cent of the property the project will be located on, including the open pits, is on privately held land that’s been in the private domain for well over a 100 years,” said Norm Bush, a Treasury vice-president for the Goliath project, during a presentation at the Ontario Mining Forum on June 19. “There are a couple of blocks in the centre of the pit that we are currently bringing to lease that are Crown land and some blocks adjacent to the tailings pond that are Crown land.”

The Goliath project currently employs 20 people. It will have 200 workers when the mine is running, said Bush, during both its initial open-pit phase and later underground phase. Each mining phase is expected to last at least five years.

As directed by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) and the provincial Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, Treasury must consult on the project with six First Nations in Treaty 3 territory – Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation, Eagle Lake, Lac Seul, Wabauskang, Naotkamegwanning (Whitefish Bay), and Grassy Narrows – plus the Métis Nation of Ontario. CEAA also requires consultation with the Aboriginal people in the village of Wabigoon. “Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation is the closest First Nation that lays claim to most of the traditional land use issues immediately adjacent to the site,” Bush noted.

“Eagle Lake is very close as well, with many Eagle Lake people living in Dryden and the town of Wabigoon.”

Bush said Treasury has made presentations about Goliath to all six First Nations, while at the same time seeking input and questions. Project technical reports are also sent to these communities, with the invitation to comment or meet for follow-up discussion. Traditional knowledge studies with First Nations will further help Treasury identify issues that should be addressed in an environmental impact statement for Goliath, which will be filed with the federal government this year, noted Bush.

“In terms of the consultation process, that’s still not completely clear and we need to have further dialogue on what that process is that the First Nations see going forward. What I mean by that is, with the six different groups, would people like to discuss the project with us jointly, would they like to do that under the umbrella of (Grand Council) Treaty 3? So, all of those discussions are still in play.”

This much is certain for Treasury, said Bush: “We’re trying as best we can as proponents to do the things we need to do to develop relationships and develop agreements with the First Nations. As we meet with First Nations … we ask specifically: ‘What are your short-term interests? What are your longer-term interests? What joint mechanisms can we put in place to ensure long-term involvement, whether it’s around jobs, training, business opportunities, or other things that may be of interest? We want to have long-term relationships.”

Bush said that even at the current mine permitting stage for Goliath, Treasury has committed to local hiring and buying. In 2012 he pointed out, the company spent $4.3 million with 75 businesses in northwestern Ontario. “As much as we can, we’re hiring people from Dryden, Wabigoon, First Nations, all of the area around the mine site,” he added. And when it comes time to build the Goliath mine, “We will seek to use northwestern Ontario construction services.”

photo: Treasury MetalsAbove: Rory Krocker,

senior geologist for Treasury Metals, delivers a

prospecting course.

photo: Bryan PhelanNorm Bush, Treasury

Metals VP: ‘Key for us is being partners in economic

development with our local municipalities and

Aboriginal communities.’

8 FALL 2014

ONOTASSINIIK AD PROOF

3 COLUMNSX

54 AGATES



(in for quote only)

Please proof your ad and return it no later than 12 noon on the Monday prior to publication. Otherwise, your ad will run as it appears on this proof.July 9, 2014 12:04 PM

Date Completed:

ONO Fall 2014 Loch Lomond 1/8 pgFile ID:



Client Signature

Size


ONOTASSINIIK AD PROOF

3 COLUMNSX

108 AGATES



(in for quote only)

Please proof your ad and return it no later than 12 noon on the Monday prior to publication. Otherwise, your ad will run as it appears on this proof.January 29, 2014 3:45 PM

Date Completed:

ONO SPRING2014 WNCS Subscriptions(Alt)File ID:



Client Signature

Size

Get for FREE!

SubScribe to for one year and aS a bonuS, get 4 editionS

of abSolutely free.

in addition, you will receive 4 editionS of

Nishnawbe Youth Magazine

.

to SubScribe and get all of theSe great publicationS:

25 biweekly issues of

4 quarterly editions of

4 quarterly editions of Nishnawbe Youth Magazine

in Canada - $70.00 + Hstusa - $125.00 (no Hst)

international - $250.00 (no Hst)

call Grant Keesic 800-243-9059 or email [email protected]

BulK suBscriptions are also availaBle for your school, Business or orGanizations.

‘Western cousins’ can share knowledge, cashBryan PhelanOnotassiniik

First Nations in northern Ontario figuring how to

best benefit from mining development should look west for business advice and capital, suggests JP Gladu, president and CEO Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business.

Now based in Toronto but back in his hometown of Thunder Bay in June as a keynote speaker for the

Ontario Mining Forum, Gladu noted that First Nations in Western Canada have advanced experience when it comes to generating wealth from resource development.

“We’re talking about the Ring of Fire, we’re talking about all this massive development, but it’s not quite there yet,” said Gladu, a member of Sand Point First Nation, located in northwestern Ontario on Lake Nipigon. “And so we struggle sometimes … about what it’s going to take to get there.”

It’s a situation First Nations in the West found themselves in 15 or 20 years ago, Gladu said. “A lot of our cousins to the west were where our communities are now … struggling with resource development, struggling with our relationships (with industry and non-Aboriginal governments), struggling with unemployment, struggling with lack of infrastructure.”

But they found a way forward, he said, with some First Nation economic development corporations in Alberta now generating annual revenue in the $250 million to $750 million range. “There have been some incredible accomplishments, incredible experiences.

“What I’d love to see is … community to community mentorship, where we can bring in our cousins from the West, get the prospector tent set up in the bush, sit down, sip the tea and talk about it. Share experiences.”

Those First Nation corporations in the West already generating hundreds of millions of dollars each year also want to expand, Gladu pointed out. “They’re looking to the Aboriginal lands for

how they’re going to grow their businesses and they’re looking for opportunities to build relationships with other Aboriginal businesses. If we can build some of those relationships from the West to the East – to the Ring of Fire, for instance – well, they also bring capital to the table and that is so badly needed for our communities and our businesses.”

Economic development corporations set up to represent the business

interests of Aboriginal communities can be eff ective “conduits” in building such relationships, noted Gladu, former CEO and president of Sand Point’s development corporation.

“I’m a very strong advocate of economic development corporations, (which) allow the separation of politics from business,” he said. “The government’s role is to empower business through policy. That’s the same thing with our chiefs and councils. My dad was chief for 12 years and he also subscribed to this vision.”

There are about 60 Aboriginal-owned economic development corporations in Ontario – “very much tied to the community and owned by the community, but operated by business people from the community,” said Gladu.

Oilsands successSuccess stories are also

being lived by individual entrepreneurs, not just community corporations, with more than 37,000 Aboriginal people in Canada owning businesses as of the 2006 Census.

In an interview with Wawatay Radio to promote participation in the Ontario Mining Forum, Gladu again directed his audience to the West for an example.

In Alberta, he said, David Bouchier of Fort McKay First Nation and his wife Nicole Bourque-Bouchier of Mikisew Cree First Nation, own and operate The Bouchier Group. Based in Fort McKay, near Fort McMurray, the company provides construction, maintenance and general

site services to the Athabasca oilsands region.

It started in 1998 as a seasonal business with one bulldozer, used to brush and clear roads and pads for oil rigs. By 2010, The Bouchier Group had become a multimillion-dollar venture with a fleet of more than 70 pieces of heavy equipment. Two years later, it added The Carillion Group as a minority partner. The Financial Post described Carillion as “a $9-billion multinational trading on the London Stock Exchange and active in the United Kingdom, North Africa, the Middle East and Canada … (that) specializes in facility design, construction, financing and maintenance.”

Now, according to its website, The Bouchier Group employs more than 500 people, about 70 per cent of them Aboriginal. Its contracting division handles work ranging from winter drilling to snow removal, while another division provides a long list of site services that runs from fuel supply to vehicle maintenance, janitorial to security.

Some of the keys to the Bouchiers’ success? “It was perseverance, it was relationships, it was learning to walk before you run, building confidence in your staff , building confidence in the companies that are looking to develop,” Gladu said.

Think bigIn his Mining Forum

speech, Gladu encouraged First Nation corporations and entrepreneurs in northern Ontario to think big too.

“We need to think about Aboriginal business in this region as more than just the local gas station,” he said. “We need to be thinking about our businesses as local businesses, as regional businesses, as provincial businesses.”

When it comes to mining development, “There’s so much opportunity out there for our communities to think outside the box,” said Gladu. “There are so many opportunities for our communities to get engaged, not just in the drilling, not just in the line clearing, not just in exploration, but there’s also camp services, accounting services, engineering services. And we’ve got a lot of Aboriginal businesses that can do that.”

Thinking outside the box might include learning from outside the province, Gladu reminded those at the Ontario forum.

“Our cousins to the west … bring know-how, experience, and they bring that from an Aboriginal perspective,” he said. “I think this is something everybody in this room should talk more about. How do we incorporate that experience from other Aboriginal businesses that have been doing well? How do we incorporate that here?”

photo: Bryan PhelanJP Gladu, president and CEO of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business: ‘I think there’s a strong, silent majority of Aboriginal people who, like myself, are very pro-sustainable, responsible development.’


ᐅᐡᑭ ᐱᒧᒋᑫᐃᐧᐣ

ᒋᐊᔑᑎᓂᑕᐧ

ᐊᓂᔑᓂᓂᐊᐧᐠ

ᐱᐊᐧᐱᑯᑲᓂ ᐊᓄᑭᐃᐧᓂᐠᐅᑎᐸᒋᒧ ᑊᕑᐊᔭᐣ ᐯᓫᐊᐣᑲᑭᐃᓀᐧᑕᒪᑫᐨ ᐱᑐᓂᔭ ᐊᐣᒋᐢ

ᓂᔑᐣ ᐊᓂᔑᓂᓂᐃᐧ ᑕᔑᑫᐃᐧᓇᐣ ᐁᐧᑎ ᐧᐸᕑᐟ ᑊᕑᐊᐣᓯᐢ ᐃᓀᑫ ᑕᐃᔑᐃᐧᒋᐦᐃᐁᐧᒪᑲᓄᐣ ᐊᓂᔑᓂᓂᐃᐧ ᐱᐊᐧᐱᑯᑫᐃᐧ ᐊᓄᑭᐃᐧ ᐱᒧᒋᑫᐃᐧᓂᐠ (FNMC), ᑭᓀᐧᐡ ᑲᐱᒥᐊᓄᑭᒪᑲᐣ

ᒋᔭᓂᐱᐊᐧᐱᑯᑲᓂ ᐱᒧᒋᑫᐃᐧᓂᐊᐧᐠ ᒥᓇ ᑎᐱᓇᐁᐧᓯᒪᑲᐠ.ᐊᔕ ᐣᑯᑕᐧᓱ ᐊᓂᔑᓂᓂᐃᐧ ᑕᔑᑫᐃᐧᓇᐣ ᐃᔑᑕᑭᐧᒪᑲᓄᐣ ᐁᐊᐱᑕᒪᑫᐊᐧᐨ ᐃᒪ ᐱᒧᒋᑫᐃᐧᓂᐠ

FNMC. ᐁᑲᐧ ᒥᓇ ᓂᐦᓯᐣ ᐁᐧᒥᑎᑯᔑᐃᐧ ᐱᒧᒋᑫᐃᐧᓇᐣ ᐃᒪ ᐃᔑᐃᐧᒋᑕᒪᑲᓄᐣ, ᐊᔑᐨ ᐃᐁᐧ SNC-Lavalin, ᒥᐦᐅᐁᐧ ᐯᔑᐠ ᑲᓂᑲᓂᒪᑲᐠ ᐊᐧᑲᐦᐃᑫᐃᐧ ᐊᓄᑭᐃᐧᐣ ᒥᓇ ᓇᓇᑲ ᑭᒋᐊᓄᑭᐃᐧ ᐃᔑᒋᑫᐃᐧ ᑫᑯᓇᐣ ᑲᐱᒧᑐᐊᐧᐨ ᒥᓯᐁᐧᑲᒥᐠ. ᐃᐧᓇᐊᐧ ᑕᐡ ᐊᓂᔑᓂᓂᐊᐧᐠ ᐊᐊᐧᔑᒣ ᐊᐱᑕ ᐅᑐᐣᒋᑎᐯᑕᓇᐊᐧ ᐅᐁᐧᓂ ᒪᒋᒋᑫᐃᐧᓂ FNMC – 51 ᐳᕑᓭᐣᐟ.

ᐅᑯᐁᐧᓂᐊᐧᐠ ᑕᔾ ᓄᑯᑦ ᐃᒪ ᑲᑭᐅᐣᒋᑕᑭᐊᐧᐨ ᐊᓂᔑᓂᓂᐊᐧᐠ, ᕑᐁᓂ ᕑᐃᐳᕑ ᐁᑲᐧ ᓀᑲᒋᐊᐧᓂᐣ, ᐁᐧᑎ ᒋᕑᐃᑎ 3 ᐅᐣᒋᑎᐯᐣᑕᑲᐧᓄᐣ ᐅᓄᐁᐧᓂᐊᐧᐣ ᑕᓇᐱᐃᐧᓇᐣ ᐯᔓᐨ ᐸᐧᕑᐟ ᑊᕑᐊᐣᓯᐢ.

ᒣᑲᐧᐨ ᐊᐱ ᓴᑭᐸᑲᐃᐧᐱᓯᑦ, ᐢᑎᐱᐣ ᓫᐃᐣᓫᐃ ᑲᔭᓂᑫ ᐅᑭᒪᐃᐧᐨ for SNC-Lavalin ᐱᐊᐧᐱᑯᑫᐃᐧ ᐱᒧᒋᑫᐃᐧᓂᐠ, ᐅᑭᔭᓂᒧᑕᐣ ᑲᑭᐅᐡᑭᑕᑭᐧᐊᐧᐨ ᒣᑲᐧᐨ ᑲᑭᐸᑭᑎᓇᐠ ᐅᑎᐸᒋᒧᐃᐧᐣ ᐃᒪ FNMC ᐱᒧᒋᑫᐃᐧᓂᐠ ᐁᐧᑎ ᑕᐣᑐᕑ ᐯ ᐅᑌᓇᐠ.

ᐅᐁᐧ ᐅᐡᑭ ᒪᒋᑕᐃᐧᐣ ᑭᐃᐧᐣᒋᑲᑌᐸᐣ ᑲᐅᐡᑭᔭᑭᐊᐧᐠ ᒉᐣᐁᐧᕑᐃ ᐱᓯᑦ ᓂᑕᑦ ᑲᑭᒪᒋᑐᐊᐧᐸᐣ, ᐊᔑᐨ ᐅᐱᔑᑯᑲᐠ ᐃᐡᑯᓂᑲᓂᐠ ᑲᐅᒋᐊᐧᐨ ᐁᐧᑎ ᑭᐁᐧᑎᓄᐠ ᓀᐣᑲᐱᐦᐊᓄᐠ ᐅᐣᑌᕑᐃᔪ ᐃᓀᑫ ᐁᑲᐧ ᒥᓇ ᓂᐦᓯᐣ ᐊᓂᔑᓂᓂᐃᐧ ᑕᓇᐱᐃᐧᓇᐣ ᐊᐧᐸᐣ ᐅᑭᒪᑲᓇᐠ ᑲᐅᒋᒪᒪᐃᐧᓄᐊᐧᐨ ᐁᐧᑎ ᑭᐁᐧᑎᓄᐠ ᐊᐧᐸᓄᐠ ᐃᔑ - ᑊᓫᐊᐃᐣᐠ ᐳᐢᐟ, ᒪᑕᑲᒥ ᒥᓇ ᐊᐧᑯᔑᐣᐠ. FNMC ᑕᐅᐣᒋ ᐅᓂᓂᑲᑌ ᐃᐧᑕᓄᑭᒥᑐᐃᐧᓇᐣ ᒋᐃᐧᒋᑕᐧᒪᑲᑭᐣ ᐊᓂᔑᓂᓂᐃᐧ ᑕᓇᐱᐃᐧᓇᐣ ᒋᔑᐊᓄᑭᐊᐧᐨ ᓇᓇᑲᐤ ᑭᒋᐊᓄᑭᐃᐧ ᑫᑯᓇᐣ, ᐊᐧᑲᐦᐃᑫᐃᐧᓂ, ᐊᐦᑭᐃᐧ ᓇᓇᑲᒋᒋᑫᐃᐧ ᐊᓄᑭᐃᐧᓂᐠ ᒥᓇ ᑯᑕᑭᔭᐣ ᐊᓄᑭᑕᒪᑫᐃᐧᓇᐣ ᒋᔑᐊᓄᑭᐊᐧᐨ ᐱᐊᐧᐱᑯᑲᓂ ᐱᒧᒋᑫᐃᐧᓇᐣ ᑲᐃᔑᐊᔭᑭᐣ ᐅᐣᑌᕑᐃᔪ.

“ᐱᓂᐡ ᑕᓂᔑᓭ, FNMC ᐱᒧᒋᑫᐃᐧᐣ ᒋᔭᓂ ᑎᐱᓇᐁᐧᐃᐧᓯᐊᐧᐨ ᐱᐊᐧᐱᑯᑲᓂ ᐊᓄᑭᐃᐧ ᐱᒧᒋᑫᐃᐧᓂ,” ᑭᐃᑭᑐ ᓫᐃᐣᓫᐃ ᒣᑲᐧᐨ ᐅᐣᑌᕑᐃᔪ ᐱᐊᐧᐱᑯᑲᓂ ᒪᐊᐧᒋᐦᐃᑐᐃᐧᐣ ᑲᑭᑐᒋᑲᑌᐠ. “ᒥᐱᑯ ᓂᓇᐃᐧᐟ ᐁᑐᑕᒪᐠ ᐁᐱᒥᓂᔕᐦᐃᑫᔭᐠ, ᑲᓂᔑᐱᒥ ᐊᔭᑲᐃᐧᐱᒥᑐᒋᑲᑌᑭᐣ ᑫᑯᓇᐣ, ᐱᓂᐡ ᐊᐱᐣ ᒋᔭᓂ ᑌᐱᓂᑲᑌᐠ ᑲᐃᔑᑲᑫᐧ ᑲᐡᑭᒋᑲᑌᐠ.”

ᐅᐁᐧ ᑲᑭᒪᒥᑐᓀᒋᑲᑌᑭᐸᐣ ᐃᐧᑕᓄᑭᒥᑐᐃᐧᐣ ᒋᑐᒋᑲᑌᐠ ᑭᐅᐣᒋᐃᓀᒋᑲᑌᑭᐸᐣ ᐅᑕᓇᐠ ᑲᑭᔭᑭᐊᐧᐠ. “ᓂᔑᐣ ᐊᓂᔑᓂᓂᐃᐧ ᐊᓄᑭᐃᐧ ᐱᒧᒋᑫᐠ ᐅᑭᒪᒋᑐᓇᐊᐧᐸᐣ ᐅᐁᐧᓂ FNMC ᐊᔕ ᒥᔑᓄᔭᑭ ᑲᑭᐱᐅᐣᒋ ᐱᒥᐊᐧᐃᐧᑕᓄᑭᒪᑲ … ᒉᓴᐣ ᐸᑎᐢ ᐃᒪ ᑲᐃᔑᐊᓄᑭᑕᒪᑫᐨ ᐊᐧᐸᐣ ᐅᑭᒪᑲᓇᐠ ᐁᑲᐧ ᒥᓇ ᑯᕑᐃᐢ ᐊᐣᒋᑯᓀᑊ ᐁᐧᑎ ᐅᐱᔑᑯᑲᐠ ᐃᐡᑯᓂᑲᓂᐠ,” ᐃᑭᑐ ᓫᐃᐣᓫᐃ.

FNMC ᐱᒧᒋᑫᐃᐧᐣ ᐃᔑᐸᑯᓭᓂᒧ ᐁᐧᐃᔭᓂ ᐃᐧᑕᓄᑭᒪᐨ ᐊᓂᔑᓂᓂᐊᐧᐠ ᑲᓇᑕᐁᐧᑕᒧᐊᐧᐨ ᒋᑭᔭᓂ ᓇᐣᑭᒪᒋᑐᐊᐧᐨ ᐅᐸᐸᒥᓯᐃᐧ ᐃᐧᑕᓄᑭᒥᑐᐃᐧᓂᐊᐧᐠ ᐯᔓᐨ ᑲᑕᓇᓄᑭᒪᑲᓂᐠ ᐱᐊᐧᐱᑯᑲᓂ ᐊᓄᑭᐃᐧᓂᐠ. ᐁᑲᐧ ᐃᐧᓇᐊᐧ ᐊᐊᐧᔑᒣ ᐊᐱᑕ ᑕᑭᐅᐣᒋᑎᐱᓇᐁᐧᓯᐸᓂᐠ ᐅᐃᐧᑕᓄᑭᒥᑐᐃᐧ ᐊᓄᑭᐃᐧᓂᐊᐧ, ᐁᑲᐧ ᑲᔦ FNMC ᑫᑲᐟ ᐊᐱᑕ ᑕᐅᐣᒋ ᑎᐯᐣᑕᑲᐧᐣ. ᒥᑕᐡ ᔑᐃᓯᓭᐠ ᐊᓂᔑᓂᓂᐊᐧᐠ ᐃᑯ ᐃᐧᓇᐊᐧ ᒋᑎᐱᓇᐁᐧᐃᐧᓯᐊᐧᐨ.

ᐃᒪ ᑫᐅᐣᒋ ᐸᐱᑭᓯᐊᓄᑲᑌᐠ ᐱᐊᐧᐱᑯᑲᓂ ᐊᓄᑭᐃᐧᐣ, ᑕᓂᑲᓂ ᑲᓇᐊᐧᐸᒋᑲᑌᐊᐧᐣ ᐊᓂᔑᓂᓂᐊᐧᐠ ᒋᓂᑲᐡᑭᐦᐅᐊᐧᐨ ᐱᐊᐧᐱᑯᑲᓂ ᐊᓄᑭᐃᐧᓇᐣ, ᐃᑭᑐ ᓫᐃᐣᓫᐃ.

“ᑲᑭᓇ ᐃᓂᐁᐧᓂᐊᐧᐣ ᓂᐦᓯᐣ ᐁᐧᒥᑎᑯᔑᐃᐧ ᐱᒧᒋᑫᐃᐧᓇᐣ ᑲᐃᐧᑕᓄᒥᑐᒪᑲᑭᐣ ᐃᒪ FNMC ᐅᑕᔭᓇᐊᐧ ᐊᓄᑭᐃᐧ ᑭᑭᓄᐦᐊᒪᑫᐃᐧᓇᐣ,” ᐃᑭᑐ. “ᐣᑐᒋᐱᒥᐃᐧᑕᓄᑕᓄᑭᒪᒥᓇᐠ ᑲᐱᑐᒧᐊᐧᐨ ᑭᒋᐃᐡᑯᓄᑲᒥᑯᐣ ᑐᑲᐣ ᑲᐧᓫᐃᐨ ᒥᓇ ᑯᑕᑭᔭᐣ ᑭᑭᓄᐦᐊᒪᑫᐃᐧᑲᒥᑯᐣ.” FNMC ᑲᔦ ᑕᐅᐣᒋᐃᐧᒋᐦᐃᑎᓱᒪᑲᐣ ᑫᐅᐣᒋ ᔓᓂᔭᑫᒪᑲᐠ ᐃᒪ ᒋᔑᐸᑭᑎᓇᑭᐣ ᐊᓄᑭᐃᐧ ᑭᑭᓄᐦᐊᒪᑫᐃᐧᓇᐣ ᒥᓇ ᑫᓄᒋ ᒪᒋᓂᐡᑲᒪᐦᐃᑎᓱᒪᑲᐠ, ᑭᐊᓂᑭᑐ ᓫᐃᐣᓫᐃ.

ᑭᐃᔑᑲᓇᐊᐧᐸᒋᑲᑌ ᑕᔑᑫᐃᐧᓂᐠ ᑲᐊᔭᐊᐧᐨ ᒥᓇ ᐊᓂᔑᓂᓂᐃᐧ ᐃᐧᑕᓄᑭᒥᑐᐃᐧᓇᐣ ᐅᒪ FNMC ᒋᑭᔭᓂᐅᐣᑎᓇᒧᐊᐧᐸᐣ ᒥᓄᓭᐃᐧᓂ ᑲᐃᐧᑕᓄᑭᒥᑐᐊᐧᐨ. ᐸᓂᒪ ᑕᐡ ᑭᔭᓂᑌᐱᓇᒧᐊᐧᐨ ᔓᓂᔭᐃᐧ ᒥᓄᓭᐃᐧᓂ, ᒣᑲᐧᐠ ᐃᓯᓭᐊᐧᐠ FNMC ᒋᐅᒋ ᐃᐧᒋᐦᐃᑯᐊᐧᐠ ᔓᓂᔭᓂᐠ ᐃᓀᑫ ᐁᐧᒥᑎᑯᔑᐃᐧ ᐃᐧᑕᓄᑭᒥᒪᑲᓄᐊᐧ. “ᐣᑲᑭᑲᐡᑭᑐᒥᐣ ᒋᑭᐅᐣᑎᓇᒪᓱᔭᐠ ᔓᓂᔭ,” ᐃᑭᑐ ᓫᐃᐣᓫᐃ.

FNMC ᐅᑲᐸᑭᑎᓇᓇᐊᐧ ᒋᐱᒥᐅᑕᐱᓇᐊᐧᐨ ᑫᔭᓂ ᐅᐡᑭᐃᐧᑕᓄᑭᒥᑯᐊᐧᐨ ᑭᔭᑦ ᐊᓂᔑᓂᓂᐊᐧᐠ ᒥᓇ ᐁᐧᒥᑎᑯᔑᐊᐧᐠ, ᑭᐃᑭᑐ.

“ᐅᐡᑭ ᑫᑯᓄᐊᐧᐣ ᐅᐁᐧ ᑲᑐᒋᑲᑌᐠ ᒋᐊᔑᑎᓂᑲᑌᑭᐣ ᑕᓇᐱᐃᐧᓇᐣ ᒋᐃᐧᒋᑕᐧᒪᑲᑭᐣ ᐱᐊᐧᐱᑯᑲᓂ ᐊᓄᑭᐃᐧ ᒪᒋᒋᑫᐃᐧᓂᐠ.”

ᐃᐧᔭᓂᔑ ᑲᑫᐧᑐᑕᓇᐊᐧ ᐊᓂᔑᓂᓂᐊᐧᐠ ᒋᐱᒧᑕᒪᓱᐊᐧᐨ ᒥᓇ ᒋᑎᐱᓇᐁᐧᐃᐧᓯᐊᐧᐨ, ᐃᑭᑐ ᓫᐃᐣᓫᐃ. “FNMC ᐱᒧᒋᑫᐃᐧᐣ ᐸᑯᓭᐣᑕᑦ ᒋᑎᐯᐣᑕᐠ ᐱᐊᐧᐱᑯᑫᐃᐧ ᐊᓄᑭᐃᐧᓂ.”


Naicatchewenin and Rainy River join First Nations Mining CorporationA new model for including First Nations in mining projectsBryan PhelanOnotassiniik

Two First Nations from the Fort Frances area have committed to joining the

fledgling First Nations Mining Corporation (FNMC), which has a long-term goal of becoming a mine developer and owner.

Six First Nations are now on board as partners in FNMC along with three non-Aboriginal companies, including SNC-Lavalin, one of the leading construction and engineering groups in the world. First Nations will control the majority of shares in the corporation – 51 per cent.

Among those First Nations are the latest additions, Rainy River and Naicatchewenin, both located in Treaty 3 territory near Fort Frances. Stephen Lindley, vice-president of Aboriginal and northern aff airs for SNC-Lavalin Group, noted the involvement of the new partners June 19 during a presentation about FNMC at the Ontario Mining Forum in Thunder Bay.

The proposed corporation was first announced in January by its founding partners, which include Lac Seul First Nation in northwestern Ontario and three First Nations belonging to the Wabun tribal council in the northeast – Flying Post, Mattagami and Wahgoshig. Other private sector partners are Cementation Canada, known for underground mine construction and contract mining, and the Morris Group, a smaller company based near Sudbury that provides camp services to mines and resource industry training to First Nations.

FNMC will form joint venture partnerships with local Aboriginal communities to carry out engineering, construction, environmental and other services for mining companies in Ontario.

“At the end of the day, FNMC wants to be the mine owner,” Lindley said at the Ontario Mining Forum. “So really, we’re just walking along that path, piece by piece by piece, to get to that end game.”

As of mid June, “FNMC is still right now at the MOU (memorandum of understanding) stage,” Lindley said. “We’re working extremely hard right now on a definitive agreement and are pretty hopeful we’ll have an incorporated entity within weeks.”

The idea of such a partnership model was born about a year ago. “The concept of the FNMC was developed by a couple of Aboriginal business leaders I’ve worked with for many years … Jason Batise from the Wabun tribal council and Chris Angeconeb from Lac Seul First Nation,” said Lindley. “These two friends

approached a couple of their trusted non-Aboriginal partners … with the vision of establishing a company that would be Aboriginally owned and at some point in the future would be capitalized and capable of actually developing mining projects (itself). That’s a pretty big goal.”

Achieving it is considered by the partners to be several years away.

“We think what’s needed to get there is technical capacity, management capacity, as well as financing and, basically, experience,” Lindley said.

Local First Nation partnerships

FNMC intends to establish “local limited partnerships” with First Nations wanting to maximize their involvement in nearby mining projects. The local First Nation would own 51 per cent of the limited partnership, while FNMC would own the balance. So, both FNMC and the local limited partnership would be majority Aboriginal owned.

Through FNMC – “the mother ship,” Lindley called it to help illustrate the model – the local First Nation would draw on the technical mine development capacity that is available through the strategic partners. “Over time, the technical capacity that is developed among the First Nation companies presumably will grow and mature.”

For each mining project, increasing the capacity of the local First Nation’s skills pool would be an immediate priority, said Lindley.

“All three non-Aboriginal partners (in FNMC) have pretty mature training programs at a technical level,” he said. “We have experience partnering with colleges and educational institutions.” FNMC is also committed to investing some of its profits in training programs and capacity building, Lindley added.

The non-Aboriginal partners in FNMC

will also use their experience in the mining industry to help local contractors better understand the competitive bidding process and how to eff ectively respond to a tender, he said, which should help them land more contracts than they would otherwise.

FNMC is counting on mining owners seeing the benefit of a local First Nation having the ability to take on more contracts from this kind of partnering.

“FNMC does provide the opportunity for mine owners to build strong foundations in the community, which at the end of the day are probably measured by ‘social licence’ to operate,” Lindley said. “I think you can see the advantage if the First Nation is right there with you as part … of the project, actually engaged in the environmental permitting and approvals process. That consultation and accommodation process will go a lot more smoothly. That’s the plan.”

Of course, the plan is also for local First Nations and First Nation partners at the FNMC level to accumulate wealth from their participation. Until that wealth is generated, however, FNMC will rely on the financial wherewithal of the large non-Aboriginal partners, Cementation Canada, SNC-Lavalin – which has off ices in Canada and more than 40 other countries around the world – and perhaps others that might join FNMC in the future. “We have the ability to access financing; we have the ability to work with mine owners to access financing that even mine owners might not have access to,” Lindley said.

“The concept is that as the company matures and is engaged in projects across Ontario, we will leave shares outstanding for new partners – both First Nations as well as non-Aboriginal strategic partners – to join FNMC,” he added.

“If a First Nation brings an opportunity to FNMC, we’ll give them the opportunity to join as a shareholder in FNMC. Our vision for the number of shareholders really isn’t limited at this point. We see nothing wrong if in time we have most of the First Nations in Ontario as shareholders in FNMC. In fact, that would be kind of cool.”

It’s a new model, a new way of thinking about including First Nations in mining projects as part of sustainable development, Lindley said.

“We can talk resource revenue sharing, we can talk about benefits from IBAs (impact benefit agreements), but ultimately the end game is about Aboriginal ownership and control. And that’s the core value for FNMC. At the end of the day, FNMC wants to be the mine owner.”

“We see nothing wrong if in time we have most of the First Nations in Ontario as shareholders in FNMC. In fact, that would be kind of cool.”

–Stephen Lindley Vice-president, Aboriginal and northern aff airs

SNC-Lavalin Group

photo: Bryan Phelan

Chris Angeconeb, Lac Seul First Nation’s general manager of economic development.

ᒉᓴᐣ ᐸᑎᐢ ᑲᑕᓇᓄᑭᐨ ᐊᐧᐸᐣ ᐅᑭᒪᑲᓇᐠ.

10 FALL 2014

Wawatay Translation [email protected]

OjibwayOjicree

Cree

Break down the language barrier.



(in for quote only)

Please proof your ad and return it no later than 12 noon on the Monday prior to publication. Otherwise, your ad will run as it appears on this proof.April 15, 2013 5:39 PM

Date Completed:

ONO SUMMER2013 WNCS Translation Directory AdsFile ID:



Client Signature

Size:

Directory Single

AD PROOF

Advertise onw a w a t a y n e w s . c a

[email protected]



(in for quote only)

Please proof your ad and return it no later than 12 noon on the Monday prior to publication. Otherwise, your ad will run as it appears on this proof.April 15, 2013 5:12 PM

Date Completed:

ONO SUMMER2013 WNCS Web Advertising Directory AdFile ID:



Client Signature

Size:

Directory Single

AD PROOF

www.wawataynews.ca/print_services

Wawatay

DESIGNand

PRINTSERVICES

Roxann Shapwaykeesic • [email protected]/printservices807-344-3022 • 1-888-575-2349

Thunder Bay 106 Centenial Square - 2nd Floor

Thunder Bay, ON P7E 1H3 Toll Free: 1-800-465-6821 Phone: (807)623-5397

Fax: (807)622-8271

Timmins 251 Third Ave - Suite 9 Timmins, ON P4N 1E3

Toll Free: 1-800-461-9858 Phone: (705)268-3940 Fax: (705)268-4034

NADF provides: •Business support services •Business plan and guidance and advice •Commercial financing and leasing •Contribution financing •Appraisal services •Resource advisory services

Starting, expanding or acquiring a business? Our business team is here to help you!

www.nadf.org Supporting the Success of Aboriginal Business



Fax: (807)622-8271








Fax: (807)622-8271








(in for quote only)

Please proof your ad and return it no later than 12 noon on the Monday prior to publication. Otherwise, your ad will run as it appears on this proof.June 28, 2013 11:48 AM

Date Completed:

ONO Fall2013 NADF DirectoryFile ID:



Client Signature

Size:

Business Card Double

AD PROOF

RESOURCE DIRECTORYTo advertise contact Tom Scura, [email protected]

Goldcorp recommends long-term strategy for job readiness

While Goldcorp director of Aboriginal, government and community relations for Canada and the U.S., Colin Webster made a presentation March 25 to a parliamentary committee for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development. The topic being studied by the committee was “Opportunities for Aboriginal Persons in the Workforce.” Below are excerpts from Webster’s presentation and his responses to related committee questions, edited for length and clarity. Webster has since left Goldcorp to join the management team of Noront Resources, as vice-president of sustainability. He is a member of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg, near Maniwaki, Quebec.

Goldcorp currently has four Canadian mines – three in Ontario and one

in Quebec. Two of our Ontario mines are located in the communities of Red Lake and Timmins; our Musselwhite mine is a fly-in remote mine located approximately 480 kilometres north of Thunder Bay. We

are also developing our Éléonore mine in the James Bay area of northern Quebec, scheduled to enter commercial production later this year.

I would like to share with you some insights into our ongoing partnership with the Cree at our Éléonore mine in Quebec.

Since 2011 we have had in place a collaboration agreement with the Cree Nation of Wemindji, the Grand Council of the Crees, and the Cree Regional Authority. Under the provisions of these agreements, a large number of Cree-owned and -operated businesses are providing us with a wide range of construction-related and site support services, including large civil works, road construction and camp services. Currently we have 475 Cree from the territory working at the site, 226 of whom are employed in operations and 269 in construction.

I certainly do not want to speak on behalf of the Cree nation. However, I submit that thanks in some measure to the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement of 1975 and to subsequent investments in the area, the Cree now enjoy a large pool of businesses and a critical mass of skilled labour in many areas compatible with the needs of our operations.

This is the kind of model we would like to replicate at some of our Ontario mines. However, even though a large number of Aboriginal people living in the local neighbouring communities are eager to find good employment and to provide a better future for themselves and their families, neither sustainable strategic training opportunities nor infrastructure is suff iciently available.

In Quebec, the Cree were adamant they would provide us with employees who were work-ready, and they took ownership of doing that. They set up

the training programs with their existing institutions and funds, and funds from various governments. So, they’ve provided us with candidates who were ready for employment within Goldcorp and they are working for us today.

Our Cree partners in Quebec also came to the table with significant capacity in terms of business.

They told us: “We don’t want all the contracts. We want to be able to negotiate with you on certain contracts that we think we can execute very well. We want to be able to bid on certain contracts that we think we can deliver quite well. There are some that we recognize we can’t deliver, so we’re not going to worry about those just yet.”

Thanks in some measure to the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement of 1975 and to subsequent investments in the area, the Cree now enjoy a large pool of business and a critical mass of skilled labour in many areas compatible with the needs of our operations.

Ontario could win big with new U.S. emissions standardsMove to renewables would give boost to Ring of Fire Ryan LijdsmanColumnistTroy Media, www.troymedia.com

During the height of the ‘great recession’ there were very few politicians or business leaders

who were focused on anything but short-term economic recovery. By 2010, both the Western Climate Initiative’s cap-and-trade program and the European Emissions Trading system (ETS) were mired in economic and structural problems. Most people believed greenhouse gas reduction and cap-and-trade programs were all but dead.

Today, cap-and-trade is being resurrected. Political decisions in the European Union have stabilized the ETS. Quebec and California have established a multi-jurisdictional carbon trading program that demonstrated cap-and-trade can work across borders. The program is also a model for new U.S. carbon reduction rules announced in June by the Obama administration.

Cap-and-trade provides a market-based approach to controlling pollution through economic incentives. A central body sets a limit on pollutants, which are then sold to firms in the form of emission credits. These limits are reduced over time and firms must hold permits for what they emit. If companies need more permits, they must buy them from others who have reduced their emissions, thus creating a market value for the credits and an economic incentive to reduce carbon emissions.

Cap-and-trade will put the U.S. on a course to meet its international climate goal, and put it in a better position to influence other big polluter nations, including Canada.

The new U.S. emission rules will cut greenhouse gas emissions from power plants by nearly 25 per cent over the next 15 years. Key to this plan is cap-and-trade and then letting each state determine how best to achieve the cuts. The likely outcomes will be the closure of the least eff icient power plants, increased wind and solar power, and new energy-eff iciency technology.

These changes may initially sound negative for Canada. But Alberta already has a cap-and-trade program that could be modified to match U.S standards. And a recent study by the Pembina Institute shows that within a well-structured cap-and-trade program, Canada’s gross domestic product would continue to grow at 2.1 per cent per year.

New U.S. eff iciency standards and technology will also be positive for the Canadian mining industry – specifically for the country’s emerging rare-earth industry and for Ontario’s Ring of

Fire. The economics behind related projects will improve as demand increases for chromite, platinum, palladium, nickel, copper, and rare earths – all needed to make more eff icient products in the industries of consumer electronics, lighting, solar power, automotive, medical devices, defence, and aerospace.

If we follow China’s example, the Ring of Fire will not only be a boon for mining but will also become a catalyst for vertically-integrated manufacturing that has the potential to renew Ontario’s lagging manufacturing sector. China is the leading manufacturer of hybrid and electric vehicles, wind turbines and high-eff iciency lighting. It achieved this by reducing exports of rare earths and forcing manufacturers from other countries to open factories in China to access them. Canada could off er an alternative for rare earths and for the wide variety of minerals found in the Ring of Fire.

The U.S. may be leading by example with its new emission standards but it is not standing alone. Canadians played a central role in the Quebec-California cap-and-trade program and will be central in supplying the raw materials needed to produce the next generation of energy-eff icient products.

If the federal government does for the Ring of Fire and Ontario manufacturing what it did for the Alberta oilsands, Ontario will stand at the vanguard of a new green boom. However, if governments choose to ignore cap-and-trade and carbon reduction, what could have been a boom for Canada will be a bust, and other countries, most likely China, the U.S. and those in the EU, will reap all the economic benefits of cap-and-trade.

Ryan Lijdsman is a Canadian-based international business consultant.‘GOLDCORP’

CONTINUED ON PAGE 11


Colour

We’ve agreed to that approach but we have ongoing dialogue about what big contracts are coming up and we ask them if they think they can execute these well.

In Ontario, where we have historic operations in Red Lake and Timmins, there are already well-established contractor communities. The First Nations recognize that. They don’t want us

to get rid of our existing contractors to put themselves at the front of the line. What they’ve said is, “We’d like to work with you on opportunities where we can build our capacity from the ground up, where we can execute contracts where we already have existing capacity. Over time we’ll build up our capacity to the point where we are owners of the businesses and we can execute more contracts.”

Miners, not educatorsGoldcorp recognizes its role in the

skills development of our existing employees. We strongly believe in the continued technical and professional growth of our people in order for them not only to become integral to Goldcorp’s success but also to become major contributors to the development and ongoing success of their respective communities. However, in certain development forums – as one example, within the

area of entry-level skills – we must recognize our shortcomings, in that we are foremost miners and not educators.

Given the challenges ahead for our industry and the enormous opportunity that Canada’s Aboriginal communities present, we provide the following for consideration. First, that together with provincial authorities, the federal government should consider a long-term strategy designed to increase job readiness training, technical and business skills,

and other such opportunities, enabling a greater number of Aboriginal people to participate in the economic opportunities across the entire mineral development spectrum. And second, that the ongoing support of government infrastructure be provided to ensure that training needs are met and to ensure that training continues long after our needs for labour have been satisfied.

Goldcorp would welcome opportunities to work more closely with governments on both initiatives.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10


Former AFN executive promotes P3 model for infrastructureBryan PhelanOnotassiniik

Public-private partnerships, also known as P3s, will be considered as a mechanism

for building the power supply, roads and other assets needed to enable mining development in the Ring of Fire. Dale Booth, who has held senior positions with the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and the department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development (AANDC), is sure of it.

“I can guarantee it, P3s are going to be … looked at very closely for the Ring of Fire, and not only for the power transmission, not only the transportation,” Booth predicted during a presentation on the topic at the Ontario Mining Forum in June.

The P3 model should also be considered for building infrastructure in First Nations near the Ring of Fire and elsewhere, said Booth, president of Tiree Innovation, a First Nations company located in the Mohawk community of Akwesasne.

“It allows communities access to external capital for their infrastructure and … it’s an effective model to get things done on time and on budget,” he said.

How does the P3 model work? Essentially, federal and provincial governments fund and finance the infrastructure, along with private equity sources, Booth explained, and a private sector partner builds and maintains it.

The P3 model has been applied to more than 200 projects across Canada, from roads to schools to hospitals, although the approach is relatively new to First Nations, said Mark Romoff, president and CEO of the Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships. He sat as a panelist alongside Booth at the Mining Forum in Thunder Bay. “First Nations are facing infrastructure deficits at a time of fiscal challenge, so it’s now increasingly attractive to look at,” Romoff said.

Added Booth, formerly chief executive officer of the Assembly of First Nations: “In First Nations … there’s a huge infrastructure gap. The chiefs

and the councillors and community members who are here, they know what that looks like.” In Webequie First Nation near the Ring of Fire, for example, results of a study made public last year indicated it would take $28 million to bring the First Nation’s infrastructure – roads, housing, garbage disposal, and water and sewage treatment – up to the Canadian standard.

Mining development in the Ring of Fire could further stress infrastructure in surrounding First Nations, Booth suggested. “There are going to be lots and lots of people coming up into the communities, and your community may need new water and wastewater facilities, may need new schools, may need new housing, may need new infrastructure assets, to be able to accept all of those new people.”

P3s aren’t the only solution, he said. “It’s a tool in the toolkit.”

Once a P3 is in place, it’s private contractors who troubleshoot infrastructure problems.

“Chiefs have told me assets are not lasting for their intended life cycle; they’re rusting out early,” said Booth. “Central to this P3 model is … if the asset doesn’t perform for that period of time, it is the responsibility of the contractor, the private sector, to fix that problem. For example with a school, you have a contractor responsible for the operation and maintenance, and if the heat goes out or there’s a water leak, that’s not your responsibility.”

Community support for a P3 project is especially important before proceeding because you’re getting into a long-term relationship with the private sector, for 20-30 years, depending on the asset, Booth said. One important question to ask up front, he added: “Is the community ready for possible user fees in order to pay for the asset?”

P3s also require a different way of looking at infrastructure assets. “You’re buying a service,” Booth explained. “When you’re getting a water treatment facility built … you’re buying so many cubic metres of fresh water. That’s what you’re getting.”

Bundling ProjectsTo attract an experienced private sector

provider to a P3 project, the target value of the project should be about $100 million, said Booth, and will likely require “bundling” as one smaller projects from several First Nations. “You need to explore doing this at the regional and tribal council level.” Matawa First Nations already working together on regional issues around the Ring of Fire may be well positioned to do this, he observed.

As for federal funding for P3 projects of up to 30 years, Aboriginal Affairs would have to deviate from its existing funding mechanisms that only cover up to five years, Booth added. “They are starting to do it now. There are two projects that they are currently backing and they are looking at how they can make these projects happen.”

He described the projects.In one case, there are four First Nations in

Manitoba that are in the “conceptualization stage” of bundling construction of schools together under one P3 contract.

The other case involves the Atlantic Policy Congress of Chiefs bundling 33 community water and wastewater facilities under a single P3 contract. “They’ve been resourced by AANDC, both regional and headquarters, to put together their project team and it’s moving forward,” Booth said. “This is one that if you’re a First Nations chief, councillor or member, you should be watching very closely to see and to learn how this project is going.”

To close the infrastructure gap, “Really, in the First Nations community, it’s new sources of capital that we’re looking for,” Booth said.

“If you’re a First Nations chief, councillor or member, you should be watching very closely to see and to learn how this project is going.”

–Dale Booth, president of Tiree Innovation

“First Nations are facing infrastructure deficits at a time of fiscal challenge.”

–Mark Romoff, president and CEO, Canadian Council for Public-

Private Partnerships

GOLDCORP

To learn more about advertising on WRN or about how to book a live broadcast of your community event, contact:

Mark KakekagumickClient Services RepresentativePhone: (807) 737-2951 ext. 2232Fax: (807) 737-2263Toll Free: 1-800-243-9059Email: [email protected]

Listen to Wawatay Radio Network

89.9 FM in Sioux Lookout106.7 FM in TimminsBellTV Channel 962

wawataynews.ca/radio

Broadcasting weekdays in:Cree from TimminsOjicree from Sioux Lookout

Check out these regular shows:• Booshoo2you• Noon Hour with Bill and Kenina• Wacheyah and Request Show

with Margaret Scott...and plenty more.

Visit wawataynews.ca/radiofor a complete programming schedule.

WRN also broadcasts live community events, meetings, sporting events, and gospel jamborees.

Colour

Onotassiniik Fall 2014

Documents

Transcript of Onotassiniik Fall 2014