THUNDER BAY -- There's a lot of misconceptions in the public about the Ring of Fire and First Nations and Neskantaga Chief Peter Moonias said he's tired of it.
The First Nation community leader says people believe First Nations in Matawa communities are being handed things and that everything is rosy in the Far North. Those, the chief says, are lies.
"We're not getting anything," Moonias said as Matawa Tribal Council and Noront met at the Victoria Inn Wednesday. "We're not getting anything in the way of being consulted."
Moonias said he and other Matawa chiefs have been repeating themselves for years that meaningful development from industry and government needs to occur if the development is going to take off.
While both parties have said that's happening, Moonias said consultation needs to happen at the community level in a language that all members can understand. Many people in his community don't have the education needed to be able to decipher reports or hear from lawyers.
"Speaking to the First Nations people is not consultation or going for coffee with the First Nations people is not consultation. Consultation happens in the community in that language that my people understand," he said.
While the province championed a regional framework agreement with Matawa, Moonias said it's been a long time since any discussion has taken place.
"We haven't really heard from them since they won the majority government and I don't know what’s happening," he said.
Noront CEO Alan Coutts said Matawa's concerns show that even if there are political and legal definitions for consultation, industry and communities need to come to their own agreement about what the process is.
"If that doesn't resonate with the community then there's a gap," he said.
As his company gets closer to becoming the first to develop in the Ring of Fire, more hurdles sometimes come up.
"What we're finding out right now is maybe the mining company thought it had done a very good job on consultation or environmental assessment but it's not necessarily the view of the communities. So we're making sure we're on the same page and the same things in the same language."
Noront and Matawa said Wednesday's meeting, another first step, have been positive.
