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Taking a legal step

Leaders from a group of First Nation communities believe the environmental assessment set for Ring of Fire development doesn’t feature enough public consultation.
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FILE -- Matawa First Nation chiefs withdraw their support for development in the ring of fire Oct. 20. (tbnewswatch.com)

Leaders from a group of First Nation communities believe the environmental assessment set for Ring of Fire development doesn’t feature enough public consultation.

So on Monday, Matawa First Nations took a legal step in an ongoing effort to get a joint review panel on the Ring of Fire for its environmental assessment and filed an application for a judicial review.

The collection of communities hope the application will lead to a judicial review of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency’s decision to move ahead with a comprehensive study environment assessment for the Ring of Fire instead of a joint review panel.

“These are our homelands and traditional territories,” Neskantaga First Nation Chief Peter Moonias said in a media release issued Monday. “We will feel the impacts of this mine for years to come. We want development, but we don’t want another Alberta tar sands situation in our backyards and on our homelands.”

Matawa, which represents nine First Nations communities, has been asking the federal government for a joint panel for five months, but were told by the CEAA that a comprehensive study environmental assessment would suffice.

Officials with Matawa don’t believe that’s good enough, and say only a full joint review panel would be thorough enough to give the communities near Ring of Fire development peace of mind. Matawa’s claim states a comprehensive assessment will be fast-tracked and leave no time for meaningful consultation.

“ We have to have the best environmental assessment process currently available in order to safeguard our people, our children, the land, the waterways and the wildlife, now and into the future,” Moonias is also quoted as saying the media statement.

“We need to talk about the environment in a forum that respects our knowledge of the land, our oral tradition and our decision making process.”

The Attorney General of Canada and Cliff’s Natural Resources are named as respondents in the application filed by Matawa Monday.

Matawa First Nations withdrew its support for development in the Ring of Fire on Oct. 20 after it learned the CEAA was going ahead with a comprehensive review rather than a joint review panel.

In the application, Matawa claims the Crown is in breach of its constitutional duty to consult and accommodate.

It also claims the CEAA committed errors of administrative law in its decision.
 





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