Ontario First Nation seeks mining claims ban, for now at least – Mining.com

A northern Ontario First Nations community, which opposes development of the Ring of Fire area and has fought pulp and paper mercury poisoning for decades, is taking the province to court for more consultation on all mining claims.

The Grassy Narrows First Nation, formally known as the Asubpeeschoseewagong Anishinabek, filed papers on Friday with the Ontario Superior Court against the provincial Mining Act because it allows claims without Indigenous consent. That violates Canada’s Constitution and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the community says.

The community wants the court to issue an order preventing Ontario from approving further mining claims in or around its territory, rescind those it’s already granted and establish a timeline for consultation. There are some 10,000 mining claims in Grassy Narrows’s interim area of interest for mining over more than 2,850 sq. km in the province’s far northwest, according to the court filing.

Read More: https://www.mining.com/ontario-first-nation-seeks-mining-claims-ban-for-now-at-least/