Michel Koostachin is one of many who have made the trip to Queen’s Park in recent weeks.
He and other northern leaders are raising red flags over Bill 5.
The bill, Protecting Ontario by Enabling Economic Growth Act, would grant the Ontario government powers to exempt developers from environmental laws, municipal bylaws, and consultation requirements with First Nations to fast-track development projects.
Koostachin is the founder of Friends of the Attawapiskat River, a nonprofit organization from Treaty No. 9 territory raising awareness about environmental threats tied to industrial development, including the Ring of Fire.
“We just basically wanted to tell them, ‘You guys are corrupt,’” Koostachin told TimminsToday.
“The rich are trying to get richer. We’ve seen this before. We’re not protesters, we’re protectors. This bill, it’s going to destroy the water, the land, the environment, and the peatlands. It doesn’t look good for First Nations.”
The proposed legislation has triggered outcry from leaders across the north who argue it violates the spirit and letter of Treaty No. 9, signed more than a century ago by First Nations with both the federal and Ontario governments.
That treaty affirms a nation-to-nation relationship with shared responsibilities, obligations Koostachin said are now being ignored.
“Everything’s going to be without consultation to the First Nations communities,” he said.
“The federal government has a fully shared duty with the Treaty 9 people. So I’m hoping somebody will come in and intervene.”
Koostachin raised his concerns that the bill would allow development to proceed without proper environmental assessments, risking irreversible harm to river systems and surrounding ecosystems.
“We’re telling the government, your mining people, your business partners, they’ll say this bill is good for them. But who’s going to monitor the river? The contamination? We’re concerned with the downstream, along with other First Nations communities,” he said.
“We have a duty as First Nations. We are the keepers. We look after the land. What we take, we only take what we need.”
Fort Albany First Nation (FAFN), located on the western James Bay coast, issued a public statement opposing the bill, calling it “grossly irresponsible” and “at odds with the laws that we recognize as Inninowuk.”
“There are no ‘special zones’ in nature that are immune from harm,” wrote Chief Elizabeth Kataquapit in a May 17 email.
She warned that the bill risks the long-term wellbeing of ecosystems and future generations, and violates Treaty No. 9 obligations.
Kataquapit also highlighted the community’s limited capacity to respond to the legislation, as Fort Albany had recently undergone an emergency evacuation due to spring flooding, an environmental hazard expected to worsen if protective regulations are weakened.
Mushkegowuk-James Bay MPP Guy Bourgouin said First Nations and environmental assessments “are not red tape.”
“We are not against development in the North. But we need to do it right,” Bourgouin wrote in a Facebook post on May 7.
For Koostachin, the stakes are personal and generational.
“We will protect our rivers, our environment, for our future generations,” he said.
“Because, if not, they’re going to ask, ‘How come you didn’t stop this? How come you guys didn’t say anything?’”
