Title
WCS Canada Comments - Ontario's Proposal to Repeal the Far North Act - April 2019
Author(s)
Constance O'Connor, Cheryl Chetkiewicz, Justina Ray
Published
2019
Abstract
The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry have proposed to repeal the Far North Act and retain completed land use plans and enable completion of plans at an advanced planning stage for a time-limited period. We discuss the following points, and provide recommendations.
1. The Far North Act has never restricted development in the Ring of Fire; and its repeal will not speed the development of mining projects.
2. With or without the Far North Act, the Ontario government is obliged to address Indigenous jurisdiction when introducing development in the far north.
3. The Public Lands Act is inadequate for accommodating planning and development in the far north, particularly dedicated protected areas that have been designated through community-based land use planning under the Far North Act.
4. Reliance on piecemeal project-level impact assessments will fail to address social,
environmental, and economic risks; and will fail responsible stewardship of the far north – a globally-significant region with a high degree of ecological integrity, world-class carbon stores, and providing ecosystem services far beyond is boundaries.
5. If the province doesn’t learn from the 10 years of implementation of the Far North Act, it will repeat the same mistakes and fail to address fundamental issues related to social and environmental stewardship and justice.
6. The time constraint for communities to complete their community-based land use plans is too short, and the cancellation of land use planning processes at beginning stages for many communities is arbitrary and unfair to those who have engaged in good faith with Ontario to date.
Keywords
far north; far north ontario
Access Full Text
Back
DMX3492200000