Ford tells First Nations no handouts without cooperation on resource deals

Ontario Premier Doug Ford told First Nations communities to become more self-sufficient and stop relying solely on government aid during a press conference Wednesday in St. Catharines.

Source: Facebook

Ontario Premier Doug Ford told First Nations communities to become more self-sufficient and stop relying solely on government aid during a press conference Wednesday in St. Catharines.

“There’s going to be a point where you can’t just keep coming hat in hand all the time to the government,” Ford said.

“You’ve got to be able to take care of yourselves.”

Ford’s comments came in response to a question about Indigenous participation in Ontario’s resource development strategy regarding mining projects.

“You’re saying, ‘No, no, I don’t want to touch that… by the way, give me money.’ That’s not going to happen,” Ford said.

The premier added that when he first came to office in 2018, he instructed his minister of Indigenous Affairs to “Treat ’em well and give them what they need.”

However, he emphasized that the province’s current approach is more strictly conditional.

“We’ll help them develop the mines and become very prosperous,” Ford said.

“I’m bending over backwards to make sure we take care of them. But it’s a two-way street here.”

Ford has made resource development in northern Ontario a key part of his platform, especially in the region known as the “Ring of Fire,” which contains deposits of critical minerals needed for modern infrastructure such as electric vehicle batteries.

The Ford government has previously argued that resource development can provide long-term economic opportunities for Indigenous communities and has pushed ahead with Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, in order to facilitate such projects more easily.

The legislation proposes to loosen Indigenous consultation requirements to fast-track energy, infrastructure and mineral extraction projects.

Bill 5 has drawn strong opposition from First Nations in Treaty 9 territory, who say the bill disregards constitutionally protected Indigenous rights and threatens ancestral lands in the Ring of Fire.

“These lands are not Ontario’s to do with as they wish,” Chief Donny Morris of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug wrote in a letter warning of possible legal action.