Anishinabek Nation chief says he briefed Ontario police on protests against Bill 5

A regional chief for Anishinabek Nation says he briefed Ontario Provincial Police Thursday on what to expect when First Nations take to the streets to protest provincial and federal legislation aimed at fast-tracking major projects.

Scott McLeod said he was invited by an Indigenous relations coordinator to brief officers at the OPP’s Orillia headquarters on why First Nations oppose the legislation and why they see the bills as a violation of treaties with the Crown.

“These territories are not just waiting idly for you to come and dig up the resources there. These territories are educational institutes. They are grocery stores. They are pharmacies for our medicines,” McLeod said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

“First Nations leaders in Ontario have consistently said that we are not against development, but the development has to occur in the spirit and intent of the treaty … It’s not simply sending us to mining companies to go and get impact benefit agreements.”

Federal and provincial governments have introduced legislation intended to speed up development in response to an increasingly uncertain trade relationship with the U.S. under President Donald Trump.

Both Ontario and the federal government have introduced fast-track legislation. The Ontario legislature passed Bill 5 last week and the government of Prime Minister Mark Carney plans to speed its own Bill C-5 through the House of Commons by the end of next week.

The Ontario legislation would create so-called “special economic zones” where the province can suspend provincial and municipal laws. Doug Ford’s government is expected to designate the Ring of Fire in northern Ontario as the first such zone, despite years of pushback from First Nations.

The federal bill has two parts — one to break down federal barriers to internal trade and the other to fast-track major projects. It sets out five criteria to determine whether a project is in the “national interest.”

Chiefs in Ontario have staged protests outside Queen’s Park opposing the provincial legislation, which they say violates their rights. First Nations leaders have meanwhile warned Ottawa that it can expect to find itself in court if it doesn’t properly consult with First Nations on its own legislation.

McLeod said “shutting down the economy of Ontario is not off the table” and that if police want to “avoid another Dudley George,” they need to understand First Nations’ position.

George was shot and killed during the Ipperwash crisis of 1995, when members of the Kettle and Stony Point First Nation and their supporters occupied a provincial park built on land appropriated from the First Nation in 1942.

McLeod said he told the police that First Nations are abiding by their own laws by demonstrating against legislation while governments are breaking their treaty obligations.

“This isn’t by chance that we’re getting these bills that are almost identical,” McLeod said.

“There’s no honour in the Crown going through these processes. And it’s just going to not only trigger Ontario Idle No More 2.0, but it’s going to trigger a nationwide Idle No More.”

Idle No More was a 2012 protest movement against the omnibus Bill C-45, introduced by then-prime minister Stephen Harper’s government.

Indigenous leaders said the bill, intended to ramp up resource development, would trample on their rights while giving governments and businesses more authority to develop resources without thorough environmental assessments.

Leaders allied with the Idle No More movement staged protests, rallies and blockades on railway lines and highways and earned widespread support from across the country.

McLeod said as he explained to police the treaty relationship he says governments are breaking to police, “they looked like deer in the headlights.”

“The entire foundation of Canada was built on treaties. If you disregard those treaties, you’re disregarding Canada itself.”

The Ontario Provincial Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

McLeod said the job of chiefs to be “diplomatic” has failed, and that operations are now in the hands of the grassroots.

“They’re our soldiers on the ground who are going to be the ultimate resistance of any development in our territories, and they have spoken clearly that shutting down the economy of Ontario is not off the table,” he said.

“Meaning highways, meaning railways, meaning anything that is taken for granted in our territories.”

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