Canada's Indigenous challenge fast-track mine and energy projects

• Indigenous groups say laws undermine consultation right
• Government says change needed in face of U.S. tariffs
• Indigenous leaders U.S. tariffs just an excuse

TORONTO - Canadian Indigenous groups say new laws passed to fast-track energy and mining projects undermine their constitutional rights and violate the government's obligations to Indigenous people.

The tensions between the government and Indigenous communities reflect longstanding concerns over consultation and the environmental impact of mining projects in Canada.

But a group of Canada's First Nations this week launched a constitutional challenge to laws passed in June, one in the province of Ontario and one at the federal level.

A notice filed in Ontario Superior Court said the laws "represent a clear and present danger to the Applicant First Nations' self-determination rights".

Canada's parliament last month passed a law to accelerate approval for projects deemed to be in the national interest, including mines and oil pipelines, and also eliminate some trade barriers between provinces.

A similar measure in Ontario gives the province's cabinet broader powers, and the province of British Columbia last month also passed an act to fast-track infrastructure projects.

Sol Mamakwa, the only Indigenous member of Ontario's provincial parliament, was ejected from the Toronto assembly after accusing the province's premier of telling "untruths to First Nations" about the legislation, known as 'Bill 5'.

After Indigenous protests in Toronto, Ontario Premier Doug Ford added a last-minute clause to the law to ensure consultation with First Nation groups before development and mining projects begin.

But the details of the plan and how First Nations will be consulted and are not yet clear.

"At the 11th hour, after the law has already been passed, to ask us whether or not we think that this law should be in place, is completely inappropriate and unethical," Dean Sayers, former chief of the Batchewana First Nation told Context.

Ontario's new law allows the government to declare "special economic zones" that make some projects exempt from other provincial laws.

This would make it easier for infrastructure and mining companies to bypass provincial laws and environmental restrictions in the state and speed up development projects in a country that is the world's fourth biggest oil exporter and a mining powerhouse.

"The power to name a piece of Ontario a special economic zone will turn it into a wild west without rules and regulations," said Gord Miller, former environmental commissioner of Ontario and current chair of Earthroots, a Toronto-based conservation organisation.

"Although the designated zones right now are sparsely populated, what's to stop them from using this bill to impact more densely populated areas in the south of Ontario?" he asked.

Canadian law states the government has a duty to consult First Nations on projects that could impact their rights and the environment.

But Sayers is sceptical about the government's promise of consultation. Indigenous groups argue fast-tracking project approval sidesteps that obligation and denies them a real say.

"Consultation does not cut the mustard. Consultation is their version of asking us what we think, and coming in and doing it anyways, regardless of what we say," Sayers said.

"We reserve the right to say yes or no to developments. You don't get the right to say yes or no to developments in our backyards," he said.

Trump factor

Ford has said U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods meant it "can no longer be business as usual".

"We are cutting red tape to unlock our critical minerals and unleash our economy to create new jobs and opportunities in the north and across the province," Ford said in a statement.

But Indigenous leaders and environmentalists say U.S. tariffs are an excuse. Trump said last week the United States would impose a 35% tariff on imports from Canada next month.

"Relating Bill 5 to Trump's tariffs is nonsense. American companies pay the tariffs to the American Government, we Canadians don't pay them," said Miller.

Chief Taynar Simpson of Alderville First Nation said governments "no matter what stripes or colours have always wanted to bypass and undermine environmental protection laws".

"Citing Trump as the reason for the bill is self-serving, and a cover up for the real reasons and causes," Simpson said.

Rising tensions

Some Indigenous leaders have said they will push back with blockades, strikes and protests reminiscent of the Idle no More Movement that saw national demonstrations in 2012 against a federal bill aimed at making it easier for corporations to extract resources on Indigenous lands.

More recently, in 2020 Indigenous protesters shut down key railways and roads across Canada for weeks to show solidarity with an Indigenous group in British Columbia that was trying to stop a gas pipeline being built across its land.

This time around, Indigenous and environmental groups have threatened protests, alongside their legal action.

Sayer said Indigenous Peoples were "looking at as many options as necessary to compel the government to back down."

"We will no longer be thrown in jail like in the past. We can get educated now. We can hire lawyers now," Sayer said.

"We hope that Canadians will also be on the right side of history, because it's their life and environment that will go through degradation, and they will end up having a lower quality of life. It's not fair to the future generation."

(Reporting by Michael Koy; Editing by Jon Hemming.)