Canada First Nations sue Ontario over Mining Act alleging treaty rights violations News
Paul Lantz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Canada First Nations sue Ontario over Mining Act alleging treaty rights violations

Six First Nations from northern Ontario announced during a press conference on Monday the initiation of a lawsuit challenging the province of Ontario’s Mining Act, arguing that the legislation infringes upon their treaty and equality rights as protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The central contention in the application is that the Ontario Mining Act enables prospectors and mining companies to stake claims on Crown lands, including traditional Indigenous territories without prior consultation, due to a digital claim-staking process that was introduced in 2018 to allow claims to be registered online within minutes, often without the knowledge of affected First Nations. The First Nation communities bringing about this challenge are the Apitipi Anicinapek Nation, Aroland First Nation, Attawapiskat First Nation, Fort Albany First Nation, Ginoogaming First Nation, and the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug. In the application filed last week all six unanimously called for an amendment to the legislation and for all pending claims without permits to be voided.

“The Ontario Mining Act is a piece of racist legislation that bulldozes over First Nations lands and rights,” Chief June Black of the Apitipi Anicinapek First Nation told reporters on Monday. “It says to the world that the land in Ontario is free for the taking and drilling and blowing up. These are not your lands to give away, Ontario.”

This latest legal action arises amid Ontario’s ongoing mining exploration boom, driven by the provincial government’s push for critical minerals extraction to supply the electric vehicle manufacturing economy, especially for lithium in the Ring of Fire region. Currently, approximately 2000 active land claims have been registered in the Ontario Mining Lands Administration System. Both the Ontario Mining Minister and the Ontario Attorney General have declined to comment on the case.

The lawsuit closely aligns with similar legal actions such as a  2023 landmark decision by the British Columbia Supreme Court, in which the provincial government’s mineral claim system was found to violate Indigenous rights, requiring the government to effectively incorporate indigenous consultation. Additionally, similar legal action has been initiated by Grassy Narrows First Nation in July 2024, seeking a ruling from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to declare the Mining Act unconstitutional.

THIS DAY @ LAW

World court established at The Hague

On December 13, 1920, the League of Nations Assembly, sitting in Geneva, approved the statute setting up the Permanent Court of International Justice at The Hague. Learn more about the Permanent Court of International Justice. Visit the website of the Permanent Court's successor body, the International Court of Justice.

President Wilson arrives in France to negotiate WWI treaty

On December 13, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson arrived in France to negotiate a treaty to conclude World War I. Wilson was the first US President to visit Europe while in office. His meeting with the other Allied leaders would result in the Treaty of Versailles, which created the League of Nations and redrew borders across Europe. The treaty, however, was rejected by the US Senate, thus preventing the U.S. from joining the League with the other major powers.