PBI-Canada attentive to Neskantaga opposition to the Eagle’s Nest mining project in the Ring of Fire area of northern Ontario

Published by Brent Patterson on October 30, 2025 October 30, 2025

Photo: The camp at the Eagle’s Nest project. Photo from Wyloo.

The Toronto Star reports: “Premier Doug Ford says he is ramping up plans to mine critical minerals in Ontario’s environmentally sensitive Ring of Fire after reaching a $39.5 million road-building partnership with a local First Nations community.”

“The partnership signed by Ford and Webequie First Nation Chief Cornelius Wabasse is a ‘critical’ step in the development of the proposed all-season Webequie Supply Road, the government said.”

The article adds: “The Webequie First Nation will submit its final environmental assessment in January 2026 and Ford called on Prime Minister Mark Carney to streamline approval processes, calling for ‘one project, one review, one decision’.”

Eagle’s Nest project could be the first Ring of Fire mine

The Toronto Star then notes: “To build on the premier’s desire for speed, Indigenous Affairs Minister Greg Rickford said he planned to call mining company Wyloo, located in the Ring of Fire region, to ask for the operations timeline on its Eagle’s Nest project. Wyloo has said it’s government approvals are the most advanced.”

Photo: Wyloo timeline for Eagle’s Nest mining project.

Neskantaga opposition to Eagle’s Nest

The Toronto Star also highlights: “After Ford’s announcement, the Neskantaga First Nation officially requested a federal impact assessment of the Eagle’s Nest region of mining claims, a process the premier is trying to alleviate.”

Chief Gary Quisess of the Neskantaga First Nation says: “Doug Ford’s government has been missing in action while our people face a six-month health crisis with no nursing station and unsafe drinking water. Now he wants to dismantle the only federal process that gives us a voice in what happens to our lands. That’s not leadership — it’s colonialism in 2025.”

Chief Quisess adds: “Our ancestors are buried along the Attawapiskat River. Our lives depend on these waters. We will not allow the province to fast-track development while our community is still fighting for clean water and adequate health care.”

Image from CBC News.

UN Special Rapporteurs on consent for the Ring of Fire

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, José Francisco Calí Tzay, has called on Canada to “suspend large-scale mining and other business activities in the Ring of Fire region … until the free, prior and informed consent of the Indigenous Peoples affected is secured”, and UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, Pedro Arrojo Aguda, has recommended: “Suspend large-scale mining … such as mining in the Ring of Fire … until the necessary processes of assessing the impact of long-term risks to human rights, the environment and biodiversity, and guaranteeing the right of the Indigenous Peoples concerned to respect for the principle of free, prior and informed consent, have been completed.”

Calls to shut down the Ring of Fire

In June 2025, Chris Moonias, a previous chief of the Neskantaga First Nation, stated: “We’re going to shut down the Ring of Fire. Whatever that means, whatever we can do, we’re going to shut it down. I promise you that.”

And Grand Chief Fiddler of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, a political territorial organization representing 49 First Nation communities within northern Ontario, has previously told CBC News: “There will be conflict on the ground, and those that oppose it will most likely end up in jail. That is where we’re heading.”

The risk of OPP violence

In response to the warning of Indigenous blockades, Premier Ford says: “You can’t break the law. Simple as that. … They need to move on or they’ll be dealt with appropriately.”

And Sudbury.com notes: “[NDP member of the provincial legislature Sol Mamakwa asks] ‘What is the OPP [Ontario Provincial Police] going to do to the First Nations, once they start fighting on the land? That’s the scary part.’”

Mining projects put land defenders at risk

In November 2023, PBI-Canada signed this open letter that highlights: “Mining always comes with risks of human rights and environmental abuses. Over 510 allegations of abuses associated with top-producing mining operations of cobalt, copper, nickel, manganese, lithium, and zinc have been documented in the past decade – with one in four associated with attacks against human rights defenders.”

That open letter that highlights the risks associated with “transition minerals” in the lead up to the COP28 climate summit called for “clear protection mechanisms for human rights and environmental defenders.”

The C-IRG as a “national best practice”

With the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG, now rebranded as CRU-BC) adopted as a “national best practice”, we express our concern about potential actions by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) in response to peaceful Indigenous resistance to the Ring of Fire.

When PBI-Canada asked Elder Alex Moonias in July 2025 if he is concerned that the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) will intervene on Neskantaga lands just as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) raided Wet’suwet’en lands, he poignantly replied: “That is their way.”

Photo: Elder Alex Moonias.

We continue to follow this.

Photo: Neskantaga Elder Alex Moonias and Chief Gary Quisess meet with Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan leaders, in Gatineau, Quebec, July 17, 2025.

Photo: Neskantaga Chief Gary Quisess and Gitxsan hereditary leader Gwii Lok’im Gibuu, in Gatineau, Quebec, July 17, 2025.