Neskantaga and Attawapiskat land defenders building village to protect sacred sites and block road construction to Ring of Fire mine in Ontario
Photo: Stand With Neskantaga – We Love Our Land: “Meeting with our elders and our land user/defenders — looking at various burial sites and sacred grounds around the Attawapiskat River” in July 2025.
On October 29, The Toronto Star reported: “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 … Webequie First Nation Chief Cornelius Wabasse [for] the proposed all-season Webequie Supply Road…”
At the time of this announcement, the Government of Ontario stated that construction of this road could begin in June 2026.
Then, just a few days after the announcement, Jon Thompson of Ricochet Media reported: “[The] Neskantaga [First Nation] has been intent to oppose the Ring of Fire at least until basic infrastructure demands are met [Neskantaga has been under a boil water advisory for 30 years]. This summer, its members, along with their neighbours downriver in Attawapiskat First Nation, began erecting a village to block road construction across the Attawapiskat River what would be the path to the Ring of Fire.”
Journalist Alan S. Hale has previously explained: “The Webequie supply road will allow mining equipment flown into the area to be transported to the Ring of Fire site.”
Hale further notes: “Three access roads [will be] needed to connect the Ring of Fire, Marten Falls First Nation and Webequie First Nation with the TransCanada Highway.”
These roads are the 190-kilometre Marten Falls community access road (from Aroland First Nation, which is about 70 kilometres north of the TransCanada highway, to Marten Falls), the 117 to 164 kilometre Northern Road Link (from Marten Falls to Webequie) and the 107-kilometre Webequie supply road (from Webequie’s airport to the McFaulds Lake area where the Eagle’s Nest mine would be located).
This past September, Thompson had also reported: “The Northern Road Link project that the Ontario government intends to build over [the Attawapiskat] river [would run] through sacred sites.” Thompson adds that the village being built to block road construction is on the north side of the river where the bridge would land.
That article further highlights: “Since June [2025], a contingent of mostly young people from Neskantaga and Attawapiskat First Nations have been living nearby, combing these lowlands to prove how this land has always been occupied – and in doing so, they’re still occupying it.”
To hear Neskantaga First Nation Chief Gary Quisses speaking to CBC Radio in September about the village encampment, the sacred sites in the area, the road and the impacts of Ring of Fire mining, click here.
While the Government of Ontario has stated that construction on the Webequie Supply Road could begin in June 2026, and the company behind the Eagle’s Nest mine says construction for the mine could begin in 2027 with production starting in 2030, Hale reported earlier this year that the three Ring of Fire access roads would take 10 years of construction and may not be completed until 2040.
We continue to follow this.
