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.

Peace Brigades International-Canada is reviewing news articles and commentary from civil society allies to develop an understanding about how Budget 2025 tabled by the government of Prime Minister Mark Carney today could impact the safety and security of PBI accompanied human rights defenders.

Canada Strong: Budget 2025 can be read in full here.

Cuts to foreign aid

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) notes: “International assistance will be cut by $800 million a year, leaving Canada’s development-to-GDP ratio from its current dismal 0.32 per cent of GDP to 0.26 per cent by 2028.”

And Toronto Star columnist Justin Ling comments: “Just months after President Donald Trump gutted America’s foreign assistance program, USAID, Canada is also slashing foreign aid spending.”

With respect to the $12.3 billion foreign aid budget being cut by $2.7 billion, the Canadian Press notes: “It’s not clear where the aid cuts will land. The budget talks of ‘leveraging innovative tools, while focusing support for countries that need it the most’ and rejigging existing agreements with specific countries.”

Cuts to Global Affairs Canada

The Canadian Press also reports:  “Global Affairs Canada’s planned spending for the current fiscal year was $8.1 billion. Tuesday’s budget forecasts $561 million in cuts in the next fiscal year, scaling up to $1.1 billion in annual savings two years later, and for each ongoing year.”

Notably, that article highlights these cuts could include “merging some embassies with those operated by like-minded countries.”

Seeking update on permanent and temporary relocation for HRDs

In July 2023, the Government of Canada announced: “the expansion of the global human rights defenders stream, doubling the number of resettlement spaces from 250 to 500 for HRDs and their family members. The initiative, propelled by the belief that no one should face persecution for championing justice, reflects Canada’s unwavering commitment to providing a sanctuary for those who risk their lives in the pursuit of fundamental freedoms.”

The announcement also noted: “We will also re-engage Canadian civil society organizations over the coming months on the development of a temporary protection pathway for HRDs in need.”

Front Line Defenders has provided this overview of the program.

We are now in the process of trying to ascertain the status of this program and the impact the cuts in Budget 2025 could have on this. We do so in the context of Global News reporting: “Canada will see cuts to temporary immigration over the next three years, the federal government said in its budget document on Tuesday, with targets effectively freezing for permanent residents.”

No news on the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE)

The Canadian Press highlights: “The budget does not say whether Ottawa will fill vacant positions such as the climate change ambassador, the envoy for women, peace and security, and the ombudsperson responsible for investigating reports of forced labour abroad [CORE].”

Just two weeks ago, Canadian civil society organizations, including the Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network, MiningWatch Canada, Amnesty International and Unifor, urged “the trade minister to appoint a new Ombudsperson immediately” and “the Government of Canada to grant the office the independence and powers needed to conduct investigations effectively.”

1,000 new RCMP personnel

While Budget 2025 also does not appear to mention funding for the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC) that investigates the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and the Chairperson position has been vacant since January 2025 thus hindering the watchdog agency’s ability to complete the systemic investigation into RCMP Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) conduct against land and environmental defenders, Budget 2025 does promise to hire 1,000 new personnel for the RCMP.

$81.8 billion for the military

And while foreign aid will be cut, CBC News notes: “Budget 2025 earmarks $81.8 billion for defence over five years, roughly $72 billion of which is new money.”

In June 2025, the Carney government announced its intention to increase military spending to 5 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which could mean an increase from the current $33 billion a year to $150 billion a year by 2035.

Critical minerals and “free, prior, and informed consent”

Mining.com notes: “Canada’s Liberal government plans to form a C$2 billion ($1.4bn) sovereign fund for critical minerals, earmark hundreds of millions in mining industry spending and widen exploration tax credits to a dozen other minerals, according to the federal budget presented on Tuesday.”

However, APTN also notes: “In the section discussing the new Major Projects Office, created under the One Canadian Economy Act to accelerate major energy project development, there is a notable first. A non-financial commitment, Indigenous leaders have been waiting to hear. The Carney government explicitly references free, prior, and informed consent. Previously, Carney assured the public that major projects would not move forward without agreement from all parties, but he had stopped short of using those exact words. Now, the language appears plainly in the budget.”

Budget vote on November 17

CityNews has reported: “The House of Commons sitting calendar means there would be debate days on Nov. 5, 6, 7 and 17 (the House is off the week of Nov. 10 due to Remembrance Day). The vote is set to happen on Nov. 17, which gives the governing Liberals some additional time to try to shore up support if needed.”

Further reading

Post-election budget could plunge Canada into another federal election (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives)

Budget 2025: Unifor welcomes gains for workers, calls for fight back to protect Canadian jobs (Unifor)

Federal Budget: Government plans deep public service cuts and weakens workers’ bargaining rights (Public Service Alliance of Canada)

Carney’s first budget gives corporations a free ride and leaves working Canadians behind (Canadian Union of Public Employees)

Canadian Friends Service Committee (Quakers’) statement on Defence spending increases (CFSC)

*At this time, we also recall that more than 40 years ago, the German activist Petra Kelly wrote in Nonviolent Social Defense: “We spend billions on weapons research and millions training our young people at military academies. Why not invest in peace studies and peace actions? We need training centers, public campaigns, and educational materials. We need to support groups like Peace Brigades International that intervene nonviolently in situations of conflict. We need to work concretely to realize peace and nonviolence in our time.”

Video still: Tim Hodgson, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Canada, speaks at the conclusion of the G7 meeting in Toronto, October 31, 2025.

The G7 agenda that sees the mining of critical minerals as vital to “shared national and economic security interests” along with the need to “counter China’s dominance in the sector” could pose an emerging new risk to Indigenous rights and to frontline Indigenous land and environmental defenders.

The Canadian Press now reports: “Canada announced on Friday [October 31] the first round of projects under a G7 critical minerals production alliance envisioned as a counterweight to China’s dominance in the sector.”

CBC News further reports: “Canada is [also] officially designating certain critical minerals as a national security priority under the Defence Production Act, a move that would allow the federal government to support the mining industry by guaranteeing it a buyer and a minimum price. The move was announced at a G7 energy and environment meeting in Toronto on Friday, where countries discussed countering China’s overwhelming dominance of critical mineral production.”

Canada’s Energy Minister Tim Hodgson says: “By protecting domestic production under volatile global conditions, we ensure a secure supply of critical minerals to Canadian and allied defence industries.”

This past June, the Canadian government highlighted its commitment to a new NATO Defence Investment Pledge that would see 5% of annual GDP spent on “individual and collective security”. This sets a path for increasing spending on the military from CAD $33.8 billion in 2024-25 to $150 billion a year by 2035.

Critical mineral projects

This backgrounder posted by Natural Resources Canada on October 31, 2025, lists some of the announced first round of “26 new investments and partnerships with 9 allied countries to secure critical minerals supply chains”.

Torngat Metals – Strange Lake Project

CBC News highlights: “Hodgson announced that G7 countries were investing $6.4 billion into 26 critical mineral projects across Canada [including] Torngat Metals’ Strange Lake project in Quebec.”

Naskapi News has reported: “The Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach and the Innu Nation worry about [the impact of the mine on] caribou habitat, sacred sites, and uranium-linked contamination. Residents of Sept-Îles have also voiced opposition to uranium waste storage near local water sources.”

That article adds: “The Strange Lake mine would produce heavy rare earth elements such as dysprosium and terbium, vital for renewable technologies—but also for military uses. Greenpeace warns that without binding regulations these materials may be diverted to weapons manufacturing. The mine is majority-owned by Cerberus Capital Management, a U.S. private equity firm with ties to the arms trade. One major client, Vacuumschmelze, supplies parts for F-35 jets, missiles, and other defense systems.”

Nouveau Monde Graphite – Matawinie Mine

The Northern Miner adds: “Nouveau Monde’s US$415-million capex Matawinie mine in Quebec is among the priority projects singled out in Friday’s statement.”

In March 2021, Ricochet Media reported on a blockade organized by the Atikamekw of Manawan First Nation in opposition to this open-pit mining project. That article further noted: “One trucker stepped out of his rig to curse the land defenders, and others pulled on their horn to try to annoy the Atikamekw.”

The role of the United Kingdom

Two weeks prior to this G7 meeting in Toronto, Tim Hodgson, Canada’s minister of energy and natural resources, was in the United Kingdom for meetings on “advancing secure critical minerals supply chains and energy security for Canada and our allies”.

While in London, Hodgson met with Chris McDonald, “the United Kingdom’s Minister for Industry in the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero and newly appointed Envoy for the Critical Minerals Production Alliance”.

The Natural Resources Canada media release also noted: “On the margins of the London Metal Exchange Week, Minister Hodgson met with major mining companies with a strong presence in the United Kingdom and a strong interest in procuring Canadian critical minerals, as well as other key investors from the United Kingdom. The Minister highlighted the opportunities of expanding mining operations in Canada and investing in Canadian critical minerals.”

In this joint policy briefing released on May 15, 2025, seventeen organizations, including Peace Brigades International, warn that the UK government’s drive to secure minerals like cobalt, nickel and lithium could “fuel environmental destruction, human rights abuses and deepen global inequalities.”

Their briefing cautions: “The mining and processing of critical minerals is frequently linked to severe human rights violations including violation of Indigenous rights including the killing of land and environmental defenders.”

Accompaniment

The Peace Brigades International Annual Review 2024 published this past week notes: “This last year also saw our team in Canada begin developing a framework to extend PBI’s protective accompaniment into a ‘Northern’ territory. This transformative proposition would mark a move away from traditional models and start to recognise and address the human rights abuses that threaten us all.”

Photo: PBI-Canada visits Unist’ot’en territory in northern British Columbia, June 2025.

As part of our emerging PBI-Turtle Island initiative, PBI-Canada remains attentive to the relationship between the mining of critical minerals and the risks this poses to the safety and security of land and environmental defenders.

We note that the Global Witness annual report on attacks against land and environmental defenders published in September 2025 documented: “Once again, mining emerged as the deadliest sector, with at least 29 related cases in 2024. Next came logging with eight cases and agribusiness with four. Road-building and infrastructure projects, poaching and hydropower have also driven deadly attacks in 2024.”

The next G7 summit, June 2026

The next G7 Summit is scheduled to be held on June 14-16, 2026, in Évian-les-Bains, Haute-Savoie, France.

The G7 is made up of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as the European Union.

We continue to follow this.

Further reading: Why Is the US War Department Buying into a BC Mining Company? (Amanda Follett Hosgood, The Tyee, October 16, 2025).

Video: “Dramatic Video Shows Militarized Canadian Police Raid Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders & Journalists” on November 19, 2021 (Democracy Now!)

There are new questions and concerns about the status of the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC) investigation into the RCMP C-IRG (now rebranded as CRU-BC) following the news that “the review body is unable to issue any decisions in the absence of a chair or other senior decision-makers.”

The investigation

On March 9, 2023, Michelaine Lahaie, the Chairperson of the Ottawa-based CRCC, initiated a systemic investigation into the activities and operations of the RCMP “E” Division Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG).

That investigation was launched after the CRCC received nearly 500 formal complaints about the RCMP C-IRG.

As CBC journalist Brett Forester has previously reported: “More than 100 grievances accepted for investigation contain allegations of excessive force, illegal tactics, unprofessional behaviour, racism, discrimination and charter violations by the force’s Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG).”

Photo: On March 22, 2023, PBI-Canada hand-delivered to the CRCC office in Ottawa this letter from the Abolish C-IRG coalition calling for the suspension of the C-IRG during the CRCC systemic investigation.

The last update on the CRCC systemic investigation was posted on November 23, 2023.

“Serious misconduct” by the RCMP

In February 2025, Justice Michael Tammen ruled that the C-IRG had breached the Charter rights of three Indigenous land defenders on November 18-19, 2021, during a raid on Wet’suwet’en territory. Justice Tammen commented that there were multiple offensive and discriminatory comments made by multiple officers and that this “is potentially a sign of systemic attitudinal issue within the C-IRG.”

Justice Tammen’s ruling can be read in full here.

And earlier this month at a sentencing hearing in Smithers for the three land defenders, Justice Tammen referred to the comments by the RCMP C-IRG officers as “grossly offensive, racist and dehumanizing”.

Justice Tammen added the comments amounted to “serious misconduct” and that “the need to take action is acute when the offending behaviour by state actors is racist commentary making light of the plight of the many murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls.”

Photo: PBI-Canada, Amnesty International and Front Line Defenders observed the sentencing hearing of the land defenders this past October 15-17, 2025. Photo by Brent Patterson.

CRCC unable to issue decisions

Now, CBC News journalist Catharine Tunney reports: “The watchdog body meant to investigate Mounties’ conduct has been without a chairperson for months [since January 2025], stalling investigations and weakening transparency about how the country’s police force interacts with Canadians across the country.”

The article further notes: “While teams of investigators and lawyers are still working, a spokesperson for the CRCC said the review body is unable to issue any decisions in the absence of a chair or other senior decision-makers.”

When PBI-Canada contacted the CRCC on August 21, 2025, for an update on the systemic investigation into the C-IRG, we were told: “The investigation continues and most of the material collected by the CRCC has been reviewed.”

The CRCC added: “Currently, investigators are analyzing this material and interviews with RCMP members are nearly completed. CRCC investigations consider all relevant information to make findings and recommendations, including a significant volume of records and video footage in this case.”

The C-IRG and resistance to the PRGT pipeline

This past August, Shiri Pasternak and Tia Dafnos also reported: “A RCMP unit criticized for violent and unlawful conduct will be involved in enforcing new laws in British Columbia that will fast-track resource and infrastructure projects…”

They explained: “Newly obtained documents show the RCMP’s Community-Industry Resource Group (C-IRG) will work with secretive provincial committees that monitor and respond to opposition to major projects…”

This is likely to include Gitanyow resistance to the construction of the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline on their territory in northern British Columbia. Just two weeks ago, Business in Vancouver reported that construction on the PRGT pipeline could “start as early as the New Year” with “a final investment decision by the end of this year…”

Photo: PBI-Canada, PBI-Colombia and the Forest Peoples Programme visited Gitanyow territory and learned about their opposition to the PRGT pipeline in June 2025. Photo by Brent Patterson.

The Ring of Fire and C-IRG as a “national best practice”

Pasternak and Dafnos also cautioned: “With its policing of pipeline and logging demonstrations having been deemed a ‘national best practice’ by the RCMP, there is potential that this model—and its criminalization of Indigenous and climate protest—could be replicated in other provinces, as resistance heats up against a wave of environmental deregulation being pushed by Prime Minister Mark Carney and several premiers.”

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

Earlier this week, 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].”

Northern Ontario Business further reports: “The Ford government is promising shovels will be in the ground by next spring [June 2026] to start construction on the most northerly leg of a road into the Ring of Fire.”

That article adds: “The [107-kilometre long] Webequie Supply Road is one leg of a longer, proposed road network, of several hundred kilometres, connecting the Ring of Fire and remote communities to the provincial highway system.”

Chief Gary Quisess of the Neskantaga First Nation responded: “That’s not leadership — it’s colonialism in 2025.”

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.”

And Ontario Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Sol Mamakwa has cautioned: “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.”

We continue to follow this.