Jan 21, 2025
With an election looming, feds and First Nations to study the pros and cons of Far North mine development
Almost five years after Ottawa called for a Regional Assessment of the Ring of Fire, the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) and 15 First Nations have defined a purpose and a plan.
In what the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change called a “milestone” for sustainable development in a Jan. 20 news release, the terms of reference have been finalized to begin the process of assessing the potential cumulative impacts of industrial development in Ontario’s Far North.
It kicks off a two-and-half-year process — 30 months — before federal bureaucrats and First Nation partners turn out a final report on the pros and cons of the impacts of proposed mining activity in the James Bay region.