The moratorium and Platinex's leases and claims.
Moratoriums first.
Does it worry industry? The answer is no. De Beers, Kennecott and CVRD
already proceed in northern Ontario on the basis of community consent.
In CVRDs latest letters to First Nation communities in Treaty No. 9
they explicitly request community consent prior to commencing even
airborne surveys let alone staking and drilling. Consent was a
condition of the De Beers Attawapiskat IBA. De Beers practice at the
early exploration stage is to seek consent. In short, consent is simply
a practical matter for the majors.
Now we have the Ontario Prospectors Association saying the same thing
as the majors. Respect the KI no.
Let's conduct a little thought experiment. The industry and its
promoters are all believers in the market. Not the biggest fans of
government. On that logic why use the courts to enforce unrestricted
access to First Nation land. Let the market decide. If the "product"
mining companies( junior, major) are selling communities [mining
exploration] is as good as industry says it is , it will sell itself
and very few communities will say no.
And if a lot of communities say no then so be it. The market rules.
So no risk to Bryant and Co in agreeing to a KI moratorium.
Turning to Platinex.
The solution is to have the properties independently appraised by
Roscoe Postle and then have Ontario pay Platinex to go away. This is
the price of peace.
IN the Platinex securities filings the property was valued at a few
hundred thousand. A lot cheaper than the legal costs of all the
parties.
And this may be news to Platinex and Ontario, but one independent
expert who reviewed all the public data on the project called the
chances this project will ever make a mine hellacious bullshit.
Failing that maybe its time for the regulators provincial and federal
to take a good hard look at every crossing of every t and the
dotting of every i by the company.Maybe a t wasn't crossed.And maybe
the uncrossed t leads to presto magic Platinex goes away.
Moratorium in place. Platinex gone. Now for the future of the lands.
The fate of the lands at issue has already been decided by the
community. They want no drilling in that sensitive watershed. So why
not draw a big circle around that watershed and say the first decision
in the KI strategic land use planning exercise has been made. The
community in a community led planning exercise, that used litigation
and jail time in a never before tried process of community engagement and participation
has for future generations that the watershed is now off
limits to mining development. Ontario can, if it wishes, use some tools
in their legal toolbox(withdrawal, lands act designation...) to make
it so in their world.
The next step might be to set up a special board or environmental
institute attached to the watershed . Let's call it an experiment in land use planning and
self-government. The watershed now becomes a crucible to build a model
of land use planning and develop community capacity.In my vision I see western science meeting indigenous knowledge in
collaborative pilot projects on fish habitat. I see research on
wolverine, lynx and caribou. I see elders and youth working together
in cultural re-discovery projects for suicide prevention. I see maps of
historic travel routes, protection of burials and ecotourism.
I see a future model for land use planning in the far north.
We are at a moment of crisis, a moment when nobody knows or can know
how this story will turn out. But there are ways to tell a new story.
All it takes is some imagination and leadership.
