Indigenous guests from Okiniwak, the Friends of The Attawapiskat River and Legal Advocates for Nature’s Defence (LAND) arrived in Kingston yesterday to join the community in raising awareness about Ontario’s recently passed Bill 5, The Protecting Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act.
With the goal of speeding up infrastructure and resource extraction projects, the bill introduced controversial changes like replacing the Endangered Species Act and enabling the creation of Special Economic Zones which would exempt selected projects from provincial regulations. A host of environmental groups, Indigenous leaders, and municipalities, including Kingston, have spoken out against the bill.
Concerned Kingston community members came together to discuss what they could do, and decided to reach out to groups located in the Ring of Fire, a mineral-rich area in Northern Ontario which is expected to be greatly impacted.
Guests from the Treaty 9 region will be in Kingston until Sept. 30 participating in a variety of events.
