Key Messages:
- Wildlands League a not-for-profit environmental conservation organization has been fact checking the Ontario government’s Ring of Fire advertising campaign which also ran on TV during the Blue Jays playoff run
- The Premier’s Office told the Globe the ads were to, “reach as many people as possible, as they tune into the World Series, and see Ontario’s economic potential that will last for generations to come.”
- Wildlands released a new YouTube short describing our findings see https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dDs5c8A3XVI
- It was worse than we thought. Not one image is of the actual Ring of Fire area
- Several images used to promote critical minerals and mining are from our beloved provincial parks where mining is prohibited under law because mining activities are incompatible with nature protection
- At least two of the images are likely from overseas
- The ads also make wildly optimistic and unsubstantiated claims about the potential of jobs and revenue to government
TORONTO – The Ford government used images from Ontario’s world class system of protected areas, Quebec, and overseas to promote mining to Canadians as part of an advertising campaign on the Ring of Fire. The not-for-profit conservation group, Wildlands League, evaluated the images and claims and released a new YouTube short video to show Canadians what they found. See here.
It was worse than we thought,” said Dave Pearce the group’s senior forest conservation manager. “Not one image is of the actual Ring of Fire area,” Pearce adds. “It’s galling the government would use beauty images of parks to sell Canadians on the idea of mining in the Ring of Fire,” Pearce said.
The Ring of Fire is a nickname for a place in northern Ontario where thousands of mining claims have been registered. In the sensitive wetlands of Treaty 9, exploration activities have taken place after claims are registered resulting in intrusive and damaging permanent scars to peatlands, watersheds, traplines and habitat.
There is no mine here. Many commentators have described how the Ring of Fire has been overhyped. While Ontario remains one of its greatest boosters (raising concerns about its role as regulator), experts state “no comprehensive assessment of the combined value of the many mineral concessions in the region has been done”.
Experts also note that companies that trade on Canadian stock exchanges are legally obligated to provide public technical reports such as National Instrument Technical Reports 43-101 that substantiate claims made about a project’s value but this doesn’t apply to politicians. The province’s own Ring of Fire economic claims have been easily and swiftly debunked many times. See here, here, here.
“You’d think after all these years of making promises Ontario would back up their claims with data and evidence. We still haven’t seen it,” Jan Sumner, Executive Director for Wildlands League. “How many millions did they spend bombarding Canadians with misleading claims during the World Series?” Sumner wonders.
This comes as the Auditor General reports the ‘highest ever recorded’ government advertising last fiscal. The ads also come on the heels of the passage of Bill 5 – a contentious law that Ontario says it will use to designate the Ring of Fire as a ‘Special Economic Zone’. “The zone would be exempted from provincial laws and regulations, causing more conflict enflaming tensions all to speed up mining and create private wealth,” says Sumner.
The Ford government has demanded the Regional Assessment for the Ring of Fire be stopped, claiming inaccurately that it duplicates existing processes. Anna Baggio, Conservation Director for the group, emphatically states, “It does not,” and “Wildlands League calls on the Ford government to be a respectful partner and to participate fully in the Regional Assessment,” finished Baggio. There is a group comprised of 15 First Nation partners and the Impact Assessment Agency.
For more information please contact:
Anna Baggio, Director, Conservation 416-453-3285 mobile or by email anna (insert at symbol) wildlandsleague.org.
