Group warns Bill 5 would create a law-less zone in the Ring of Fire sacrificing environmental protections and trampling Indigenous rights precipitating a crisis
Key Messages:
- Ring of Fire mining claims have increased by 67% in area covered since 2022
- 42,986 claims now cover 850,091 ha1 equivalent to almost 14 times the size of the City of Toronto
- Juno corp., a private company holds the most claims in region with >26,000 claims covering over 498,000 ha
- Wyloo, also privately owned, is the second largest holder of claims
- Claim registering happens without the consent of Indigenous peoples and without environmental review in Ontario
- In these sensitive wetlands of Treaty 9, the exploration activities, that take place after claims are registered, are intrusive and damaging resulting in permanent scars to peatlands, watersheds, traplines and habitat
- Things will get much worse as Ontario intends to designate the Ring of Fire a “Special Economic Zone” and exempt the zone from provincial laws and regulations to speed up mining and to create private wealth
- The introduction of special economic zones through Bill 5 would be a disaster for the environment, Indigenous rights and rule of law, Wildlands League says
- It would create a crisis in the province that is unnecessary and not justified
TORONTO – The number of mining claims registered in the Ring of Fire has skyrocketed, increasing by 66% since 2022 to over 40,000 today. This is the highest number of claims in 8 years. And the area covered by claims has increased by 67% to cover 850,091 ha. It is equivalent to 14 times the size of the City of Toronto or almost 3 times the Greater Sudbury area. This is public, shared land with Indigenous Peoples.
“Our new mapping shows that the Ring of Fire is a growing insatiable blob – bigger than Algonquin Park – taking up land for mining,” says Anna Baggio, long-time observer of activities in the Ring of Fire, and Conservation Director for Wildlands League, a leading conservation group in Canada. “And it’s a problem because claims are registered without Indigenous consent and without environmental review in Ontario.”
“Characteristic of the controversial free entry system, where almost anyone is allowed to register a mining claim on lands in Ontario and across Canada, this means that traplines, sacred sites & burial sites, important watersheds, Indigenous Protected Areas, critical habitat for threatened wildlife or your favourite fishing hole can all be claimed by the mining industry. Once those claims are in place there’s little that can be done unless the company voluntarily walks away,” Baggio added.
Things are about to get much worse if the Ford government has its way. Bill 5, Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025 has passed Second Reading and been referred to the Standing Committee on the Interior for hearings. The new legislation, if passed, would gut protections for vulnerable wildlife, fast track mining and development projects, trample Indigenous rights, silence local voices and create law-less zones for trusted proponents and areas designated by cabinet.
“Under the guise of responding to Trump tariffs, the province is giving itself Trump-like powers to get rid of laws it sees as getting in the way of mines, highways, and especially the Ring of Fire,” Jan Sumner, Executive Director of the group, said. “It’s appalling, a special economic zone would be a disaster for rule of law, Indigenous rights, and the environment,” Sumner added.
Ontario recently confirmed the Ring of Fire would be the first (min 39:46) special economic zone.
Rick Lindgren, Counsel for the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA), a legal aid clinic dedicated to environmental equity, justice, and health, has reviewed Bill 5 and written, “CELA submits that granting discretionary dispensations or exemptions, in whole or in part, from protective legislation will likely result in the creation of contentious “law-free” zones in which environmental features, functions, and values will be sacrificed to generate private profit for proponents.”
Lindgren added, “To the extent that these zones are established to fast-track resource extraction or infrastructure development in remote or northern locations (i.e., the Ring of Fire), CELA is also highly concerned that constitutionally protected Indigenous rights will be adversely affected by this unprecedented approach.”
Bill 5 has little to do with Trump tariffs and everything to do with recklessly and irresponsibly clearing the legislative and regulatory paths for development in the province. It’s also the culmination of years of attacks on threatened wildlife, our natural world and treating the environment and public consultation as red tape, Wildlands says.
Wildlands League joins with civil society, environmental lawyers, environmental groups, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous business leaders, scientists, opinion writers, civil liberties experts, archeologists, labour, Amnesty International, Toronto Zoo and many more more in sounding the alarm. Bill 5 must be withdrawn from the legislature.
For more information please contact:
Anna Baggio, Director, Conservation 416-453-3285 mobile or by email anna (insert at symbol) wildlandsleague.org.
Data sources:
Ontario Geologic Survey Mining Claims Data found at https://www.geologyontario.mndm.gov.on.ca/ogsearth.html#mining-claims
See here for a list of all the companies holding claims in the Ring of Fire and for a new map of the claims and land use in northern Ontario.
1 as of May 11, 2025
