Located approximately 500 km northeast of Thunder Bay, the area nicknamed the Ring of Fire has been lauded for its potential in terms of chromite deposits and other industrial metals.

What is less well appreciated is that the Ring is located in the heart of an irreplaceable environmental treasure. And over 24,000 Indigenous Peoples scattered in 34 small communities call these their ancestral lands. They depend on wild fish and animals for food and have inherent rights to the land. This wilderness of trees, wetlands, lakes and rivers is part of the planet’s largest intact forest. It supports hundreds of plant, mammal and fish species, most in decline elsewhere, and is the continent’s main nesting area for nearly 200 migratory birds. As one of the world’s largest storehouses of carbon, it helps keep climate change in check.

In 2020, the federal government determined a regional assessment was required on the area centered on the Ring of Fire. In 2021, Wildlands League joined other eleven other leading environmental, legal and Indigenous groups in calling for a moratorium on development activities until protection plans for the region’s sensitive and watersheds are in place; and, access to clean water, housing and health services have been secured for all upstream and downstream communities.

Currently, companies hold more than 31,000 claims covering more than 626,000 hectares.

Select moments in time:

• The Far North Science Panel in 2010 and the Far North Advisory Council in 2009 make clear that a region- wide planning approach is needed to address the ecological and cultural significance of the area and to proper plan for the infrastructure that cross many First Nation territories and several major rivers
• In late 2013 Cliffs Natural Resources announces an indefinite suspension of its environmental assessment to build 2 open pit mines and a resource road to access its chromite deposit
• In 2013, Wildlands League publishes 12 page publication on the Ring of Fire see here
• A separate publication by Wildlife Conservation Society Canada and Ecojustice lays out how Ontario can get it right in the Ring of Fire see here
• Ontario doesn’t act on this advice and instead continues reviewing and approving projects in a piecemeal manner and in absence of a regional plan
• In March 2014, Ontario and the nine communities of Matawa Tribal Council announced the signing of a regional framework agreement intended to guide the eventual negotiations related to minerals and other developments in the area known as the Ring of Fire
• The regional framework acknowledges that both parties desire to engage in a government to government relationship to “create benefits and opportunities to improve economic prosperity and quality of life for the First Nations while taking an environmentally responsible approach to mineral development in the area known as the Ring of Fire which is culturally sensitive and which is respectful of constitutional rights”. See framework agreement here
• Wildlands League hosts a two day workshop in 2016 called Regional Approaches to Land and Water Protection in Ontario and Quebec (agenda) where the Ring of Fire was discussed and other potential large developments
• Wildlands League continues calling for a regional strategic environmental assessment (RSEA) before any new mines are approved
• In May 2017, the Globe and Mail reported that then Premier Wynne threatens to work with individual communities on a road if all of the Matawa communities could not reach consensus soon
• In January, 2020 Wildlands weighs in on the Webequie Supply Road. See comments
• In February 2022, Wildlands submitted comments on the Draft Agreement to conduct a Regional Assessment in the Ring of Fire area. Our comments on the Northern Road Link are also available here. The battle for the ‘breathing lands’: Ontario’s Ring of Fire and the fate of its carbon rich peatlands from July 2020 in The Narwhal provides excellent context.
• Open Letter signed by 12 leading environmental and civil society groups on Regional EA for Ring of Fire.