As the Premier proceeds with rash plans to create law-less zones to fast track mining, the Wildlands’ team travelled >1100km by air, car, float plane and boat to visit a newly formed permanent camp on the Attawapiskat River. We came in support as an act of solidarity. Our presence was the message: you are not alone. We see you. We hear you. We got your back.
Founded by youth leader Jeronimo Kataquapit of Attawapiskat First Nation, Here We Stand is a grassroots Indigenous movement re-asserting their presence in their homeland and on the river not far from where a proposed mining industry road and bridge would go. “We are the land. If we don’t do anything in response to Bill 5 or C5 then everything our grandparents did would have been for nothing,” Jeronimo says.
We were greeted warmly by Jeronimo’s parents, expert land users James and Monique, after our float plane landed on the river. They had set up buoys to help guide the pilot with where to land.
Nestled among the birches and spruces, we sat by a warm fire and savoured delicious moose stew and dumplings with Elders and members from Neskantaga, Attawapiskat and Marten Falls.
“We just want to make sure that we are here to protect the land, protect the waters, and protect for what we have today for our future generations to come. And we stand by our son Jeronimo what he truly strongly believes in what he is doing and I’m hoping all Canadians look at what we are trying to do here. We’re people of the land. We love our land. And we want to make sure that our generations to come also have what we have today.”
– Monique Edwards told us at the permanent camp on the Attawapiskat River
While the Premier uses his bully pulpit and taxpayers’ dollars to promote Ring of Fire, there is an alternative. Grassroots leaders are showing us there is another way based on truth, humility and taking care of the Earth.
“The land is very important for us. We all survive on this river. On the land, our livelihood. Everybody benefits from it in a good way, there’s a lot of fish here, there’s a lot of wildlife, wild berries…People were here for time immemorial and we’re here today.”
– Chief Gary Quisess, Neskantaga First Nation
Let’s create space for these voices.
Let’s create space for real world solutions that safeguard the peatlands that are just as important as the Amazon.
Did you know that 1 m² of peatland in northern Canada contains 5 times the amount of carbon as 1 m² of tropical rainforest in the Amazon?
The world is just starting to appreciate the beautiful peatlands of the Hudson Bay Lowlands. Peatlands cover only 3% of the Earth’s surface and yet store nearly a third of the world’s carbon. Scientists warn this carbon is irrecoverable, once disturbed, “it will take hundreds to thousands of years for the carbon released today to be added back into these ecosystems”. Decision-makers instead are disrupting our enjoyment of the Blue Jays playoff run with misleading Ring of Fire TV ads, attempting to sell a story that mining critical minerals everywhere will save us irrespective of the costs and they want you to believe this misdirection.
Don’t be taken in by those annoying ubiquitous Ring of Fire ads –which by the way is a just nickname for a place. There’s no proven economic case to mine here. There isn’t even a project with a feasibility study. And an iffy industry road is required to be constructed and maintained to haul ore over wetlands. This proposed ‘floating road’ is already anticipated to sink and cost us all billions and billions of taxpayer dollars.
There’s something else that you won’t hear in a Ford ad: there are plenty of critical mineral deposits in already disturbed southern areas with roads, workforces and community agreements including in brownfield sites that can be developed to build our economy and secure our future.
We can preserve life-giving peatlands that store 1/3 of the world’s carbon, respect and rebuild relations with Indigenous people, safeguard continentally-important mammals, birds and fish and build a new clean energy economy for all not just a few. We can do it not by sacrificing our values but by honouring them. Those grassroots leaders in the bush have ideas. Let’s listen.
Anna Baggio
Conservation Director
