Today, the Mitchikanibikok Inik First Nation is applying to the Superior Court of Montreal to ensure that the Quebec Mining Act finally respects its ancestral rights when granting mining claims. We support the Anishinabeg of the Lac-Barrière community in their fight so that the Quebec government finally stops favoring the mining industry to the detriment of their constitutional, international and inherent rights.
Since January 16, 2020, the Mitchikanibikok Inik First Nation, which is represented by the Quebec Environmental Law Center and Écojustice, has asked the Court to invalidate the provisions of the Mining Act which support the principle of free mining. Embedded in the Mining Act since its first version in 1864, the free mining — or the principle of free access to mining resources — refers to the right granted by the government to any mining company allowing it to explore a mining lot (mining claim) in order to ultimately exploit it without requiring prior approval from the occupants of the targeted territories, starting with the Aboriginal people.
We share the opinion of the Anishinabeg of Lac-Barrière that the default registration of mining claims in just a few minutes on the Internet, at the cost of a few dozen dollars and without consultation, directly contravenes the government’s obligation to consult the Indigenous people before any decision likely to infringe their rights.
We cannot tolerate the Quebec government claiming to extract the greenest minerals on the planet, while its system undermines the most basic principles of justice for indigenous peoples.
The Minister of Natural Resources and Forests, Maïté Blanchette Vézina, announced that a bill aimed at modernizing the Mining Act would be tabled during the current parliamentary session. The consultations carried out last spring by his ministry led his team to produce a report concluding that the population is demanding an in-depth review of the Mining Act to respect local populations in the face of mining work.
According to a Léger opinion poll from August 2022 commissioned by the Coalition Québec Meilleur Mine, 78% of Quebecers agree to “require the consent of local populations (municipalities and indigenous nations) before authorizing any mining activity on their territory.
The honorable thing for the minister to do would be to mandate her lawyers to surrender before the court and to publicly commit to modifying the Act so that no mining claim can no longer be granted without free, prior consent. and enlightened indigenous nations. The same principle should apply to municipalities. Reforming the Mining Act to respect the wishes of local populations is in everyone’s interest.
* The complete list of signatories is at the end of this hyperlink.