Originally published in The Globe and Mail
A top Canadian federal government official has raised doubts about whether Ontario’s Ring of Fire region will ever be developed, pouring cold water on a critical minerals project that the provincial government has championed and the United States administration has expressed interest in funding.
Jeff Labont, assistant deputy minister for lands and minerals at Natural Resources Canada, told senior leadership at the Neskantaga First Nation in a meeting on Nov. 17 that it’s possible no mines will be built in the region, and that there is no guarantee Ottawa will ever come forward with the roughly $1-billion in funding needed for development to proceed.
Mr. Labont joined Natural Resources Canada in 1993 and is the government’s foremost expert on critical minerals.
His skepticism comes as a key environmental study in the Ring of Fire faces a multiyear delay, and during a standoff between Ottawa and the Ontario government over funding.
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Facing down governments and industry, this First Nation makes a promise: There’ll be no development in the Ring of Fire without its consent