Toronto Star: Three Ontario First Nations have filed for legal action against the provincial government for its management of the province’s boreal forests.

The chiefs of the Missanabie Cree First Nation, Brunswick House First Nation and Chapleau Cree First Nation have filed a court case alleging Ontario is responsible for the degrading health of the province’s boreal forests. They allege that by allowing the consistent damage to the provinces’ boreal forests, Ontario interrupted the communities’ ability to continue their way of life.

Jason Gauthier is Chief of the Missanabie Cree First Nation, about a three-and-a-half hour drive west of Sudbury. He alleges the Ontario government has allowed industrial activities, such as mining, clear-cutting and roadwork, to harm the province’s forests without consulting communities nearby. “Ontario needs to be a lot more inclusive in its decisions on how it’s going to manage the forest,” Gauthier said.

He alleges the province replants the types of trees it wants for harvest, instead of focusing on regrowing a diverse range of plants that keep the forest healthy. He added that under the province’s management, forests are “swiftly being harvested.” “It’s been unsustainable, the way that it’s been done,” Gauthier said.

“There is a concern from the First Nations’ level that we’re creating fibre farms, that we are just looking for wood and we’re not looking at not looking at sustainability in the ecosystems within the forest.”

That’s why Gauthier, alongside Chief of the Chapleau First Nation Keith Corston and Chief of the Brunswick House First Nation Renae Vanbuskirk, decided to start legal action against the province. Corston, Gauthier and Vanbuskirk filed a claim against Ontario at the Superior Court of Justice in Toronto on Friday, the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. 

Andrew Kennedy, a spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney general, told the Star in an email Tuesday afternoon that the provincial government would not comment on the claim. “As this matter may be subject to further litigation, it would be inappropriate to comment,” Kennedy wrote.

Amy Westland, the lawyer representing Corston, Gauthier and Vanbuskirk, said Ontario’s alleged failure to protect the boreal forests violates James Bay Treaty 9. The treaty is an agreement between Cree, Ojibway, other Indigenous Nations and the Crown, first entered into in 1905-1906, covering around two-thirds of the province. It outlines the relationship between Indigenous people in Canada and the Crown and includes provisions for rights to natural resources. 

“(Ontario’s) promises to the plaintiff First Nations that their way of life and livelihoods and their territories could continue has been breached,” Westland alleged.  “We’re seeking compensation for past failures to protect that way of life, and their livelihoods.”

The statement of claim says the forest’s health has hindered some peoples’ ability to make a living. 

“The cumulative impacts from a range of provincially authorized uses and activities … in their traditional territories have had significant adverse impacts on the health of the boreal forest as well as on the Treaty and Aboriginal (sic) rights of the plaintiff First Nations,” the claim states. “The First Nations no longer have access to sufficient undisturbed lands in their respective traditional territories to carry on their way of life and livelihoods.”

In the claim, the chiefs ask Ontario to review the net revenue from industrial activity in the First Nations’ traditional territories and pay the communities a share. The claim also asks Ontario for declarations acknowledging the harm the province has caused to the communities.

Gauthier said he is “optimistic” that courts will recognize how changes to Ontario’s boreal forests have affected the communities. He hopes successful litigation will protect Ontario’s boreal forests and require Ontario to consult Indigenous communities before approving industrial projects. 

“We’re trying to find a way that’s a little bit more inclusive of the First Nations when deciding how management is going to be done,” Gauthier said.

“Forestry practices can be lot more sustainable, and there are ways of taking care of the forests that aren’t as invasive as they are now.”