The Ontario government's plan to build a deep-sea port on James Bay is not feasible and does not include consultations with Indigenous leaders, Moose Cree First Nation Chief Peter Wesley says.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
The quick-moving Moose River is as smooth as glass on a hot summer’s day in July.
There is no bridge over the river from the mainland, where the municipal town of Moosonee, Ont., is located near the southwestern shore of James Bay. To get to the island of Moose Factory, home of Moose Cree First Nation and nearly 3,000 people, you’ve got to take a water taxi – about a 10-minute ride.
Every decade or so, Canadian politicians talk about establishing a deep-sea port in James Bay, one that could use tanker ships to send natural resources to faraway marketplaces. This fascination goes back centuries, shortly after Welsh explorer Thomas James landed in the bay he named after himself, while searching for a passage to Asia in 1631. The bay already had a Cree name: Weeneebayko.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is the latest to indulge in this fantasy, announcing in Calgary on Monday, as he stood beside Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, that the two were going ahead with plans to build pipelines and railways (with Ontario steel) to a new deep-sea port in James Bay. This would unlock new markets for critical minerals in the Ring of Fire, and Alberta’s oil and gas, Mr. Ford promised.
It has taken no time for both Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Bill C-5 and Ontario’s Bill 5 legislation to kick into high gear. Environmental protection and climate change have gone out the window, leaving First Nations leadership scrambling to slow down a hungry Canadian engine that is smarting from U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff blows.
So far, plans of building a deep-sea port along the ecologically sensitive James Bay coastline – home to swamplands and landing points for migratory birds, seals and whales, as well as an access point to the coveted Ring of Fire area – have completely left out Indigenous leadership. That trend was set during the crafting of the two bills, aimed at kick-starting major infrastructure and mining projects – environmental regulations be damned.
As a result, people are resisting and First Nations have threatened blockades. Jeronimo Kataquapit, an Attawapiskat First Nation youth, travelled 400 kilometres with his family up the Attawapiskat River to set up a “Here We Stand” encampment, near to where a proposed Ring of Fire roadway will be built. His actions have galvanized many and brought together First Nations chiefs and communities to stand with him.
The failure to properly consult First Nations rights holders constitutes a massive dereliction of duty by Mr. Carney and Mr. Ford. We expected this from Mr. Ford, who has a history of acting first and asking later, but Mr. Carney had the option to involve Indigenous leaders from the start. Instead, Mr. Carney is acting all colonial, signalling to First Nations that they should just trust him and his government – that he knows best. That approach has never worked out well for us.
Meanwhile, Ontario continues to dig itself into a deeper hole concerning a lack of constitutional consultation. Last week, two Ontario cabinet ministers, Northern Economic Development Minister George Pirie and Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma, went to Moosonee and met with Mayor Wayne Taipale. Moose Cree First Nation Chief Peter Wesley said he found out about it at the last minute.
Here is some free advice for governments that ram through nation-building legislation without consulting the actual First Nations they will be trampling all over to mine critical minerals: go visit the communities. Leaders rarely do this. “We want Premier Ford to come to our community ... You need to come and consult us. Not just make decisions that impact us,” Mr. Wesley told me at a recent gathering of residential school survivors.
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During their visit, Mr. Wesley said he could meet with the Ontario cabinet ministers if they came to him – there was a funeral in the community and he needed to stay close by. But during the meeting, “We asked them, are you looking at establishing a special economic zone in our area? There was no response,” Mr. Wesley said. “We asked them if the sea port will be here. No response.”
Mr. Wesley isn’t even sure a deep-water port is feasible. He said they frequently dredge the river in order for the local Niska ferry to cross. The last dredging cost $17-million. “The river is getting drier. A lot of it is swamp,” he said.
Mr. Carney is scheduled to meet with First Nations chiefs on July 17. Can he turn back what has been done and set us all on a course that works for everyone? Let’s see if he can truly build a country for us all. If not, the damage will be as irreversible as the environmental destruction coming to the North.