A First Nation community near the Ring of Fire wants the public to know that it is autonomous.
Webequie First Nation, part of Matawa First Nations Management Tribal Council, released a community position paper and a consultation and accommodation protocol Wednesday morning. Chief Cornelius Wabbase said in light of recent media attention with Matawa’s withdrawal of support for Ring of Fire development, his community needs to reaffirm that it makes its own decisions when it comes to Webequie First Nation.
“The community has to assert themselves so that they can be recognized as a community up there that has the decision making power,” Wabasse said.
“We have to be known that we’re there…we have our own community processes that have to be taken into account.”
People in Webequie are concerned with a lack of consultation from government, industry and third party organizations like Matawa.
Wabasse said first and foremost, any consultation done with regard to Webequie traditional territory must be done with Webequie.
“The community has a concern about their (Matawa’s) approach and I’m standing by my community,” Wabasse said. “They’re not being properly consulted at the community level.”
Wabasse said Webequie does share environmental concerns with Matawa, which filed an application for a judicial review over the federal government’s decision to put a faster comprehensive environmental assessment for a proposed chromite project rather than a joint-panel assessment.
Wabasse said Webequie is still working with Matawa and other regional partners. Webequie is 540 kilometres north of Thunder Bay.
The community of more than 700 is the closest community to the Ring of Fire.
