By Jody Porter, CBC News A member of Peawanuck First Nation near Ontario’s Hudson Bay coast says the Ring of Fire mining development

Concerns about burial grounds

THE COLLEGE student in Timmins has written letters to the Minister of Northern Development and Mines, Nishnawbe Aski Nation and Mushkegowuk Council expressing her concerns. Now she’s launching a petition, seeking signatures from other community members in affected First Nations.

“There is no consultation,” Wabano said. “Meaningful consultation is when everybody is included, the elders, all the residents in the community so they can be aware of what’s going on, because the chiefs can’t speak for me especially when it comes to my grandfather’s traditional territory or my great-grandfather’s final resting place.”

A spokesperson for Mines Minister Michael Gravelle said Ontario is currently focused on engaging the First Nations in the Matawa region, closest to the Ring of Fire.

But the email response to CBC News CONTINUED, saying the province is “fully committed to a wider engagement strategy with our First Nation partners to drive smart, sustainable and collaborative development in the Ring of Fire, subject to the environmental assessment, regulatory approvals and the Crown meeting its duty to consult.”

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