Prospectors, landholders raise concerns about Ontario Mining Act meetings
A mining watchdog group, a prospectors' group and an aboriginal leader are hopeful that public meetings will lead to the creation of a better Ontario Mining Act, but they all have some concerns about the way the government is approaching its review of the act.
The Ontario government announced on Aug. 5 that it would be holding public and stakeholder meetings in five Ontario communities between Aug. 11 and Sept. 8 to get input about how to modernize the century-old act that regulates mining in the province "to be more respectful" of aboriginal communities and private landowners.
Marilyn Crawford, a spokeswoman for the lobby group Mining Watch Canada, said parts of the current Mining Act are very controversial, as they allow anyone with a prospector's licence to enter, occupy and use land owned by someone else, and that needs to change.
She is pleased about the public consultations, but said the government didn't give people much time to prepare for them, even though the issues around the act are complex.
Garry Clark, executive director of the Ontario Prospectors Association, said he was also concerned about the fact that the meetings started just six days after they were announced.
"It's kind of a shotgun approach," he said.
Feds need to be involved: Algonquin chiefBob Lovelace, co-chief of an Algonquin First Nation that has been protesting uranium exploration on land they claim as theirs, said the province should demand that the federal government get involved in the process.
"Ontario can only cover a little bit of the issues that are around uranium," he said.
Lovelace, co-chief of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation, spent three months in jail on contempt of court charges after he and other protesters disobeyed a court injunction barring them from a uranium exploration site near Sharbot Lake, Ont.
He welcomed the province's plan to modernize the act.
"The old Mining Act was brought into place before we had fully formed an idea of what citizens' rights were all about and what aboriginal rights were all about," he said. "And we need to change this act so they reflect a modern understanding."
Premier Dalton McGuinty promised in July that the province would overhaul Ontario's Mining Act this fall to deal with complaints that prospectors can stake lands for exploration without consulting the owners.
The province has already held public meetings in Timmins, Sudbury and Thunder Bay. The next one is in Kingston on Aug. 28, and the last is in Toronto on Sept. 8.
The province said the public meetings are the first step in its public consultation process for the Mining Act, which will also include "focused discussions" with the minerals industry, municipalities, and First Nations and Métis leaders and communities.
In addition, stakeholders and the public are invited to comment on a discussion paper that was posted on the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines website on Aug. 11.
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