Okay. I guess it's appropriate, since my people were first here.

First of all, I'd like to say that we're meeting here on the traditional territory of the Algonquin. It's an honour to be sitting here representing the company I'm going to speak for.

Good morning ladies and gentlemen, honourable members of Parliament, the staff, and my fellow colleagues here at the table. My name is Glenn Nolan. I'm the vice-president of government affairs with Noront Resources. I'm also a former chief of the Missanabie Cree First Nation here in northern Ontario.

I'd like to discuss the experience of Noront's working in conjunction with both the province and the federal government in engaging local indigenous communities in the development of our resource projects.

Noront Resources is a junior mining company with the largest mining claim holdings in the Ring of Fire, an emerging mineral-rich region located in the James Bay lowlands of northern Ontario. It's about 500 kilometres north of Thunder Bay. The Ring of Fire is considered by many as the most important new mineral resource region in the province, if not in all of Canada. Noront's lead project is our Eagle's Nest copper-nickel-platinum-palladium deposit. It is one of the largest high-grade nickel sulphide discoveries in Canada to date.

Since discovering Eagle's Nest in 2007, Noront has made extensive efforts to engage local communities to help guide the project and maximize benefits to those communities potentially impacted by our activities. Special efforts have been made in engaging the youth, sharing the importance of education and possibly a vocation in the industry. We also made efforts in developing skills that will prepare individuals to find jobs or business opportunities to support our projects. We are also involved in communities, going above and beyond what is required under the environmental assessment process. Of course, the last thing is the importance of infrastructure to the far north, where there virtually is a blank slate. There are no roads, no power, etc.

First of all, Noront employees have spent considerable time in the local first nation communities engaging with the youth through various programs such as youth camps, art projects, and school events. The programs in the communities have been successful in teaching the youth about continuing their education and about what mining is and what they can do to participate. A particularly successful initiative was the movie-making program called “So You Think you Know Mining”, which was offered by the Ontario Mining Association. It resulted in some of the youth from the Matawa communities that are our partners winning the provincial competition and being recognized at a gala event in Toronto.

The second point I'd like to make is with training. Noront has made considerable progress to provide opportunities for training and education, employment, procurement, business development, and community investment. As an example, we established the Ring of Fire aboriginal training alliance, or RoFATA, in partnership with the Matawa First Nations employment and training services, also known a KKETS, and Confederation College, located in Thunder Bay. The program provides skills-based training and guidance for long-term career paths for the members from the Matawa communities who are interested in working in the mining sector. Over 400 individuals have participated and graduated from the RoFATA program since it began in 2013. Individuals have had training in areas such as heavy equipment operation, environmental monitoring, diamond drilling, industrial trades, underground common core, and remote mining operations, just to name a few of the skill development areas.

The third point I want to address is the importance of the natural environment to the local communities. Noront's team has effectively established relationships over many years by working closely with the local communities to understand their concerns regarding the impact of the projects. From these relationships and discussions, Noront has redesigned aspects of our Eagle's Nest project to address those specific concerns with regard to water, surface development, tailings, and local economic needs.

Early engagement with the local first nation communities regarding the environmental assessment process revealed a common set of environmental concerns. After extensive consultations with the communities, Noront changed its mine design to reduce the footprint of the mine infrastructure, committed to recycling processed water to limit the amount of discharge, and developed a process whereby all tailings would be returned underground, eliminating the need for a surface tailings containment dam.

The last point I want to talk about is infrastructure into the remote regions of Ontario. While this is under provincial jurisdiction, the federal government can play an important role. The more remote a mining project is, the more important the discussion about infrastructure becomes.

The basic need for roads and power are uniform across the north, whether it be for local communities to address their needs or for mining companies when they are planning their projects. Indigenous communities and mining projects will share in the benefits of new roads and power lines in the remote regions of northern Ontario. Everything from lower costs for building materials from the south year-round to economic development opportunities come from this type of development.

I want to make the following points.

Engaging youth at an early stage is vitally important in laying a foundation for building awareness of the industry and building trust within the community. It showcases the importance of continuing education for students, not just for mining jobs but for the opportunities advanced education allows.

In the case of the environmental assessment, it helped our company design a better plan to reflect the concerns and ideas that came from the local communities. The federal government needs to work more closely with the industry to ensure that the requirements of the federal environmental assessment process are also reflective of the needs of the local communities.

Early engagement in training initiatives is also very important. It provides increased awareness among community members about the industry and the opportunities arising from the project. In the past, and even today, the federal government has supported training initiatives in the RoFATA training program.

A new road and power infrastructure in remote areas will bring not only benefits to the mine but to the region and the isolated communities. It's important that in partnership with the province, the federal government can play a significant role.

In conclusion, at Noront, our team believes that it is setting a standard for future development in our operations. It will create the necessary momentum for an inclusive, mutually beneficial culture for first nations, government, and industry.

Thank you very much. Meegwetch.

Transcript

Discussions (0)