‘Indigenous rights are not red tape’: Ontario’s controversial Bill 5 could spark a new Idle No More Movement

After travelling 1,146 kilometres, Sharon Sakanee of Neskantaga First Nation stood at the doors of Queen’s Park with her grandson Micah on a rainy evening with a message: “No to Bill 5. No to the Ring of Fire. No destruction. No bulldozers. Not here. Not on our lands.”

The Attawapiskat River, near the spot where Sakanee’s father and grandparents were born, flows through her traditional territory and lies within the “Ring of Fire” region in Northern Ontario. 

“Doug Ford wants to cross over that river with his bulldozer, where I continue to use that river system to hunt fish with my grandson,” she told a crowd of environmental advocates, Indigenous leaders and concerned Ontarians gathered at a rally on May 28.

“That river system is where I still hunt and fish with my grandson,” she said. “In the summer, we fish; in the fall, we hunt. That’s where we get our food and medicine from. If this Bill 5 passes, our generation, our future generation, is not going to have that traditional land we use now for fishing, hunting, medicine, harvesting.”

Sakanee and her grandson travelled from Neskantaga, a remote community accessible only by air, water or seasonal ice roads, with no permanent connection to the rest of Ontario. 

 

On May 28, Sharon Sakanee attended a rally outside Queen’s Park with her grandson Micah and spoke about the importance of the traditional lands that are under threat by Bill 5.

(Joel Wittnebel/The Pointer)

 

Members of First Nations travelled long distances to voice their concerns with “the worst piece of legislation in a generation” — Bill 5 committee hearings were held on May 22, 26, and 28. They came to defend their lands, waters and heritage against the Doug Ford government’s omnibus legislation.

Bill 5, dubbed the Protecting Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, will give Ford and his “handpicked cabinet” the authority to establish “special economic zones” that allow projects and “trusted proponents” to bypass provincial and municipal laws, all under the guise of cutting “red tape” to expedite resource extraction and supposedly shield the economy from U.S. tariffs.

“We cannot and will not sit by idly to see the Crown designate the entire province a Special Economic Zone using its powers under Bill 5, and we will not permit the Crown to escalate control in our territory. We remind the Crown that our laws — Anishinaabe — continue to apply, to protect our territorial rights, and Ontario must follow these laws,” Saugeen Ojibway Nation Ogimaa Chief Conrad Ritchie told the committee on May 26.

 

Saugeen Ojibway Nation Ogimaa Chief Conrad Ritchie says Bill 5 violates rights under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, particularly the requirement for free, prior and informed consent.

(Legislative Assembly of Ontario)

 

“The Crown is a treaty partner, not a dictator, and it’s time to act like one.”

Indigenous communities aren't alone in voicing concern; environmental advocates, legal organizations and labour unions have joined the call. This week, CUPE Ontario, the country’s largest union, passed an emergency resolution unanimously at its 61st annual convention, where more than 900 delegates, including dozens from Brampton and across Peel Region, stood together in solidarity.

“This Bill has managed to ‘unleash’ the anger of First Nations, civil liberties advocates, environmental organizations and the labour movement as a result of the unprecedented nature of the measures it contains, and the way it is speeding its way through the legislature with little scrutiny,” CUPE national researcher, Venai Raniga, said.

“SEZs would inevitably create a two-tier labour system, fostering a race to the bottom in wages and working conditions.”

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association also warned that the legislation would grant the government "extraordinary powers to bypass both the legislature and existing laws."

 

 

If passed, Bill 5 would strip key environmental protections, sidestep Indigenous consultation and grant the provincial cabinet sweeping powers to fast-track development in specially designated zones without adhering to municipal or provincial laws.

(Anushka Yadav/The Pointer) 

 

During the legislative committee hearings, mining and infrastructure proponents laid out their case as Indigenous speakers were dismissed, and environmental advocates were met with hostility by PC MPPs.

Former Neskantaga Chief Wayne Moonias shared his disappointment in an interview with The Pointer, noting that not a single PC MPP directed a question his way. Instead, all their attention went to representatives of the mining industry.

 

Former Neskantaga Chief Wayne Moonias speaking during the legislative committee hearing on May 26 (top) and during protests outside Queen’s Park on May 28.

(Legislative Assembly of Ontario/Joel Wittnebel/The Pointer)

 

“They want to access our minerals, they want to cross our river system, but this respect was really clear with the committee, with their lack of interest,” Moonias said.

Environmental voices fared no better. Ontario Nature’s policy director, Tony Morris, found himself on the receiving end of pointed, personal questions from Mississauga–Lakeshore MPP Rudy Cuzzetto, who demanded to know whether Morris owned an electric car and where the minerals for his aluminum water bottle came from.

Morris told The Pointer he expected “interesting questions from the government”—just not ones that deflected from the real issues. “We don’t solve our economic problems by copying Donald Trump’s playbook,” he said. “We don’t sacrifice endangered species. That’s not consistent with Canadian values.”

On May 26, Saugeen Ojibway Nation Councillor Randall Kahgee captured what many felt in the room: “We never put economic benefits above the protection of our lands and our waters and our relationship to them.”

Kahgee’s words echoed through Queen’s Park just two days later, as the spirit of resistance carried into a powerful rally; protestors made their message clear, chanting “Indigenous rights are not red tape” as MPPs debated the proposed legislation inside Queen’s Park until about midnight.

In 2019, NDP MPP for Kiiwetinoong, Sol Mamakwa, introduced legislation, Bill 76, to enact the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. The bill passed second reading on March 21, 2019, and was referred to the Standing Committee.

 

(Legislative Assembly of Ontario)

 

Despite support from key voices, including then-chief commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, Renu Mandhane, who wrote to the Ford government to expedite the process, the bill was never ordered for a third reading. 

Mandhane stated, “The OHRC encourages the government to ensure that Bill 76 is considered by the Committee as soon as possible, and reported back to the House for third reading and final passage,” noting the Commission’s intention to appear before the Committee in support.

How long did it take the Ford government to pass legislation lifting a cap on salary increases for provincial representatives, initially imposed in 2009 under the Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty? Thirteen minutes. It was introduced by Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy on May 29, and passed moments later. 

 

Under newly passed legislation, Ontario MPPs are set to receive a 35 percent pay increase, ending a 16-year salary freeze. Doug Ford’s salary will rise from approximately $209,000 to about $282,000.

(Doug Ford/X)

 

At the rally outside Queen’s Park, Anishinaabe grandmother Vivian Recollet reflected: “It is really fitting that it’s raining. You know what that is? The sign of rain—it’s the Creator crying because he knows there is a sad time for our people. A long time ago, when the great blood came upon the people, it was because we forgot how to be respectful to Mother Earth and took advantage of everything that was given to us.”

Inside, the NDP, Liberal and Green party leaders were filibustering the legislation, using “every committee tool” available to delay the process, pushing back against Ford’s attempt to rush the legislation through without proper consultation with First Nations.

“They’re doing everything in their power to rush it through, including shutting the public out of the process — we won’t let them,” NDP leader Marit Stiles said, calling Bill 5 a “shameless power grab.”

 

The Ontario NDP’s petition calling on residents to email the government about Bill 5 saw a surge in responses, climbing from 5,800 to 7,000 emails on May 28 alone.

(Marit Stiles/X)

 

“We know Bill 5 isn’t about our economy, it isn’t about the North, it isn’t about anything other than an unchecked, unfettered power grab.”

“Indigenous rights, environmental protections, labour laws and democratic oversight are not red tape,” Ontario Green Party leader Mike Schreiner said during the rally.

Environmental Defence’s Ontario environment program manager Phil Pothen said the unusual cooperation between the Liberals, Greens and NDP, parties usually at “each other’s throats,” using measures they “rarely use” demonstrates just how abnormal this Bill is. 

“This isn’t just a law the opposition disagrees with, this is a law that overturns almost a century of progress in Ontario’s rule of law. It takes power away from the legislature and hands it to the Premier and a handpicked cabinet, allowing unilateral action,” Pothen told The Pointer.

“This is not how things are supposed to work in Canada or any first-world country. Many families left other countries to get away from this kind of government. So it’s shocking that the Premier is trying to do this in Ontario. That shock is reflected in the opposition’s response; it’s not about policy details but about fundamental principles at odds with Ontario’s values.” 

By sustaining debate well into the night, opposition leaders were successful in pushing the committee process on Bill 5 into the following week.

“We have given the Premier a couple more days to listen to the people and maybe to think it over, but let’s just go to where this needs to end,” Stiles said during a legislative assembly session on May 29. 

“Will the Premier scrap Bill 5?”

The NDP is now trying to push the Bill 5 hearings back to June 6, when Queen’s Park is scheduled to break for the summer, which would postpone the final decision on the legislation until the fall.

But the PCs have the option to extend the legislative session, and they are eager to fast-track mining approvals.

“I'm not going to rely on President Trump any longer,” Ford had said during a press conference on May 13.

“You can’t fight Trump by acting like Trump!,”  Schreiner warned.

 

Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner speaks during a Bill 5 protest outside Queen’s Park on May 28th.

(Joel Wittnebel/The Pointer)
 

On May 29, most of Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on goods imported from almost every foreign nation were ruled illegal by the U.S. Court of International Trade. 

If the tariffs are ultimately struck down and removed, Ford will have to find another justification for his government’s reasoning behind the Bill. 

On May 28, Energy and Mining Minister Stephen Lecce claimed the PC government introduced the legislation "in good faith" after hearing concerns about “bureaucratic delays” in mining approvals.

“This is about self-reliance…we need to create certainty for investors,” Lecce said at a press conference earlier last month.

For many Ontarians, like Sakanee and her grandson, the confusion lies in why certainty for private investors must translate to uncertainty for the natural world and for First Nations communities.

 

The NDP predict a legal battle looming on the horizon, with court challenges likely to tie up Bill 5 for years, stalling any real action and leaving the government stuck in limbo.

(Stephen Lecce/Instagram)

 

Lecce often points out that opening a mine takes about eight to nine years in Australia, ten to twelve years in Europe, and even longer here in Ontario—so the government’s bold solution is to “unleash” the economy and accelerate these timelines by creating Special Economic Zones under Schedule 9 of the Bill.

 

Under Schedule 9 of the proposed legislation, affected individuals or communities would be barred from seeking legal recourse, prioritizing economic interests over community needs and environmental protection.

(Government of Ontario)

 

Ecojustice lawyer Laura Bowman points out that “If this is about speeding up mining projects, there is no plan to do this spelled out in Schedule 9.”

“The word ‘mining’ isn't even in Schedule 9. It is simply an unprecedented and unconstitutional attack on responsible government that has been in place in Ontario since the 1840s…we are actually hearkening back to a pre-Wild West regime with this Bill. Straight out of Trump's playbook, using obsolete executive power from the early 19th century.”

Residents could wake up one day to discover their home sits on land suddenly declared a Special Economic Zone—an area earmarked for critical mineral extraction under government authority. The PC government would have the power to designate any property for mining development, even if it means forcing people to leave their home. 

It’s already happening. 

In Caledon, residents along the route of Highway 413 are losing their houses through expropriation, displaced to make way for the controversial highway project. 

The Special Economic Zone Act could expand this kind of power.

Calling Bill 5 a “historic legislation,” Lecce says the PCs “intend to designate the Ring of Fire, with its world-class deposits of critical minerals, as the first such special economic zone, signalling its long-term strategic importance to the province.”

Thousands of people from First Nations call the Ring of Fire their home.

It is what the Indigenous communities know as Yehewi Aski and Bakitanaamowin Aki — the “breathing lands,” part of the Hudson Bay Lowlands, the world’s second-largest peatland complex, which stores more than 35 billion tonnes of carbon and plays a vital role in climate regulation, supports rich biodiversity and sustains Indigenous food systems, medicines and cultural traditions.

“The breathing lands are within the peatlands, the muskeg in Treaty Nine territory, where the Ring of Fire is proposed, and already over 30,000 claims have been staked without the consent of any Indigenous communities,” Friends of the Attawapiskat River legal counsel, Kerrie Blaise, said.

“This region is an area where water flows underground, with underground rivers that sustain sturgeon, many fish species, and the millions of migratory birds that visit every year. This is the region that Schedule 9 would see done away with law.”

Indigenous Affairs Minister Greg Rickford says Bill 5 goes beyond mining, it delivers critical infrastructure to First Nations communities, and the PCs believe they have “found a fair, responsible and reasonable path forward.”

Lecce insists the PC government is committed to “responsible” resource development and to fulfilling its duty to consult First Nations under Treaty 9.

"We think we can do both, we think we’ve found that balance, but we understand we've got to keep listening," Lecce said on May 28.

 

Protesters against the PC’s controversial Bill 5 legislation gather outside Queen’s Park on May 28th.

(Joel Wittnebel/The Pointer)

 

Just two days earlier, at the May 26 legislative committee hearing, PC MPPs voted down a motion, put forward by NDP MPP for Kiiwetinoong, Sol Mamakwa, to hold public hearings in Thunder Bay, a move that would have allowed affected Indigenous communities a fair chance to understand and respond to the full implications of the legislation.

Familiar with government tactics, Lake Huron Regional Chief Scott McLeod said, “If all those things you and Mr. Lecce and Mr. Rickford said today are true, then let’s put them down in writing in the legislation. Like Australia did — the example you like to use. They put it right in their law, so there’s no ambiguity. We’ve learned from the treaty that you use the English language to interpret it the way you want, to do what you want on our lands.”

The balance the PC government claims to have achieved was challenged by several Indigenous leaders during the committee hearings, who highlighted pressing issues such as homelessness, the healthcare crisis and unsafe drinking water in their communities.

“I’m sure the water in your toilets is cleaner than the water in some of our First Nations,” McLeod said, the anger cutting the silence in the room.

May 26 marked 30 years, three months, and 12 days of a boil water advisory in Neskantaga. 

“Where in this country can you say that that is the case?,” Neskantaga former Chief Wayne Moonias asked the committee.

 

 

In Ontario, close to 30 communities are under long-term drinking water advisories.

(Government of Canada)

 

“If we’re going to develop a true partnership based on the treaty relationship, those are the things that should be looked at closely. A treaty based on respect, not a treaty based on intimidation, through this Bill 5. That’s what this Bill is about. It’s threatening the lives of our people back home. It’s threatening our sturgeon. It’s threatening our river systems. And that is unacceptable for the people of Neskantaga.”

Amid mounting pressure and public backlash, the provincial government has signalled it is planning to add a clause to Schedule 9 acknowledging a duty to consult, and create "Indigenous-led economic zones" through consultations with Indigenous communities over the summer. 

Critics argue this gesture might be hollow since the duty to consult is already enshrined in Canada’s constitution and does nothing to change the core of Bill 5. 

“None of the amendments proposed by the government really fix any of the problems or remove any of the dangers that environmental NGOs, Indigenous nations or the labour movement have identified with Bill 5,” Pothen noted.

He says the government is refusing to amend the law to create exemptions that would prevent the most extreme abuses the proposed legislation would allow. For example, it doesn’t exempt prohibitions against polluting water or air, nor does it protect workers from retaliation or unsafe conditions. It doesn’t carve out protections for the Green Belt, and it prevents “trusted proponents” from using protest to block projects.

“None of these things are being fixed.”

Grand Chief of Nishnawbe Aski Nation Alvin Fiddler also made it clear that the “Amendments (are) not enough. Bill 5 needs to be withdrawn,” calling the legislation “a direct attack” on First Nations, Treaty 9 and Indigenous children.

For many, it’s too little, too late: the Ford government had already put the legislation on the table without meaningful consultation with First Nations in the first place.

 

(Legislative Assembly of Ontario)

 

Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians Grand Chief Joel Abram confirmed they were “not engaged on this, nor were we asked for contact information for the 133 First Nations.” 

“I represent eight member nations, and to my knowledge, none of them have been consulted or engaged on this legislation. This law needs to be stopped—it must be scrapped and started over. I can understand trying to advance Ontario's aspirations economically, but it can’t be done so at the expense of the environment and the expense of democracy, at the expense of First Nation rights,” he said.

At the first committee hearing on May 22, Robinson Huron Treaty Chiefs spokesperson Dean Sayers said: “These bills need to be made with us at the table.”

 

During his presentation, Dean Sayers showed PC MPPs a Two-Row Wampum belt—a symbol of mutual respect and coexistence. The white background represents the “river of life” with two parallel rows: one for the canoes of Indigenous peoples, the other for the ships of Europeans. The rows travel side by side, signifying that both cultures move forward together; separately, but in peace, without interference.

 

“If you don’t get our permission, you ain’t doing it,” Sayers said

“The best way to carve through that is to make sure you're having those conversations early and often. My experience is that we're brought in way too late or after the fact…But one thing that should never be questioned is our resolve. If we have to stand to protect our rights, that’s what we will do,” Saugeen Ojibway Nation Councillor Randall Kahgee said.

As the Ford government pushes forward, many First Nations are warning it is walking the same path as those before it—one that leads to conflict and resistance.

In 2012, the Harper government’s Bill C-45, the Jobs and Growth Act, gutted environmental protections for waterways and bypassed Indigenous consultation, sparking the Idle No More movement, a nationwide Indigenous-led resistance that galvanized grassroots activism across the country.

Amnesty International said “changes to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, the Fisheries Act, the Navigable Waters Protection Act, and the proposed Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act have profound implications for the rights of Indigenous peoples as set out in treaties, affirmed in the constitution, and protected by international human rights standards.” 

 

Idle No More organized over 300 protests, teach-ins, and flash mobs within just a few months of launching, drawing international attention to Indigenous sovereignty, treaty rights and environmental protection.

(Idle No More)

 

Now, First Nations leaders are drawing the same line in the sand. They say Ontario’s Bill 5 is a modern-day parallel: another top-down law. Another dismissal of the duty to consult. Another threat to the land, waters and the treaties that bind the Crown.

“Reconciliation starts at first by honouring those three principles. This bill does not do that. It takes us backwards,” Kahgee said.

“We're a peaceful people, but make no mistake, and people forget this, the Anishinaabe are warriors.”

In March 2023, the Ontario government faced mounting protests from First Nations leaders over access to the resource-rich Ring of Fire.

In June 2024, standing beside Ford, Ginoogaming First Nation Chief Sheri Taylor welcomed the government’s investment in training opportunities but made it clear that such gestures fall short of true economic reconciliation.

“Long before this area was a municipality, Indigenous peoples were here on this land,” Taylor said. “There are many grandfathers who are worth something different to our non-Indigenous brothers and sisters. Contrary to Minister George Pirie’s (who was minister of mining at the time, and currently holds the position of minister of northern economic development and growth) recent unfortunate comments, our grandfathers are not begging for exploration holes. And our lands are not empty.”

Her remarks cut through the ceremony, shifting the tone from a cooperative photo-op to urgent reckoning. “It is regretful that I have to start off my remarks pointing this out,” she added, “but it must be said: all Ontario ministers must be clear and on board with economic reconciliation and that means being respectful to First Nations and addressing long-standing grievances.”

Legal experts and the NDP warn that, like so many of Ford’s actions, Bill 5 will do the opposite of what is intended. Numerous court challenges could tie up the legislation for years, until a new government scraps the failed moves. Meanwhile, the economy, just like the housing market under Ford’s controversial heavy-handed moves to supposedly spark growth, will suffer. 

Pothen notes Bill 5 is “Bill C-45 on steroids, with rabies and with nuclear weapons attached to it.”

“(Bill 5) doesn't even have any of the limits that Bill 45 had. It simply enables the government to remove procedures altogether,” he said.

“If Bill C-45 was enough to spark the Idle No More movement, then this legislation should be enough to strike the match for a much bigger, angrier, and more confrontational conflict between governments and Indigenous nations.”

On May 27, Anishinabek Nation warned that people “will be idle no more if Bill 5 passes in (its) current form.”

“We see history repeating itself far too often when it comes to external governments going to great lengths to go around us, above us, or avoid us altogether when it comes to legislation—whether it’s the federal government or provincial—in an attempt to bypass meaningful engagement with the legitimate rights holders and stewards of these lands and obtain our consent,” Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Linda Debassige said.

“Ontario is not respecting the original relationship our First Nations have with the Crown by virtue of treaties, which supersedes provincial legislation. Ontario is interfering in our original relationship with the Crown, which currently has outstanding matters that require correction. At various points in our relationship with the Crown, our treaty partners have not always upheld their responsibilities and obligations outlined within the treaties. We continue to hold our treaty partners accountable, even if it takes us 147 years to settle aspects of these treaties, like we did with the Robinson Huron Treaty annuities case, and soon with the Robinson Superior Treaty annuities. And we will hold the Government of Ontario accountable, too, for their continued interference. Ontario has a constitutional duty to consult, and First Nations are demanding free, prior, and informed consent.”

“We will never surrender. We will rise generation after generation until justice flows as the river does freely, fully, and without end,” Grassy Narrows First Nation vowed in a statement.

 

A large crowd gathered outside Queen’s Park on a rainy May 28th to protest the environmental degradation, and the trampling of Indigenous rights the PCs would cause if Bill 5 is passed.

(Joel Wittnebel/The Pointer)

 

First Nations leaders emphasize they are not against economic development—they just refuse to be excluded from it.

“I honestly believe we can work together. I’m not a frustrated man, but reading this bill made me frustrated…don’t change the species at risk act, please,” Miptoon (Anthony) Chegahno, Head Councillor for Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation, said. 

McLeod added: “It's time that we actually work together. We have the same interests. When First Nations do good, the entire province does good.” 

 

 

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