This report, written by Ontarians for a Just Accountable Mineral Strategy (OJAMS), commissioned by MiningWatch Canada and endorsed by Northwatch, Friends of the Attawapiskat River, the Canadian Environmental Law Association, Greenpeace Canada, and Kebaowek First Nation, is being submitted to the Ontario government in response to changes it made to the Environmental Assessment Act as part of the omnibus COVID-19 Economic Recovery Act, Bill 197.
As communities’ and Indigenous Peoples’ concerns about environmental and social impacts are causing delays for extractive projects, investors – and the general public – are demanding better evaluation of the impacts of mining developments before they are allowed to be built or to undertake major expansions. Both Québec and B.C. have created project lists that automatically include most mines and smelters.
For decades, Ontario has been relying on piecemeal reviews of mines by the federal government, only applying provincial reviews to mining infrastructure like roads and transmission lines. However, the new federal Impact Assessment Act (IAA) does not include smelters or refineries on its Project List, and only covers the very largest metal and diamond mine proposals.
This report recommends that all mines, mills and extractive metallurgy facilities in Ontario – and significant expansions of the same – undergo a comprehensive environmental assessment. At the very least, Ontario should meet the standards set by Québec and British Columbia. Their project lists, recently updated, require EAs for mineral developments that create the greatest risk to our environment. Both are mining jurisdictions like Ontario, dependent on global investment to develop and expand their mining sectors – and with a large number of unfunded liabilities for abandoned mines.