First Nations youth say they're ‘starting a movement' against major projects bills
Ramon Kataquapit, youth councillor for Chiefs of Ontario and Nishnawbe Aski Nation, sings before speaking at a news conference on C-5 in the foyer of the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
OTTAWA — First Nations youth leaders are warning Canadians can expect a long, tense summer of protests as governments push forward with plans to fast-track major projects — and young people will be leading the charge.
'You will see us in your cities, your city's hubs,' said Ramon Kataquapit, a youth councillor with the Chiefs of Ontario and Nishnawbe Aski Nation and a member of Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario.
The federal Liberal government's Bill C-5, which passed through the House of Commons Friday night, allows cabinet to quickly grant federal approvals for big industrial projects like mines, ports and pipelines. It sailed through a Commons committee in the early hours of Thursday with support from the Conservatives.
And in Ontario, Premier Doug Ford's Conservatives have passed legislation allowing his government to designate 'special economic zones' where the provincial cabinet can exempt companies or projects from having to comply with any provincial law, provincial regulation or municipal bylaw.
Both pieces of legislation have met with fierce resistance from First Nations leaders who accuse Ottawa and Queen's Park of trampling on their rights and failing to consult with them in good faith.
Kataquapit said First Nations youth are 'starting a movement' to protect their cultures and lands from what they see as increasing encroachment by governments looking to build major projects in a hurry.
He compared both pieces of legislation to a rock falling off a mountain.
'You don't know how much momentum it's going to build,' he said. 'It might cause a mudslide and turn into something like an avalanche.
'This can turn into something much bigger, and a lot of our people — a lot of the youth — we see that.'
While chiefs have been the most prominent First Nations voices in news coverage of the legislation, Kataquapit said young people were the driving force behind recent rallies against the fast-track bills in northern Ontario, at Queen's Park and on Parliament Hill.
He said they draw inspiration from the Anishinaabe Seven Fires Prophecy, which speaks of a 'seventh fire' generation that will bring back traditional knowledge and ways of living after a period of cultural dislocation.
'We were raised to be the seventh generation,' Kataquapit said. 'What I've been taught was that it's my role to wake people up and to really show just how much colonization has affected us, but (also) how much strength we have in our traditional identity, culture …
'The seven fires are ready to take the steps that our leadership are falling back on because they fought a good fight for their entire lives. It's just nature that you grow tired, scarred, traumatized.'
Terra Roy, another youth councillor with Chiefs of Ontario, said First Nations youth can do more than just protest — they can engage with the land and with traditional knowledge as an act of resistance.
'We have young people in Attawapiskat taking the rivers,' Roy said. 'I'm happy that we're returning to the land and continuing to occupy it.'
Roy, who works as a liaison between Beausoleil First Nation and the private sector, spoke to The Canadian Press while attending a project management training session in Edmonton.
Roy said the federal and provincial legislation makes their own work seem almost futile.
'I was like, 'Well, what the heck did I just get hired for then if (governments are) just going to bulldoze over everything I say?'' Roy said.
'I'm here trying to create a whole department for my community so that we can have a greater say in our treaty area and then (governments) are like, 'Oh, just kidding.'
'I'm angry. I'm frustrated, heartbroken, annoyed.'
Much of that frustration comes from a sense of déjà vu. First Nations say they've been in this position before, when legislation introduced by the Stephen Harper government to allow governments and businesses to push through projects without strict environmental assessment triggered the countrywide protest movement known as Idle No More.
Roy vividly remembers sitting with their mother as a child as they took part in an Idle No More protest at a mall.
'It's frustrating that at 11 years old I was doing that, and now again at 23,' Roy said. 'If I'm tired of having to fight this again, I can only imagine how my grandmother feels.'
Hanna Sewell, a nurse and a member of Batchewana First Nation near Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., said young people have to lead this fight because they're the ones who will have to live with the impacts of accelerated development.
'If the land is sick, we're going to be sick as well,' she said.
'We don't want this bill, and we are the future generations that are going to govern this land and save it.'
Pierre Debassige, a member of M'Chigeeng First Nation and youth councillor for Anishinabek Nation, said First Nations won't be the only ones to experience those impacts.
'If they start development in the Ring of Fire in the Far North, all those lakes, rivers all come down to the Great Lakes,' he said.
'If there's that contamination that comes down from the North, it's going to affect not only their communities, but here in southern Ontario.'
Debassige said it's his generation's turn to step up.
'United we stand and we conquer, but divided we fall one by one,' he said.
'I'm always thinking of that seven generations behind me (and) what my great-great-great-great grandchildren are going to be doing. Maybe they'll see the work that I've done as a young person, (that I) fought for all of this.'
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 21, 2025.
Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
38 minutes ago
- CTV News
Saskatchewan exempts Canada Disability Benefit from income assistance programs
The SAID program provides long-term income support and services to those with disabilities. (Pexels) The Government of Saskatchewan has announced that the Canada Disability Benefit will be exempt from its core income assistance programs. This means that people with disabilities can receive up to $200 per month in additional federal income without affecting their provincial income assistance benefits. Social Services Minister Terry Jenson says this will put more money in the pockets of Saskatchewan income assistance clients. 'Our government is committed to supporting people with disabilities, and we brought our Saskatchewan perspective to collaborations with the Government of Canada on this new program,' Jenson said in a news release. The province says as part of the 2025-26 budget, Saskatchewan Income Support (SIS) and Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability (SAID) benefits have increased by two per cent. The SAID program provides long-term income support and services to those with disabilities. SAID benefits include a living income benefit, disability income benefit, and exceptional need income benefit, varying depending on individual needs. As of April 1, 2025, annual earned income exemptions have been updated to $7,500 for singles, $8,700 for couples, and $9,500 for families
CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
Strategist calls passing Bill C-5 'a key moment' for PM Carney's first parliament session
Watch Liberal strategist Sharon Kaur discusses PM Carney's goals in Europe, grades his first parliament session, and addresses concerns about Bill C-5.
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
After 4 years away, Cathy Wong hopes to return to Montreal city council
Former Montreal city council speaker, Cathy Wong is seeking to replace Coun. Luc Rabouin as borough mayor for Plateau-Mont-Royal in the next election — four years after she exited municipal politics. Wong will run as a candidate with Projet Montréal while Rabouin vies for the city mayor's office in November. Wong, who represented the Peter-McGill district in downtown Montreal from 2017 until 2021, said she did not know she would be coming back when she chose not to seek re-election to prioritize her family. "It's really since I would say December, after the American elections but also after a lot of different crises — climate crisis, social crisis, democratic crisis — that I felt the need to come back to be more involved in building policies that are feminist, that are inclusive, and that are green," she said. "In the last six months, every time I was opening the news, I felt so much anger, felt powerless," she said, adding that it created a feeling of wanting to be involved. If elected, Wong says she'd like to work to improve accessibility in the Plateau-Mont-Royal focusing on traffic-calming and street safety measures, housing and increasing universal accessibility. She moved to the borough in 2021 and lives there with her family. For the last four years she's been working as the vice-president of Telefilm Canada. Wong was first elected as a member of Ensemble Montréal in 2017, becoming the first elected official of Chinese descent at city hall. She was named speaker that same year, making her the first woman to hold the job in Montreal. She quit her party to sit as an independent and later joined Projet Montréal in 2019. She also became the first executive committee member in charge of fighting racism and discrimination. "I believe that the city has advanced in terms of inclusivity and in terms of accessibility but of course there's still work to be done," she said. "Today I'm running for mayor of a borough where I believe that there is still so many opportunities to make our borough more accessible, more inclusive, and this is the work I want to focus on."
