An all-season road to Ontario‘s Ring of Fire — a region with rich deposits of critical minerals needed for battery manufacturing — appears to have been a primary preoccupation for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier Doug Ford during four successive meetings in the latter half of 2022.
Federal briefing documents prepared for the prime minister ahead of meetings with Ford show that critical minerals and the Ring of Fire in northern Ontario were key topics of discussion between the two — possibly paving the way for a landmark decision to approve a First Nations-led proposal to construct a year-round access road.
The Ring of Fire region, about 500 km northeast of Thunder Bay, is said to be rich in critical minerals and the province has made long-standing promises to develop and mine the area.
The documents, obtained by Global News through an access to information and privacy request, show Ford and Trudeau met on Aug. 22, Aug. 30, Oct. 13 and Dec. 5 in the latter half of 2022.
At three of those four meetings, critical minerals and the Ring of Fire were listed first under “key messages” prepared for Trudeau.
The documents included heavy redactions: most of background notes prepared were released, while the entirety of key messages prepared for Trudeau were withheld.
On Monday, it was announced that a plan designed by two First Nations to build a road in the Ring of Fire had been approved by the provincial government. The mining minister, however, has refused to say when the project would be completed, calling questions about the timeline of the project “hypothetical.”
A briefing note prepared ahead of Trudeau’s Aug. 22 meeting with Ford noted Ontario’s premier was keen to develop critical mineral mining in the Ring of Fire.
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It also said Ontario had “expressed appreciation” for recent United States legislation set to offer tax credits for electric vehicles made in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, finance minister Peter Bethlenfalvy said the Ford government would welcome American investment in future critical mineral projects in the region.
He said Ottawa has “a role to play” in the project, pointing to an upcoming visit from U.S. President Joe Biden.
“We will take (American) capital because that leads to (investment) in our core industries like advanced manufacturing, electric vehicle production, battery manufacturing… this is where we want to go, this is the future,” Bethlenfalvy said.
The Ford government is making a big push on electric vehicles with the goal of creating a domestic supply chain from mineral extraction to assembling cars within Ontario.
Several collaborations between the federal, provincial governments and private sector were announced in the run-up to Ontario’s 2022 election.
The Ring of Fire project still faces several environmental assessments that must be completed before any work can begin.
Ahead of another meeting between Ford and Trudeau, the prime minister’s team said they expected Ford to “push” for federal funding announced to support critical mineral supply chains to “be used for the all season road network in the RoF.”
A meeting scheduled for Oct. 13 included planned discussion of the Ring of Fire, although background notes prepared for the prime minister were repeated from previous meetings.
On Monday, Marten Falls First Nation Chief Bruce Achneepineskum said the project will help bring much needed prosperity to the community.
“Our youth are the hardest hit right now in terms of the socioeconomic issues and we want to improve that through better services, better infrastructure and building our communities,” Achneepineskum said.
In preparation for a Dec. 5 meeting, Trudeau was reminded two federal impact assessments were underway for the proposed project, led by First Nation groups.
Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said that consent from local Indigenous communities was a vital piece that must be in place for the project to move forward.
“I am a strong supporter of a mining-to-EV strategy. I think Ontario can be a global leader, and we want to maximize those profits for the people of Ontario,” he said.
The key messages for discussion between the two men were all redacted from the documents released to Global News.
— with files from The Canadian Press
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