Ring of Fire: A path to prosperity and environmental risk – National Observer

January 16th 2024

Harry Wabasse’s home in Webequie First Nation is near the Ring of Fire — a 5,000-square-kilometre region in Ontario’s north that contains minerals needed for clean technologies and batteries. Sitting 450 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, the area is difficult to reach — at present, it’s only accessible by airplane and a winter road, carved over the land and ice each year.

But two First Nations in the area — Webequie and Marten Falls — have a plan to change that. A road could bring economic opportunities, access to health care and supplies and prosperity to the nations.

The First Nations are proponents of a series of roads that would link the Ring of Fire, and their nations, into the Ontario highway network. It will cross a river system that northern First Nations have relied on for as long as can be remembered, and other nations in the region are not on board with the plan.

Amid the climate crisis, the roads are also putting a powerful climate-cooling landscape at risk. The region is home to the second-largest expanse of muskeg peatlands in the world — a vast bog that sucks planet-warming carbon out of the atmosphere. Experts say the rivers and the peatlands could be put at risk by mining and road development.

Wabasse says he’s hoping to work with developers to minimize the impact on his homelands.