Our Advocacy
Ontario’s Far North holds immense ecological value (as one of North America’s largest peatland complexes and carbon sink) and cultural value (as home to tens of thousands of Indigenous peoples).
Additionally, interest in the region from extractive industries has increased over the last decades as the estimated $60-billion mineral deposit known as the Ring of Fire sees ramped-up exploration and development activities.
We provide a voice to individuals and communities who stand to be directly affected from the Ring of Fire development and who were otherwise excluded and/or alienated from decision-making processes that impact their traditional territory and infringes their inherent Indigenous and treaty rights.
We seek to provide a forum for affected community members to come together, for instance through the hosting of paddling trips and gatherings, and seek to raise awareness both within communities and to the public, regarding threats to lands, water and rights posed by the Ring of Fire.
Read our work including letters and comments here.
On the River
In the Fall of 2023, the Friends of the Attawapiskat River hosted a multi week paddle down the Attawapiskat River with youth and community leaders from across Treaty 9 communities, including Attawapiskat and Neskantaga First Nations.
This paddle is our statement, in recognition of who we are, as Treaty peoples, in honouring promises to share the land, to be honest, to be kind. It is an opportunity for youth to learn how to be helpers.
Youth and leaders began the trip in Neskantaga Lake (some 500 km North of Thunder Bay). This journey is in recognition of our spiritual connection to these lands and waters. Along this 240 mile route, we held ceremonies at our starting point, the DeBeers diamond mine site, and at Kattawapiskat (a word meaning ‘a path between the Rock), before returning to community.
We are hoping to get back out on the river in the Summer of 2024!