The province's lead negotiator on resource developments in the Ring of Fire was short on details when it came to recent results from those talks.
“A lot of work has been going on,” said former Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci, who was brought in to negotiate with former Ontario Premier Bob Rae and the chiefs of the Matawa Tribal Council, on the province's behalf in 2013. “We don't work in the public arena. We work behind the scenes.”
In March 2014, the province and Matawa-member First Nations reached a framework agreement to help ensure First Nation communities would benefit from the proposed Ring of Fire development, but few details have been provided on any progress since then.
“We want to get it right before we get it quick,” said Iacobucci, who was in Sudbury on Tuesday for a luncheon speech to the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce about Canada's relationship with First Nations.
In his speech, Iacobucci said the nation's relationship with Aboriginal peoples marks the most important societal issue Canada currently faces.
“I have never encountered a more complex set of issues,” he said.
Iacobucci said Canada has only recently started to recognize the historical wrongdoings perpetrated against First Nations – including the physical and sexual abuses that were rampant in the residential schools system.
He said he was optimistic for the future, with efforts to form a new partnership between Canada and Aboriginal peoples built on mutual respect.
