A northern Ontario First Nation signed a partnership deal with the province Wednesday designed to speed up construction of a road to the mineral-rich Ring of Fire, with its chief saying it will lead to prosperity for his community.
The province will give Webequie First Nation nearly $40 million to build a community centre with an arena, rebuild its airport terminal that recently burned down and buy materials and equipment to begin early work on a road to the proposed Ring of Fire mining site.
"It's an opportunity for us and we'd like to make that opportunity flourish," Chief Cornelius Wabasse said.
The deal will also provide Webequie with what he said are badly needed mental health resources and support.
Wabasse said the agreement will establish an ongoing relationship with the province to figure out a way to make more improvements to the community.
"We are very humble and we look forward to working together and moving on with what we have and making sure that our communities will prosper in the near future," he said.
Premier Doug Ford pledged prosperity and big changes coming to the First Nation, which is nearly 600 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, Ont., and some 60 kilometres away from mining exploration activities inside the Ring of Fire region, a journey that requires air travel.
"I was mentioning to the council and the chief that their children and their grandchildren are going to grow up differently than what they did," Ford said.
"They're going to have opportunities available to them that they didn't have. And we're changing lives up there."
Wabasse said the Webequie Supply Road is a pathway to economic opportunity for his isolated community, which can only be reached by air or via a winter road that is increasingly shrinking in length due to climate change.
The community is leading an environmental assessment on its supply road and it has completed the draft report stage. Work on the assessment began six years ago.
Two other proposed roads would also link Webequie to the provincial highway system hundreds of kilometres to the south.
The First Nation is co-leading another study on the Northern Link Road, which would go south from the Webequie Supply Road and the Ring of Fire and connect with Marten Falls First Nation.
And Marten Falls is leading an environmental assessment on a third connected road that would flow north-south and connect to the provincial highway system.
Ford said construction on the Webequie Supply Road could begin as soon as next June, though he would need the federal government to drop an impact assessment he says duplicates the work Webequie has already done on its nearly complete environmental assessment.
Ford said he wants to get the "federal government out of the way."
"Prime Minister Carney made a commitment to us to get out of the way of nation building projects," Ford said.
"To his credit, he is putting action behind his words. I look forward to getting our agreement across the finish line so we can move faster, be bolder, go further and build the future of our economy, starting in the Ring of Fire."
Indigenous Affairs Minister Greg Rickford said the money will go to a number of projects in the community.
"Airports are really important in communities that have no road access," Rickford said.
"Some time ago, the terminal was lost to fire, so part of this funding includes – and some of us have experienced that firsthand – the need for a new terminal, upgrades to the runway, including a helicopter pad and electricity capacity as they build up business capacity and industry capacity."
Developing the Ring of Fire has become a lightning rod, with both Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ford intent on mining the area.
Ford's Progressive Conservative government passed a law this past spring, known as Bill 5, that gives cabinet the ability to suspend any or all provincial and municipal laws in an effort to speed up the construction of large mines through the creation of so-called "special economic zones."
Carney's government, meanwhile, has passed a law that speeds up the development of major "nation-building" projects. Those laws caused furor among many First Nations.
Rickford said Wednesday that no part of Bill 5 is in force in the Ring of Fire.
"We will take our cue from First Nations communities like Webequie," he said.
Wabasse said they need to look at the law closer.
"We need to better understand what Bill 5 is all about and hopefully we can come up with a strategy that can work for us as well," he said.
Ford's comments about pushing the federal government to drop its regulatory processes on the Webequie Supply Road angered nearby Neskantaga First Nation.
"Doug Ford’s government has been missing in action while our people face a six-month health crisis with no nursing station and unsafe drinking water," said Neskantaga First Nation Chief Gary Quisess, who is in Ottawa talking with the federal government about solutions to fix the nursing station.
"Now he wants to dismantle the only federal process that gives us a voice in what happens to our lands. That's not leadership — it's colonialism in 2025."
Neskantaga has asked Ottawa to designate the proposed Eagle's Nest mine, owned by Australian mining giant Wyloo, for review under the Impact Assessment Act.
"The fact that Eagle’s Nest has not already triggered a federal assessment is outrageous," said Quisess.
"Our ancestors are buried along the Attawapiskat River. Our lives depend on these waters."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2025.
