'They're putting the First Nations history at risk,' says northern Ontario archeologist about Bill 5

Jonathan Migneault · CBC News

· Posted: May 05, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

An archeologist from bluish Ontario says he's acrophobic astir caller provincial authorities that could exempt immoderate archeological requirements for definite developments successful an effort to physique faster.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced Bill 5, besides known arsenic the Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, astatine the Toronto Stock Exchange connected April 17.

The provincial authorities says the omnibus measure would chopped reddish portion and duplicative processes that person held backmost large infrastructure, mining and assets improvement projects.

"The maze of bureaucracy, reddish portion and duplicative processes holding backmost our system means that a azygous mining task tin instrumentality 15 years to beryllium approved," Ford said successful a quality merchandise erstwhile the measure was introduced.

"In the look of existent Ontario-U.S. commercialized tensions, it tin nary longer beryllium concern arsenic usual. We are cutting reddish portion to unlock our captious minerals and unleash our system to make caller jobs and opportunities successful the northbound and crossed the province."

The measure has already drawn disapproval from biology groups, which reason that it scales backmost taxon astatine hazard protections successful the sanction of development.

Ryan Primrose, a elder archeologist with Woodland Heritage Northeast successful New Liskeard, says the authorities would besides marque it easier for the state to bypass archeological work, which helium says is of large value for Indigenous people.

"My interest is that the archeological sites are the past books of First Nations people," Primrose said.

"And without having processes to measure the onshore and to place archeological sites, past they're putting the First Nations past astatine hazard of immoderate imaginable find and learning from it, arsenic good arsenic protecting those sites."

Primrose says that currently, definite projects necessitate an archeological appraisal earlier operation begins. 

The projected legislation, though, would let the Ontario authorities to exempt projects from undergoing archeological assessments.

Primrose says the archeological assessments mostly don't adhd overmuch clip to task timelines, and are important for protecting First Nations history.

He says the biggest bottleneck, successful his view, is astatine Ontario's Ministry of Citizenship and Multiculturalism, which is liable for reviewing reports from archeologists. 

Primrose says the ministry is understaffed, which leads to delays successful evaluating archeological reports.

"I deliberation that if the state truly wanted to bash thing effective, they would appropriately money the ministry truthful that they could bash their jobs," helium said.

CBC News contacted the Ministry of Citizenship and Multiculturalism astir Primrose's presumption that it is underfunded, and starring to improvement bottlenecks, but did not person a effect by deadline.