Amidst a First Nations suicide crisis, political leaders only see gold

By Jon Thompson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ricochet The ice is breaking up slowly on the lakes that surround Ojibways of Onigaming First Nation, 110 kilometres south of Kenora, Ontario. The snow’s receding, and mining prospectors are eager to get back into the field. Meanwhile, a trade war with the U.S. is threatening to ramp up critical minerals at volumes and speeds that would transform the entire national economy. But if a gold rush is coming like the one that took place in the 1880s and 1890s on Treaty #3 lands here in northwestern Ontario, the vote-rich cities where Canada’s political titans vie for power won’t bear a fraction of its impact compared to the First Nations people and fishing camp outfitters who live along this remote, secondary highway. Onigaming…

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