{"id":95731,"date":"2025-08-11T08:56:23","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T12:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=95731"},"modified":"2025-08-11T08:56:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T12:56:23","slug":"chiefs-heard-little-or-nothing-about-bill-5-consultation-sessions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/11\/chiefs-heard-little-or-nothing-about-bill-5-consultation-sessions\/","title":{"rendered":"Chiefs heard little or nothing about Bill 5 consultation sessions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Thunder Bay Source THUNDER BAY \u2014 Indigenous consultations relating to the controversial Bill 5 were scheduled for Friday in the Lakehead, but who was consulted and where the sessions took place are unclear. Newswatch contacted several First Nations chiefs who said they were not aware of the sessions. Aroland Chief Sonny Gagnon and Marten Falls First Nation Chief Bruce Achneepineskum said they were not informed of the consultation sessions. Eabametoong Chief Solomon Atlookan said by text message that he \u201carrived too late\u201d for the meetings. Aroland, Marten Falls and Eabametoong are all First Nations in or near the mineral-rich Ring of Fire region that the province wants to declare a \u201cspecial economic zone\u201d under Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F08%2F11%2Fchiefs-heard-little-or-nothing-about-bill-5-consultation-sessions%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Thunder Bay Source THUNDER BAY \u2014 Indigenous consultations relating to the controversial Bill 5 were scheduled for Friday in the Lakehead, but who was consulted and where the sessions took place are unclear. Newswatch contacted several First Nations chiefs who said they were not aware of the sessions. Aroland Chief Sonny Gagnon and Marten Falls First Nation Chief Bruce Achneepineskum said they were not informed of the consultation sessions. Eabametoong Chief Solomon Atlookan said by text message that he \u201carrived too late\u201d for the meetings. Aroland, Marten Falls and Eabametoong are all First Nations in or near the mineral-rich Ring of Fire region that the province wants to declare a \u201cspecial economic zone\u201d under Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F08%2F11%2Fchiefs-heard-little-or-nothing-about-bill-5-consultation-sessions%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Chiefs heard little or nothing about Bill 5 consultation sessions - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/11\/chiefs-heard-little-or-nothing-about-bill-5-consultation-sessions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chiefs heard little or nothing about Bill 5 consultation sessions - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Thunder Bay Source THUNDER BAY \u2014 Indigenous consultations relating to the controversial Bill 5 were scheduled for Friday in the Lakehead, but who was consulted and where the sessions took place are unclear. Newswatch contacted several First Nations chiefs who said they were not aware of the sessions. Aroland Chief Sonny Gagnon and Marten Falls First Nation Chief Bruce Achneepineskum said they were not informed of the consultation sessions. Eabametoong Chief Solomon Atlookan said by text message that he \u201carrived too late\u201d for the meetings. Aroland, Marten Falls and Eabametoong are all First Nations in or near the mineral-rich Ring of Fire region that the province wants to declare a \u201cspecial economic zone\u201d under Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/11\/chiefs-heard-little-or-nothing-about-bill-5-consultation-sessions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-11T12:56:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/11\\\/chiefs-heard-little-or-nothing-about-bill-5-consultation-sessions\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/11\\\/chiefs-heard-little-or-nothing-about-bill-5-consultation-sessions\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Chiefs heard little or nothing about Bill 5 consultation sessions\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-11T12:56:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/11\\\/chiefs-heard-little-or-nothing-about-bill-5-consultation-sessions\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":535,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/11\\\/chiefs-heard-little-or-nothing-about-bill-5-consultation-sessions\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/11\\\/chiefs-heard-little-or-nothing-about-bill-5-consultation-sessions\\\/\",\"name\":\"Chiefs heard little or nothing about Bill 5 consultation sessions - 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