April 25, 2025, Haudenosaunee Territory – The Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act (Bill 5), introduced last week by the Ford government, constitutes a sweeping assault on constitutionally protected Indigenous rights by circumventing the obligation to consult Indigenous nations and eliminating pathways for legal recourse.
This undoing of decades of progress in Indigenous reconciliation risks reigniting direct land defence actions, echoing historic reclamations such as Kanonhstaton (2006). This conflict—stemming from the government’s failure to ensure that proper and appropriate archaeology was undertaken—has cost provincial and federal governments millions in legal battles and security operations, serving as a stark warning against the direction this legislation is now taking.
Bill 5 centralizes development regulation in the hands of profit-driven developers and allies of the Ford government, empowering them to operate within newly created “Special Economic Zones” that are shielded from Indigenous oversight and exempt from environmental and archaeological safeguards.
These lawless zones—vaguely defined and subject solely to the discretion of the Minister of Economic Development— effectively nullify the treaty and constitutional rights of Indigenous nations to have a say in what occurs on their territories. This is particularly alarming given the long history of development being used as a colonizing tool to displace Indigenous communities, destroy sacred sites, and degrade the lands and waters that sustain our way of life.
Perhaps most disturbing is the Act’s removal of requirements for archaeological assessments—assessments that have, in recent years, led to the discovery of unmarked graves at former residential school sites and the protection of traditional knowledge. Under this legislation, such protections are no longer guaranteed. The province has chosen to prioritize expedience and profit over justice, memory, and accountability.
The bill also empowers developers to infringe on Indigenous rights by embedding legal exemptions across multiple schedules that remove the ability of Indigenous nations to seek redress when unwanted or unregulated development occurs within their inherent and treaty-protected territories. This means that Ford is granting legal immunity to the developers who seek to exploit and extract from Indigenous communities without fear of legal consequence.
Bill 5 represents Ford’s first move in a Trump-like style of governance that removes the rightful authority and development regulation of Indigenous nations, placing authority in the hands of few with no oversight, justification and avenues for challenge or dissent. In the stroke of a pen, Ford has the power to reverse a decade of reconciliation efforts that were passed with the consultation of our respected Confederacy Council. A regulatory framework that supported informed, economically and environmentally sustainable development—once touted as a globally recognized model of Indigenous engagement and responsible planning.
Instead, Ford, with terrible short-sightedness and political amnesia, would rather bulldoze and cement over Indigenous land and wake up with an expensive and criminal hangover when Indigenous rights are mobilized and reclaimed.
For more information please contact…
HDI Public Relations Office
katia@hdito.com
