Overview

• The federal Liberal government is drafting a ‘national interest’ bill to fast-track infrastructure projects by streamlining approvals and sidestepping parts of the Impact Assessment Act.
• Anishinabek Nation chiefs say they were only formally briefed this week on Ottawa’s plans and have yet to build a working relationship with Prime Minister Mark Carney.
• Ontario’s Bill 5 and British Columbia’s Infrastructure Projects Act aim to accelerate development, while Alberta plans to speed up low-risk permits, raising parallel concerns from First Nations.
• Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak cautioned that excluding First Nations from the upcoming gathering “may not end well” and demanded formal inclusion in decision-making.
• Anishinabek Nation youth councillor Terra Roy warned grassroots members are poised to mobilize and protest without free, prior and informed consent, recalling tactics from the 2012 Idle No More movement.