The Mining Industry is
a chemical Industry

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What is today called Canada is a relatively recent settler-colonial state with an economic foundation deeply rooted in the extraction of resources from Indigenous territories. These territories, which have been part of Indigenous sovereignty for thousands of years, possess histories and relationships that extend back to time immemorial. This report uses critical archival methods and anti-colonial analytical approaches to explore: 1) the historical relationship between nickel-copper mining and  petrochemical industries in the Sudbury and Sault Ste.  Marie regions, and 2) how road, railway, and other abandoned mining infrastructure could be reconfigured by Indigenous nations to support jurisdiction back and the green energy transition.

The Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie regions provide a unique case study. Understanding how the territories’ nickel-copper deposits have been systematically removed for profit allows for a comprehensive view of regional impacts within a rough 120-km radius. The settler state did not implement many regulations addressing  pollution and waste from industrial developments, including mining extractivism, until well into the 1970s, and  these regulations remain woefully inadequate. Given this widespread lack of settler accountability, it remains  paramount to problematize the justificatory logics deployed in the mistreatment of Indigenous nations’ lands, air, and waters. Examining the cumulative regional effects of mining extractivism might inform future articulations of Indigenous jurisdiction in relation to territory, including resource and environmental policy, climate policy, and reparations, including climate reparations. The period before 1980 is significant, as it parallels important changes in Ontario governance in the first half of the 20th century, particularly regarding the signing of Treaty No. 9 and subsequent adhesions, including those by the Atikameksheng Anishnawbek and Wahnapitae First Nations  in 1929 in what is now known as the Sudbury region.