As Ontario government sells off the north to international mining companies, communities in crisis are demanding safety and healing instead
Ontario Provincial Police arrested two suspects on Thursday following a two-day, shelter-in-place order in Ginoogaming First Nation and the neighbouring town of Longlac. OPP charged them with second degree murder in the shooting death of Ginoogaming man Sebastian Towegishig. Another victim has been transported 300 kilometres west to Thunder Bay to receive intensive care for gunshot wounds.
First Nations across far northern Ontario are now calling on Canada and Ontario’s governments to make a priority of ridding their communities of illicit drugs, some making public safety a prerequisite to conversations about mining.
Ginoogaming has been under a state of emergency since May 2024, when Chief Sheri Taylor and her council called for a full-time police presence to contend with drugs and gangs. She reiterated that state of emergency, claiming Canada and Ontario need to support her beyond “band-aid” solutions.
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