Letter to the Editor: Bill 5: Weakens Northern Ontario Workers, Communities, and Economies

By Laura Walton, President of the Ontario Federation of Labour

Last week, I joined First Nations communities in opposition to the passage of Bill 5, legislation the Ford Government is selling as a pathway to jobs, economic security, and prosperity to northern Ontario. Don’t be fooled. This Bill isn’t about building the north. It is about deregulating it. This piece of legislation allows corporations to operate without environmental or labour laws, and violate First Nations rights, all under the guise of “Special Economic Zones”.

The government claims this Bill is necessary to ‘cut red tape’ in response to US tariffs. Let’s be clear, First Nations rights, environmental protections and labour laws are not ‘red tape’. This is a power grab to give their insiders and developers access to natural resources in the north without having to manage basic human, environmental, or Indigenous rights, and labour standards.

Let’s remember that labour laws protect workers’ rights to fair wages, collective bargaining, job security, and safe working conditions. They are not obstacles to economic prosperity but are what make strong local communities and economies. The north is an attractive place for investment, with its stable, highly skilled workforce. Undercutting this workforce with Bill 5 creates a pathway for employers to operate without labour laws, promoting a race to the bottom in which worker protections and wages are viewed as barriers. Weak labour standards lead to lower wages, higher injury rates, and increased economic inequality, especially for northern Ontario.

Bill 5 also raises serious issues with respect to Indigenous rights. The legislation fails to guarantee free, prior, and informed consent before designating Special Economic Zones on unceded ancestral lands. This is a violation of Indigenous rights, international law, and a departure from Canada’s obligations under the Constitution and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

Bill 5 is not about mining or jobs in the north. This allows Ford’s insiders to exploit the north, Indigenous communities, and the environment, for profit. This bill is designed to trick northern workers into supporting northern economic development that undercuts their own community, safety, and wages.

Ontario needs well-planned, honest approaches to good policy making, a process which includes rightsholders and workers at the table. Instead, Ford has lined the government up to face, yet again, lengthy expensive legal battles stemming from his bad economic decision-making.

What we oppose, and what labour will never accept, is a government pushing through legislation that overrides what northern workers and Indigenous communities have fought and bled for, silences dissent and excludes the very people it impacts the most. We have stopped governments before, and we will again.

People in northern Ontario deserve an economy built on fairness, inclusion, and accountability. Done right, Bill 5 had an opportunity to include local Indigenous voices and improve working and living conditions for northerners. That’s the future northern Ontario workers want and deserve.

As calls for Minister of Indigenous Affairs, Greg Rickford to resign become louder, the OFL’s commitment to having Bill 5 scrapped is just as loud. This fight doesn’t end here. We will continue meaningful engagement and, most importantly, take direction from First Nations communities on what comes next. I’m asking you to join us in this fight.

Laura Walton, President Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL)
The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) represents 54 unions and one million workers. It is Canada’s largest provincial labour federation.