SON Submission on Bill 5: Defending Our Rights, Territory, and Future
The Saugeen Ojibway Nation (SON) has made a formal submission to the Ontario Standing Committee on the Interior in response to Bill 5 – Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025. This Bill proposes sweeping changes to environmental protections, species at risk legislation, and cultural heritage laws—changes that would significantly undermine SON's rights, responsibilities, and the health of Saukiing Anishnaabekiing.
Our submission strongly opposes Bill 5 in its current form. It outlines how the proposed legislation would:
- Strip away vital environmental safeguards,
- Undermine protections for sacred and archaeological sites,
- Bypass consultation obligations owed to First Nations,
- Threaten the survival of species at risk in our Territory,
- Weaken regulatory processes and enable unchecked development,
- Violate the commitments made in our binding agreement with Ontario on energy development.
We are sharing our full submission and supporting documents below to keep Membership informed and engaged in the critical work of protecting our lands, waters, culture, and way of life.
Read the Submission to the Standing Committee on the Interior
Letter to Premier Ford and Ministers (June 6, 2025)
Supporting Document – Magnetawan First Nation Letter of Support
These documents reflect SON’s unified stance against legislation that disregards our rights and responsibilities to the land and all our relations.
Miigwech for standing with us as we continue to uphold our responsibilities to future generations and all our relations.
