First Nations to launch legal challenge against Ontario, federal bills 5 and C-5

By Canadian Press on July 15, 2025.

TORONTO — Lawyers representing nine Ontario First Nations say they are launching a constitutional challenge against provincial and federal laws meant to fast-track infrastructure projects that the Indigenous communities say infringes upon their rights.

Details of the legal challenge have not yet been made public, but the lawyers say they will reveal more at a press conference on Wednesday.

The federal Bill C-5 allows cabinet to quickly grant federal approvals for big industrial projects such as mines, ports and pipelines by sidestepping existing laws, while Ontario’s bill allows its cabinet to suspend provincial and municipal laws through the creation of so-called “special economic zones.”

Chief Sylvia Koostachin-Metatawabin of Attawapiskat First Nation, one of the communities involved in the legal challenge, says in a press release that governments are playing a dangerous game with her people’s lands and their futures.

Chief Todd Cornelius from Oneida Nation of the Thames says the First Nations involved in the challenge are not against all development, rather this is a battle between “doing things recklessly and doing things right.”

Both the federal and Ontario governments have said their laws are tools to counteract the effects of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs by allowing Canadian development, such as natural resource development, to proceed more quickly.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 15, 2025.

Allison Jones, The Canadian Press