The Ford government’s Bill 5 — dubbed the “Protecting Ontario by Unleashing its Economy Act”— isn’t just a reckless step toward unchecked development. It’s a sweeping attack on Haudenosaunee rights, environmental protections, and democratic governance in Ontario. For the Haudenosaunee, it signals a dangerous regression — one where colonialism is repackaged as “economic growth,” and where treaty rights and Haudenosaunee environmental regulation are bulldozed in the name of expediency.
Bill 5 aims to give Ontario’s cabinet extraordinary powers to designate “Special Economic Zones” (SEZs), bypassing the environmental, archaeological, and legal frameworks that exist to protect land, water, and Haudenosaunee sovereignty. It empowers corporations to operate without permits, environmental assessments, or the constitutional duty to consult. The government has even shielded itself and developers from civil liability within these zones. This is not development — it’s deregulated destruction.
Boreal caribou © William McKnight CC BY 4.0
Ontario has tried to assure the Haudenosaunee that it will uphold its constitutional duty to consult. But Bill 5 says otherwise. There is no mention of consultation, no mechanisms to ensure Haudenosaunee voices are heard, and no safeguards to prevent the desecration of sacred burial grounds, cultural artifacts, or ecologically sensitive lands. By eliminating “Crown conduct” that would normally trigger consultation, Ontario is trying to sidestep its legal obligations.
This erasure of the Haudenosaunee’s ecological stewardship is compounded by the bill’s replacement of the 18-year-old Endangered Species Act with a weaker Species Conservation Act. Under the former legislation, protections were guided by scientific committees and mandated recovery plans. Under Bill 5, those decisions can be made by cabinet or delegated to unelected ministry staff. Recovery and stewardship are no longer guiding principles — economic development is. The result is a system where biodiversity is sacrificed for profit, and species critical to the exercise of Haudenosaunee rights, like caribou and wolves, face a greater risk of extinction.
The consequences for our rights and governance are profound. The Haudenosaunee exercise inherent jurisdiction over our lands, waters, and responsibilities as stewards of the natural world — authority that predates and exists independently of the Canadian state. While Section 35 of the Constitution obligates the Crown to recognize and uphold treaty relationships, including those tied to hunting, fishing, and environmental stewardship, this obligation exists precisely because of our distinct nationhood. These rights are not abstract— they depend on the health of ecosystems that sustain our responsibilities. When environmental protections are dismantled, it directly infringes on our ability to fulfil our duties and maintain our way of life. Environmental deregulation is not separate from treaty infringement — it is central to it.
Grand River, Caledonia © Jodie Wilson CC BY 2.0
Worse still, Bill 5 reverses the burden of oversight. While corporations are given a free hand, the Haudenosaunee are expected to monitor their lands, raise legal challenges, and bear the costs of enforcing their own rights. Remedies beyond constitutional challenges — such as claims related to financial harm suffered by the Haudenosaunee due to irresponsible government action or a bypass of trespass or nuisance law — will be blocked entirely by legal shields built into the legislation. This entrenches systemic inequality: well-funded developers are protected, while the Haudenosaunee are left to defend their rights in courtrooms stacked against them.
Premier Ford has crafted a system where Haudenosaunee redress is not only limited — it is economically and procedurally out of reach. The legal pathways for accountability are narrowing, and the scale is tipped even further in favour of industry and government. This is not a flaw — it is by design.
Clearcut in the boreal forest
Bill 5 is not a neutral legislative reform. It is a calculated attempt to remove the Haudenosaunee from Ontario’s environmental governance and silence the legal obligations that protect land and culture. It enables development without dialogue or consent and destruction without accountability.
Claims of supporting “Indigenous-led” conservation ring hollow when paired with a bill that strips the Haudenosaunee of the very tools required to lead. If Ontario is serious about reconciliation, it must understand that Haudenosaunee sovereignty and environmental stewardship are inseparable. One cannot exist without the other.
The Haudenosaunee Development Institute calls on all Ontarians — environmental advocates, legal experts, communities, and organizations — to see Bill 5 for what it is: an assault on both the land and the rights of the original peoples who have stewarded it for millennia. To protect Ontario’s future, we must protect Haudenosaunee consent. Bill 5 must be stopped.
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