Chris Moonias

Last week, the Chiefs of Ontario called for a moratorium on mining claims to deal with the problems connected with the onslaught of stakes linked to the province’s digital mineral lands administration system.

On a rock-covered beach in the heart of the Ring of Fire in northern Ontario, Alex Moonias gazes east, then north. All he sees is undisturbed land, water and air.

An investigation by a consortium of journalists including Global News, APTN News and the Institute for Investigative Journalism exposed complaints about the construction firm originally hired to upgrade the water treatment plant meant to end Neskantaga First Nation’s historic long-term boil water advisory.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau walked back a long-standing promise to lift all boil-water advisories in First Nations by 2021 on Friday, pointing the finger at travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.