Proposed Candidate Waterway Provincial Park" from a Portion of the Attawapiskat River

EBR Registry Number: "XB04E2006" Type of Posting: "Information" Status: "Notice" Page 1 of 3

APRIL EXPLORATIONIST EBR Registry Number: XB04E2006 Type of Notice: Information Ministry: Natural Resources Status of Notice: Information Date Information Notice Posted: 2004/04/20

INFORMATION NOTICE

Title :

Removal of the designation of "Proposed Candidate Waterway Provincial Park" from a portion of the Attawapiskat River

General Reason for Notice:

This notice is for your information. The Environmental Bill of Rights does not require this notice to be placed on the Environmental Registry, however, section 6 of the Act does allow the Environmental Registry to be used to share information about the environment with the public.

Further Specific Explanation:

The Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) is removing the designation of "Proposed Candidate Waterway Provincial Park" from approximately a 33 kilometre portion of the Attawapiskat River, along with other minor incidental adjustments, starting approximately 86 kilometres west of James Bay. The designation of "Proposed Candidate Waterway Provincial Park" will remain on approximately 190 km of the Attawapiskat River.

This notice outlines the reasons for this action.

Short Description:

In the late 1970's and early 1980's, MNR carried out extensive strategic land use planning to develop land use direction for Crown lands throughout Ontario. One of the major objectives of this work was to identify new provincial parks. To ensure that the potential park areas were protected while inventory and planning work was underway many of the candidate parks were withdrawn from mineral exploration, through the establishment of withdrawal orders under the Mining Act. After the inventory and analysis was complete, a large number of proposed candidate parks in northern Ontario were identified in two strategic land use plans that were released in 1982. The intention was that these proposals would be reviewed through more detailed local land use planning, in particular the preparation of District Land Use Guidelines.

One of the park proposals identified in the strategic land use plans was for a possible waterway class provincial park on the Attawapiskat River. This river flows from Attawapiskat Lake (about 250 km north of Lake Nipigon) east to James Bay, entering the bay just downstream from the community of Attawapiskat. This river was subject to a mining

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APRIL EXPLORATIONIST withdrawal order that was put in place in 1979.

As a result of the completion of most local land use planning (primarily the District Land Use Guidelines), a range of land use decisions were announced in 1983. As part of this over half of the Attawapiskat River was recommended for regulation as a waterway class provincial park. This portion of the river - the section from Attawapiskat Lake to the boundary of the then Moosonee Administrative District of MNR - was placed into regulation in 1989. However, a final decision was not made on the status of the lower portion of the river within Moosonee Administrative District, because district land use planning was still underway. In 1985, the Moosonee District Background Information Document was released as part of the land use planning process. This document continued to identify the portion of the Attawapiskat River within the Moosonee District as a proposed candidate waterway park. In the mid-80's land use planning was halted in Moosonee District. The planning has not resumed, and thus no decisions were made as to whether the lower portion of the Attawapiskat River should become a recommended provincial park, and subsequently be regulated, or dropped from further consideration as a provincial park. The earlier interim protection policies continued to apply to this area.

In 1987 prospectors began to stake mining claims in the vicinity of the Attawapiskat River. Up until this time there had been no staking, and no official claims map had been created. The withdrawal order was never fully documented on government maps. As a result, over the years a substantial number of claims have been staked within approximately a 33 kilometre contiguous stretch of the river, plus incidental claims in the vicinity, that is covered by the withdrawal order. This situation was identified in 2004.

Because the claims were staked in good faith, and extensive exploration work has been carried out on them, the Ontario government plans to take the steps that are necessary to validate the mining claims and leases. In support of this, the Ministry of Natural Resources is removing the "proposed candidate waterway park" status from the approximately 33 kilometres of the Attawapiskat River, along with other minor incidental adjustments where mining claims have been staked. This land will then be subject to the general policies for Crown lands. The remaining 190 kilometres of the Attawapiskat River within the former Moosonee District (now Cochrane District) will remain for an interim period as a "proposed candidate waterway park". The 190 kilometre section of the river will be subject to interim protection including a mining withdrawal order, although some flexibility may be necessary to permit limited infrastructure requirements related to a planned new diamond mine and to address the development needs of the community of Attawapiskat.

The long-term land use designation of the 223 km stretch of the Attawapiskat River will be determined through future land use planning. This planning would involve consultation with First Nations and the public.

Federal and provincial environmental assessment requirements apply to many specific projects associated with the proposed diamond mine. These environmental review and approval processes will consider a broad range of environmental issues.

Purpose of the Notice:

This notice outlines the intent of the Ministry of the Natural Resources to remove the "proposed candidate waterway park" status from approximately a 33 kilometre section of the Attawapiskat River, along with other minor incidental adjustments, where mining claims have

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APRIL EXPLORATIONIST been staked.

Other Public Consultation:

The environmental assessment processes related to the planned diamond mine will provide for public consultation. Public consultation will also be an essential part of any future land use planning initiatives for the area.

Contact Person:

Michael Cartan, Regional Project Manager Ministry of Natural Resources – Northeast Region Highway 101 East, P.O. Bag 3020 South Porcupine, Ontario, P0N 1H0 PHONE: (705) 235-1192 FAX: (705) 235-1226

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