Premier Doug Ford apologized Thursday for remarks called “racist” and “offensive” by First Nations leaders.
Ford said he got “pretty passionate” the day before, when he made the comments.
“And I just want to say I sincerely apologize for my words,” he told reporters after a meeting with around “30 or 40” chiefs from the Anishinabek Nation, which represents 39 member First Nations across Ontario, including several near Thunder Bay and Lake Nipigon, southwest of the Ring of Fire area.
“I get passionate because I want to help people. That’s what it is. And I speak from the heart, and sometimes my words don’t come out properly, which I think you’ve all seen over a number of years,” he said.
Ford said his comments may have hurt “not only all the chiefs in that room but all First Nations.”
“Because we know that if we work together — and I said during the campaign, nothing moves without First Nations consultation, respecting duty to consult, and make sure that we work together,” he said.
Standing alongside Ford, Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Linda Debassige said she and the other chiefs in the meeting accepted the apology.
“While there are many other rights holders in this province, our chiefs felt today that the apology was sincere,” she said. “We are looking at today as a new day going forward.”
However, Debassige said her member First Nations remain opposed to Bill 5, the Ford government’s controversial legislation that would allow it to designate “special economic zones,” and then exempt selected proponents and projects from provincial laws and regulations, in order to speed up resource projects.
Ford has said the government plans to declare the Ring of Fire mining area a special economic zone.
“The opposition remains,” Debassige said about Bill 5, adding that “the premier has made certain commitments that we’re not going to speak to today.”
The Grand Chief said she wanted to take information back to her members, and avoid speaking publicly about the conversations to keep them “from being misinterpreted by journalists.”
“We are not here to perpetuate a circus, to perpetuate misinformation,” she said.
Thursday’s meeting was not for consultation on Bill 5, but an “initial meeting” requested by First Nations, Debassige said.
Ford and Debassige said the government and First Nations will continue to consult on the bill.
Some Indigenous leaders said Ford’s remarks the previous day at a St. Catharines announcement were offensive and rooted in colonial racism.
The premier said he has treated First Nations “like gold” but also that “there’s gonna be a point where you just can’t keep coming hat-in-hand all the time to the government. You’ve got to be able to take care of yourselves.”
“And when you literally have gold mines, nickel mines, every type of critical mineral that the world wants and you’re saying, ‘No, no, I don’t wanna touch that, by the way, give me money’; not going to happen, it’s simple,” he said.
Ford also said that proposed funding for First Nations and Bill 5 were pathways to better conditions in Indigenous communities.
“We’ll help ’em develop the mines and become very prosperous in their communities, something they’ve never had, ever, in their entire lives. And I’m bending over backwards to make sure we take care of them,” he said.
Reaction from some Indigenous leaders was swift.
“Doug Ford alleges that First Nations ‘come hat in hand.’ We don’t. That we have to be ‘able to take care of yourselves.’ We do,” read a statement from Chiefs of Ontario after the premier’s comments Wednesday.
“They know that our communities face systemic underfunding and institutionalized racism. That our people were stolen. They are still being stolen.”
The statement also accused Ford of trying to divide First Nations.
“It won’t work. First Nations are not against development, but it must be on their terms. But it will not come at the expense of our inherent and Treaty rights, our lands, our people.”
Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said on social media the remarks were “offensive, rooted in racism and colonial violence.”
NDP MPP Sol Mamakwa called the comment “deeply offensive and racist.” On Thursday, he called on the premier to apologize.
“He’s calling First Nations beggars,” said Mamakwa, who is from Kingfisher Lake First Nation in Ontario.
“That’s not the way we create relationships with First Nations. And I think you know that type of thought, that type of thinking is not right. Maybe it belongs back in the 1950s but not 2025.”
