Jon Thompson

When we look at resource extraction & climate change, this new gold trample (Bill 5 & Bill C-5), let's chew the narrative: who is this story about? Whose prosperity are we centring? Who's actually facing existential crisis?
How do you identify with the root – the human element of the politic?

‘Treaties are above this law,’ Alty says of Bill C-5 The Crown-Indigenous relations minister, who is the NWT's MP, said treaties take precedence over nation-building Bill C-5 and "have to be respected."

“It has to go through the co-management that’s in the treaties. And so yeah, at the end of the day, treaties are above this law. They have to be respected." - Crown-Indigenous relations minister Rebecca Alty on Bill C-5
cabinradio.ca/250519/news/...

Ontario NDP leader says Doug Ford must respect First Nations’ right to refuse development As Ford meets with Carney and premiers in Muskoka, Marit Stiles is touring the north, warning that Bill 5 strips environmental and Indigenous protections, and threatens to derail local development acr...

I interviewed ONDP leader Marit Stiles in Thunder Bay.
She called Ontario's Bill 5 "“ridiculous power-grab legislation” that allows for "the suspension of any right, anywhere, anytime.”
The nation-building infrastructure we need, she says, is social.
ricochet.media/indigenous/o...

I've got an article out on the Narwhal today... talking about the First Nations Leaders Summit from the inside. One thing I talk about in this piece that I haven't elsewhere was how weird it was to see the disrespect from Cabinet Ministers to Musqueam MP, Wade Grant.

The City of Kenora is expropriating the Kenricia Hotel.
The corner of Main and Second streets is the hinge of Kenora’s commercial downtown.
The city’s statement includes that “existing tenant and business agreements will be managed on a case-by-case basis to minimize disruption.”

Ontario NDP leader says Doug Ford must respect First Nations’ right to refuse development As Ford meets with Carney and premiers in Muskoka, Marit Stiles is touring the north, warning that Bill 5 strips environmental and Indigenous protections, and threatens to derail local development acr...

Ontario NDP leader says Doug Ford must respect First Nations right to refuse development

Marit Stiles is touring the north, warning that #Bill5 strips environmental and #Indigenous protections, while derailing local development.

New from @jonthompson.bsky.social:

ricochet.media/indigenous/o...

Ontario NDP leader says Doug Ford must respect First Nations’ right to refuse development As Ford meets with Carney and premiers in Muskoka, Marit Stiles is touring the north, warning that Bill 5 strips environmental and Indigenous protections, and threatens to derail local development acr...

I was honoured to share some one-on-one time with Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles while she was in Thunder Bay this week.

Stiles called Ontario's Bill 5 "“ridiculous power-grab legislation” that allows for "the suspension of any right, anywhere, anytime.”
ricochet.media/indigenous/o...

Anishnawbe Business Professional Assn’sJason Rasevych: Bills 5 & C-5 “poison the investment climate by guaranteeing years of legal challenges, project delays & instability. No serious international investor is attracted to this level of manufactured risk.”
www.anishnawbebusiness.com/media-releas...

Ontario has announced it will hold an inquest into the death of Eduard Gallant.

The 64-year-old Gallant died on May 27, 2020 from "injuries sustained while working at a mining site in Thunder Bay."

‘He will roll over us like a cement truck:’ Doug Ford says Canada must be prepared to match Trump’s 35 per cent tariff Ontario Premier Doug Ford is once again calling for “dollar for dollar” retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods  ahead of a Aug. 1 deadline to reach a new free trade agreement or face higher levies.

"[Trump] will roll over us like a cement truck."

The parallels between what Doug Ford wants to do to First Nations in northern Ontario & what he sees Donald Trump as doing to him come all the way down to the construction equipment metaphors he uses.

It’s remarkable.
www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/arti...

At Monday's Premiers meeting, Ontario Premier Doug Ford took this notable departure from "If I have to hop on a bulldozer myself, we're going to start building roads to the Ring of Fire," or “Take us to court, do whatever you want, we’re moving.”

Sioux Lookout has recruited Lac Seul First Nation member Darlene Angeconeb to fill the vacant council seat.

Sioux Lookout will swear her in on Aug. 13.

This bio of hers is lifted from Nishnawbe Aski Nation’s Nikanigawbowin Council.

Please help keep the free press free, for all to see.
Ricochet has begun a fundraising drive to support the independent journalism we do together.
No billionaire owners + No paywall + No advertising = No strings.
Your money can help at: ricochet.media/donate

A Superior Court judge has ruled the land claim Niisaachewan, Wauzhushk Onigum & Washagamis Bay are making to Anicinabe Park will proceed.
Justice Lepere disagreed with Canada & Kenora's motion the claim was past the expiry of limitation period.

Background: ricochet.media/indigenous/t...

Kenora-Rainy River NDP claims it has submitted three petitions to MPP Greg Rickford asking for the PCs to repeal Bill 5. NDP riding co-president Luke Hildebrand says they include 263 total signatories.

For Fort Frances to fight the losing battle over Point Park from 2000 to 2024 cost $5,487,705.25 in legal fees,an annual average of $219,508.21.
fortfrances.ca/point-park-i...

“It was clear that they [Prime Minister Mark Carney and his cabinet ministers] do not understand that we are entitled to full participation and to share equally in the benefits of any projects on our territories.” - Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler

Youth from ring of fire are protesting at PM First Nation summit- they want in #cdnpoli #indigenous

“…public apathy helps them get away with ignoring or rejecting the evidence that experts from around the world, in almost every field, have amassed over many decades.” - David Suzuki

Family rejects SIU report clearing OPP in 2024 killing of Anisininew man “I don’t know if that was the right call,” said officer moments after the 2024 shooting that killed Bruce Frogg

SIU has cleared OPP in the 2024 shooting of Anisininew man Bruce Frogg in Anicinabe Park.
The report shows all of Kenora OPP's non-lethal projectile weapons were being used in training out of town on that day.
The family & Nishnawbe Aski Nation reject the findings.
ricochet.media/indigenous/f...

Family rejects SIU report clearing OPP in 2024 killing of Anisininew man “I don’t know if that was the right call,” said officer moments after the 2024 shooting that killed Bruce Frogg

SIU has cleared OPP in the 2024 shooting of Anisininew man Bruce Frogg in Anicinabe Park last summer.
I knew Bruce from the streets of Thunder Bay in 2005 and I was honoured to work with his family as they absorbed that finding and contemplate next steps.
ricochet.media/indigenous/f...

That has been the on-the-record position of Nishnawbe Aski Nation for a few years. NAN represents 49 chiefs in far north Ontario, mostly fly-in communities.

I’m not interested in the line you drew between those two facts but in the interest of accuracy, you have heard correctly.

UPDATE: Police arrest suspect in hostage situation Read the full story and comment on Tbnewswatch.com

Thunder Bay Police Service arrests suspect in 15-hour standoff.
www.tbnewswatch.com/local-news/h...

a man in a suit and sunglasses is standing in front of a window and says `` greetings , my excellent friends '' . ALT: a man in a suit and sunglasses is standing in front of a window and says `` greetings , my excellent friends '' .

The master, for the people.

I will live to see self-help books removed from the non-fiction section if it kills me.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation is rejecting the final report Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit published today into the death of Bruce Frogg.
SIU found no fault in the actions of an OPP officer who shot & extra-judiciously killed Bruce Frogg at Anicinabe Park in Kenora last summer.

Point Park returned to Northern Ontario First Nations after 27 year-long struggle New town council declines to appeal June 17 ruling, concluding ‘endless litigation’ over contested parkland

ICYMI: Superior Court has ordered a small strip of land known in Treaty #3 of 1873 as "Reserve No.1" returned to the four First Nations surrounding Fort Frances.
It's a tale of confusing criss-crossing jurisdiction that has lasted nearly 130 years, 27 in court.
ricochet.media/indigenous/n...

This company has been distributing my writing since September.

It’s challenging to adapt news and current affairs journalism in small communities to work for a broad audience.

Ricochet has given my sources and I space to do that in a way no other publisher ever has.

I’d like to keep doing it.

Point Park returned to Northern Ontario First Nations after 27 year-long struggle New town council declines to appeal June 17 ruling, concluding ‘endless litigation’ over contested parkland

Superior Court has ordered a strip of land called Point Park between Couchiching First Nation and the Town of Fort Frances to revert back to four First Nations after nearly 130 years. The case was 27 years long.
The celebration was really something.
ricochet.media/indigenous/n...

Point Park returned to Northern Ontario First Nations after 27 year-long struggle New town council declines to appeal June 17 ruling, concluding ‘endless litigation’ over contested parkland

Point Park returned to Northern Ontario First Nations after 27 year-long struggle.

New town council declines to appeal June 17 ruling, reports @jonthompson.bsky.social, concluding ‘endless litigation’ over contested strip of parkland.

ricochet.media/indigenous/n...