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Bill 5 Breaks Our Relationship with the Land: Wahkohtowin’s Full Opposition

  • Writer: Sara Bilodeau
    Sara Bilodeau
  • Jun 17
  • 2 min read

Wahkohtowin Development GP Inc. stands in full opposition to Bill 5 – Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025. This legislation endangers our rights, silences our voices, and threatens the lands and waters we hold sacred. It is a direct attack on Indigenous governance, knowledge, and kinship systems.


Protest at Queen's Park against Bill 5 on June 2nd.
Protest at Queen's Park against Bill 5 on June 2nd.

Bill 5 puts profits over people, land, and Indigenous rights


At Wahkohtowin, we are guided by the principle of wahkohtowin—a Cree word that speaks to our sacred relationships with each other, with the land, with water, and with all living beings. Bill 5 violates these relationships. By fast-tracking industrial development and stripping away environmental protections, the Province is prioritizing short-term profit over long-term wellbeing. That choice dishonours our ancestors and harms future generations.

 

Marketed as a tool for economic growth, Bill 5 gives the Province sweeping new powers to override environmental safeguards, push projects through without proper consultation, and concentrate decision-making in the hands of a few. These changes make it harder for Indigenous Nations to protect their homelands, their knowledge, and their rights.


Bill 5 threatens our culture, and our future


We know the land is not just a resource. It is our classroom, our pharmacy, and our place of ceremony. When the land is degraded, so is our ability to teach our youth, practice our culture, and live in balance. Bill 5 breaks the chain of wahkohtowin—our responsibility to past and future generations.

 

This bill may have passed, but our resistance is just beginning. Wahkohtowin will continue to stand with Indigenous Nations, allies, and land defenders across the North and beyond. We will protect our homelands and uphold our responsibilities—because the land is not something we own. We are the land, and the land is us.


Written by: Sara Bilodeau

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