(Canada – October 8, 2026) – The Chiefs of Ontario (COO), the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL), the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations (BCAFN) and Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) are united in rejecting Bill C-39, Building Canada Strong Act, and are calling on Canada to withdraw it. Prime Minister Carney is weaponizing the parliamentary process and his majority to force the bill through Parliament, override the inherent, Treaty, and constitutionally protected rights of First Nations.
As written, Bill C-39 would overhaul how major projects are assessed and approved, imposing a one-year project timeline, changing federal impact assessments and regulatory processes, and allowing regions to be designated for accelerated development.
First Nations have repeatedly told Canada that economic development must proceed through meaningful partnership with rights holders. First Nations support job creation, economic growth, and sustainable development; however, these opportunities cannot come at the expense of First Nations’ rights.
The Crown’s duty to consult and accommodate is protected under Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 and cannot be sidelined for federally imposed project timelines. First Nations must have sufficient time, information, and capacity to understand potential impacts on their territories, engage their citizens, undertake technical and legal review, and make decisions according to their own laws and governance processes. Free, prior, and informed consent cannot be squeezed into a predetermined federal project timeline. If meaningful consultation and accommodation require additional time, the timeline must be adjusted.
COO, AFNQL, BCAFN, and NAN are also warning that Bill C-39 will weaken environmental oversight and strip away First Nations ability to influence decisions affecting their territories.
First Nations rights and responsibilities are inseparable from the health of the lands, water, fish, wildlife, and ecosystems that have sustained First Nations peoples since time immemorial. Accelerating project approvals cannot mean weakening the safeguards intended to protect them.
Regional or economic development designations must never be interpreted as blanket consent for projects within First Nations territories. Every project carries distinct potential impacts and affected First Nations must remain directly involved in decisions regarding projects affecting their rights and territories.
First Nations are not barriers to Canada’s economic future. First Nations are rights holders, governments, title holders, Treaty partners, and essential to building sustainable economies.
Attempts to bypass First Nations rights will create greater uncertainty, conflict, and litigation, the opposite of what Canada says it’s seeking. Any path towards economic growth must respect First Nations rights, jurisdiction, and responsibilities to lands and waters.
The process being used to pass Bill C-39 is as unacceptable as the contents of the bill. Rather than following the standard parliamentary path, the government is sending this 243-page omnibus bill to a legislative committee in the House of Commons while a special committee of the Senate studies it at the same time, with Royal Assent targeted for December. This extraordinary maneuver has one purpose: to push the most consequential economic legislation in a generation through Parliament before First Nations, or anyone else, can meaningfully scrutinize it. It is fundamentally antidemocratic.
It also flies in the face of the Crown’s duty to consult and Canada’s requirement to align the Bill with the United Nations Declaration Act. On Bill C-39, consultation was not even an afterthought. This bill was written behind closed doors in Ottawa, without First Nations at the table, on matters that go to the heart of our rights, our lands and our waters. With two committees now racing against the same clock, there is no meaningful point at which First Nations can shape legislation of this significance.
Quotes
“We reject Bill C-39 because First Nations rights cannot be made secondary to federally imposed project timelines. Canada must uphold Section 35, respect free, prior, and informed consent, and ensure First Nations have the time, information, resources, and capacity required to make informed decisions about projects affecting their lands and waters. If Canada wants economic certainty, it must work with First Nations as rightsholders and governments from the beginning.” Ontario Regional Chief Abram Benedict, Chiefs of Ontario.
“The predictability sought by proponents of major projects under Bill C-39 cannot come at the expense of First Nations’ rights. If Canada wants to fast-track major projects, it must first fast-track the respect, protection and implementation of First Nations rights. True certainty is built through partnership and respect, not by bypassing the very rights that create the conditions for lasting economic development.” declared Regional Chief, Francis Verreault-Paul, Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador.
“The federal government’s continued contempt for First Nations’ title, rights and interests will only harm First Nations-Crown relations, which are foundational for Prime Minister Carney’s fast-tracking agenda to succeed. At the heart of C-39, which was drafted without First Nations’ free, prior and informed consent, is an affront to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the United Nations Declaration Act. Simply put, this bill, in its current form, and UNDA cannot coexist and we call on Prime Minister Carney to immediately withdraw it from the order paper until First Nations are meaningfully involved in the redrafting of the bill that upholds First Nations’ rights.” Regional Chief Terry Teegee, British Columbia Assembly of First Nations
“This government is writing legislation about our lands and our future without us at the table. That is not reconciliation – it is a continuation of the same pattern our people have fought against for generations. Our Chiefs have rejected Bill C-39, and we stand with our partners. We will not stand by while our rights are trampled on.” Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler, Nishnawbe Aski Nation
Media Contacts
Isak Vaillancourt
Communications Manager
Chiefs of Ontario
416-819-8184
isak.vaillancourt@coo.org
Gabrielle Lavigne-Couture
Political Communication Advisor
Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador
581-984-7779
Annette Schroeter
Communications Officer
BC Assembly of First Nations
778.281.1655
Annette.schroeter@bcafn.ca
Michael Heintzman,
Director of Communications
Nishnawbe Aski Nation
807-621-2790
mheintzman@nan.ca
