Page 20 compliance if the proposal is not fair and equitable First Nations have the prerogative to oppose a development proposal Fontaine said Every commu nity has a right to say no just as they have a right to say yes It would be unreason able to think that they would say yes to proposed developments all the time But that doesn t mean First Nation communities oppose development In fact the opposite is true They are very much prodevelopment if it is responsible development There would be very strong and val id reasons why a community would choose to say No Fontaine further explained But that doesn t mean a community is shutting the door to all future develop ment It may be No to that particular development or it may be No to some aspects of that devel opment So it s incumbent upon both parties to come together to talk about why the position may be No at this stage and how it can become Y es The Ring of Fire could produce the wealth to eradicate poverty of the area envisioned Fontaine explain ing why responsible development would be supported by the area s First Nations There is reall y no need for the kind of poverty that exists in too many First Nation communities in the midst of incredible wealth in this country Fontaine said The possibilities are endless were talking here about the need to create healthier safer First Nation communities Past conficts arose because explora tion companies claimed they were unaware of any First Nation interests on lands they were doing work on That s clearly not true given the trea ties and Supreme Court cases that ex ist and are well known The onus to knowing that Fontaine said falls onto the companies them selves There is a responsibility on mining companies to know the communities have an appreciation and understand treaties and the treaty relationship land rights inte rests to water of fered Fontaine And there is a responsi bility on the part of the First Nation community or communities to impart whatever knowledge they possess about those interests so that it is a process of equals Fontaine added were talk ing here about meaningful consultation It s not coming in and telling a commu nity were going to proceed this way and that s how it s going to be Or to think that if you pick up the phone and said hello to this chief or that chief that you are somehow consulting with that chief or that community That s not meaningful consultation Negotiations are always preferable than going to court but one way or another Canada s First Nations are going to have their say in resources development Fontaine emphasized By way of advice to mining compa nies Fontaine of fered fve issues to be aware of when beginning to engage the aboriginal communities There was an old way of doing busi ness W ell that doesn t apply any more said Fontaine Second Aboriginal communi ties pre fer negotiations over confrontation One should understand very clearly that we have constitutional rights said Fontaine and we will go to court to exercise those rights But negotiation s are preferred he add ed Third there is a need to rethinking the vision of resource development It cannot proceed at all costs it has to be responsible developmen t First Nations are not antidevelopment but they do want to see venture s devel oped in a way all interests at the table can beneft W e certainly are not in favour and we will resist the kind of development where the development will become prohibitive in terms of future genera tions said Fontaine Fourth Fontaine said companies should respect the Aboriginal com munities right to say no to develop ment on their land if it is a bad pro posal W e have a right to say no said Fon taine Every community has a right to say no just as they have a right to say yes if improvements are made to the proposal He said Canadians cannot be alarmed if a First Nations community says no He said it would be unreasonable to think otherwise The ffth and fnal point for compa nies to consider is that there is a new game in town Fontaine pointed to the importance of public opinion when it comes to negotiations with First Na tions Negotiations can no longer be done in secret or behind closes doors Fontaine said There are 633 First Nations in Can ada and most have treaties He said ordinary nonAboriginal Canadians should know about the treaties be cause those treaties have been signed by our governments on behalf of all the people It makes good sense for people to know and understand about our trea ties There s a new game in town Fon taine said And it is much easier to play by the rules of this game than to try to live and hope that one will pros per doing things the old way Contd from pg 19 Ring of Fir e Enough W ealth to Eradicate Poverty