The gala offered food, games, and a clear enemy in Bill 5.
Queen’s Backing Action on the Climate Crisis (QBACC) hosted its third annual Fundraising Gala on Nov. 15. This year’s event brought 76 attendees together and raised more than $2,000 in support of the Legal Advocates for Nature Defence (LAND)’s campaign against Bill 5, Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, a provincial bill accused of weakening environmental protections and limiting Indigenous land rights in the name of economic growth.
In an interview with The Journal, the co-president of QBACC, Dreyden George, ArtSci ’26, explained why the club chose Bill 5 as its cause.
“[The Bill] is super harmful and comes at the expense of our wildlife and endangered species,” George said. “They are trying to make it so that economic specialty areas […] are exempt from the Endangered Species Act, certain provincial environmental regulations, and any municipal bylaw regulation, which is really egregious.”
He argues the Bill not only hurts Ontario wildlife, but its Indigenous communities as well.
“[Bill 5] violates treaty rights around the [Indigenous] right to consultation, and in the process of making this legislation, [this right] was also violated,” George said. “To fulfill that duty to consult, [Doug Ford’s government] essentially flew over the reservations in a helicopter and dropped papers into the reserve because the nation leaders were refusing to meet with them.”
At the Gala, QBACC invited three speakers to discuss the importance of fighting Bill 5, including Indigenous advocate Ramon Kataquapit, Kingston and the Islands Member of Provincial Parliament Ted Hsu, and environmental and Indigenous rights lawyer, Kerrie Blaise.
In a written statement to The Journal, Blaise further critiqued the Ford government’s implementation of Bill 5.
“With Bill 5, the government is effectively sending the message that they’re above the law,” Blaise said. “From eliminating key environmental protections to granting sweeping powers to fast-track development with little to no oversight, the government is undermining the rights of Indigenous communities, the public, and nature.”
Hsu expanded on the Bill’s implications during an interview with The Journal, arguing the legislation grants the provincial government “extraordinarily broad” discretionary powers.
According to Hsu, the Bill’s creation of “special economic zones” gives cabinet ministers the ability to exempt selected companies or projects from “any provincial law or regulation” with no requirement for public consultation, legislative debate, or oversight.
“It’s as simple and as crazy as that,” Hsu said. “They haven’t even put any guardrails around it.”
Hsu highlighted several local and provincial concerns, including the cancellation of a promised comprehensive environmental assessment for a landfill near Dresden, Ontario. The move, he said, could set a precedent for bypassing environmental reviews for future landfills or industrial sites anywhere in Ontario.
“Once you give ministers that power, they will get lobbied for,” Hsu said. “The next step after lobbying is influence peddling. You’re opening up a whole can of worms beyond just lobbying.”
As for ongoing resistance, Hsu said Indigenous communities played a significant role in opposing the Bill during its passage last spring.
“The fight continues,” he said. “We have to see how the government uses the powers it has given itself in Bill 5. At that point, there will be another opportunity to push back.”
Hsu wants Queen’s students to remain aware of the Bill’s existence and its potential long-term consequences.
Tags
Bill 5, LAND, Legal Advocates for Nature Defence, QBACC, Queen’s Backing Action on the Climate Crisis
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