Greg Rickford
Greg Rickford is Ontario's Minister of Indigenous Affairs and the MPP for Kenora–Rainy River. He attended the June 2026 groundbreaking for the Webequie Supply Road, the first Ring of Fire access road to begin construction.
Connected Scandals
The Ford government is fast-tracking Ring of Fire mining and road construction through its Bill 5 "One Project, One Process" system, overriding the objections of Grassy Narrows First Nation — a community still living with mercury poisoning — bypassing a federally required environmental assessment, and pushing toward a June 2026 construction start that Neskantaga and Attawapiskat First Nations are physically blockading.
As Minister of Indigenous Affairs, Rickford attended the June 2026 Webequie Supply Road groundbreaking, representing the government driving Ring of Fire development amid opposition from other First Nations.
Ontario's Support for Indian Residential School Burial Sites fund is dropping from roughly $32 million a year to $20 million, according to a researcher with the Survivors' Secretariat. The Ford government has separately refused to release an audit of the same program.
Indigenous Affairs Minister whose office did not address the cut specifically when asked, instead saying the Ford government has spent over $144 million supporting an Indigenous-led approach to the identification, investigation, protection and commemoration of burials. Spokesperson Lachlan Fraser said the province is "responding with greater flexibility for commemorative and legacy initiatives, survivor engagement and mental health supports... as they move from investigations to commemoration."