'They're putting the First Nations history at risk,' says northern Ontario archeologist about Bill 5

An archeologist from northern Ontario says he's concerned about new provincial legislation that could exempt some archeological requirements for certain developments in an effort to build faster.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced Bill 5, also known as the Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, at the Toronto Stock Exchange on April 17.

The provincial government says the omnibus bill would cut red tape and duplicative processes that have held back major infrastructure, mining and resource development projects.

"The maze of bureaucracy, red tape and duplicative processes holding back our economy means that a single mining project can take 15 years to be approved," Ford said in a news release when the bill was introduced.

"In the face of current Ontario-U.S. trade tensions, it can no longer be business as usual. We are cutting red tape to unlock our critical minerals and unleash our economy to create new jobs and opportunities in the north and across the province."

The bill has already drawn criticism from environmental groups, which argue that it scales back species at risk protections in the name of development.

Ryan Primrose, a senior archeologist with Woodland Heritage Northeast in New Liskeard, says the legislation would also make it easier for the province to bypass archeological work, which he says is of great importance for Indigenous people.

"My concern is that the archeological sites are the history books of First Nations people," Primrose said.

"And without having processes to evaluate the land and to identify archeological sites, then they're putting the First Nations history at risk of any potential discovery and learning from it, as well as protecting those sites."

Primrose says that currently, certain projects require an archeological assessment before construction begins. 

The proposed legislation, though, would allow the Ontario government to exempt projects from undergoing archeological assessments.

Primrose says the archeological assessments generally don't add much time to project timelines, and are important for protecting First Nations history.

He says the biggest bottleneck, in his view, is at Ontario's Ministry of Citizenship and Multiculturalism, which is responsible for reviewing reports from archeologists. 

Primrose says the ministry is understaffed, which leads to delays in evaluating archeological reports.

"I think that if the province really wanted to do something effective, they would appropriately fund the ministry so that they could do their jobs," he said.

CBC News contacted the Ministry of Citizenship and Multiculturalism about Primrose's view that it is underfunded, and leading to development bottlenecks, but did not receive a response by deadline.