The Clean Energy Smokescreen: Quebec’s Fossil Fuel Ban and the Mining Boom on Indigenous Lands

Written on 18 November 2025. Posted in News

BY EARTHWORKS FOR INDIGENOUS DEBATES

The US Department of Defense's involvement in projects such as Lomiko and Strange Lake shows how clean energy narratives can align with military objectives. Minerals such as graphite, lithium, rare earths, and nickel are essential not only for electric vehicle batteries, but also for the military industry. Quebec has a decision to make: honor its commitments to Indigenous rights and climate justice, or quietly align itself with US military priorities.

Quebec’s highly publicized 2022 fossil fuel ban is framed as bold climate leadership. Yet, in reality, the province is doubling down on mining expansion, particularly for so-called critical minerals essential to U.S. clean energy and military supply chains. This creates a paradox whereby fossil fuels are villainized in Quebec while mineral extraction is quietly accelerated, benefiting Canadian mining corporations and U.S. industrial and military interests under the guise of the “green transition”.

The contradiction becomes particularly apparent on Indigenous lands. Projects such as the Lomiko Graphite mine and the Strange Lake Rare Earth project highlight how the province’s climate leadership narrative masks continued erosion of Indigenous sovereignty. Quebec’s public image of environmental progress conceals the reality of resource extraction that often proceeds without Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), as enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

Indigenous Sovereignty and a Just Transition

Across Quebec, Indigenous lands are being opened up to mineral projects in the name of the energy transition, often without proper consultation or consent. According to a MiningWatch Canada report, an  astounding 10% of Quebec is under mining claims, with 60% of the 338,000 claims overlapping with rivers, which magnifies the impacts. While Canada’s 2021 passage of Bill C-15 enshrined UNDRIP into federal law, FPIC remains more aspirational than real. Communities are consulted only after projects are already in motion or presented with conditions that make the right to say no almost impossible.

In Canada and beyond, the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is rarely upheld in an appropriate way for extractive projects. To truly give a community the right to say no, consultation would begin before the project has even begun, with attention given to meeting with traditional elders, women and children, not just men or Tribal chairs. If a community says no, then the project is halted.  A true just transition to cleaner energy would require centering Indigenous Peoples’ sovereignty as a north star before starting the process. FPIC should not be an afterthought.

In 2023, the R. c. Montour decision in Quebec gave UNDRIP “the same weight as a binding international instrument” when interpreting section 35(1) of the Constitution, marking an important precedent. While this was hailed as an historic step that further uplifted Indigenous Peoples’ rights in the province, implementation has been uneven. A Quebec Superior Court recently ruled in favor of the Mitchikanibikok Inik First Nation, which had taken the province to court for failing their constitutional duty to consult the Nation before granting mining claims on their territory. The ruling stated that the province must now consult and accommodate the Nation not only on existing but also new claims. It was a small victory in hindsight.

In April 2022, Quebec once again made a name for itself as a progressive leader by passing Bill 21, an act that prohibits new petroleum exploration and production, while also mandating site restoration. Bill 21 was celebrated widely as a step forward for Canada towards bold action to address climate change. The contradiction between Quebec’s rhetoric around Indigenous Peoples’ rights and its supposed climate change commitments is made clear, however, through the situation around the Lomiko Graphite mine in the Laurentides and Outaouais regions and the Strange Lake Rare Earth project in located in Nunavik. At these projects, promises of sustainability collide with the extractive reality of mining.

The US Military Industry and Indigenous Opposition

In the Outaouais region of Quebec, Lomiko Metals Inc’s La Loutre graphite project is a proposed open pit graphite mine that was touted as an “ecological transition” project. Recently,  a multi-million dollar grant from the United States Department of Defense became one of the funding forces behind the widely opposed mine. It is said to be described by Lomiko as having the potential to be the seventh largest graphite mine in the world.

The project received a $8.35 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) through a technology investment agreement (TIA) under Title III of the Defense Production Act. This U.S. federal support is matched by a $4.9 million grant from Natural Resources Canada, which totals some $16.7 million in joint U.S.-Canadian funding for the mining project. The La Loutre mine marks one of the first instances in which the DoD has extended TIA support to a Canadian mineral project at such an early stage. Lomiko publicly positions the project as an energy transition initiative but the DoD’s involvement highlights its significance for military applications.

The project has provoked opposition from the local communities, including the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg (KZA) First Nation, whose land it impacts. As with many extractive efforts, there is little evidence of genuine FPIC being sought. The KZA community has actually been active in working towards restoring their territorial lands that have been “degraded”. Part of this process includes working with local and provincial governments to protect the ecosystems, as was promised by Canada at COP15. The work toward restoring balance in their territories goes against the expansion of mining. 

The Quebec government, despite backing mineral expansion, declined to provincially fund the Lomiko mine, citing a lack of “social acceptability”. This was celebrated as a rare, but not definitive, victory as Federal and U.S. funding are still in place. The case of DoD funding for Canadian mines like Lomiko is not unique. In an interview with Le Journal, Robert P. Sanders, the U.S. Consul General in Montreal confirmed that there are others in process.

Strange Lake Rare Earths Project and Inuit/Innu/Naskapi Concerns

One of those projects is the Strange Lake Rare Earth project by Torngat Metals company. While not funded directly by the DoD, the company will supply minerals to a US-based company under contract to manufacture rare earth magnets for US military purposes.

Torngat Metals’ (a Quebec based rare earths development company), Strange Lake rare earth project straddles northern Quebec and Labrador on Labrador Inuit territory. Much like graphite, rare earths are a sought-after mineral for both electric vehicle batteries and military equipment. The mine is only one part of the plan, with a separation plant planned to be built in Sept-Îles. The project is already revealing its true colors. Previous plans put an access road through Inuit lands, which would require the Nunatsiavut government to hold their own environmental assessment. Torngat Metals changed the road’s location.

Two other Nations, the Innu Nation and the Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach, have also expressed concerns about the Torngat mine and its impact. They cite concerns about the project’s proximity to George River caribou calving grounds. The Innu Nation affirmed their connection to the land and unease as to how the project would affect it and pointed to Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution Act, which recognizes aboriginal rights. Yet those rights, much like within Bill C-15, remain undefined and unevenly implemented when it comes to extractive projects.

U.S. Department of War and the Just Transition

The involvement of the U.S. Department of Defense in projects such as Lomiko and Strange Lake underscores how clean energy narratives can align with military objectives. Minerals like  graphite, lithium, rare earths and nickel are essential not only for electric vehicle batteries but also for military applications.

With the new name change from the Department of Defense to the Department of War, there are no longer any misconceptions as to the goals of this funding. The recent Big Beautiful Bill added another $13 billion in direct funding from the department, which will only continue to fund mining and processing facilities throughout not only the United States and Canada but around the world. Communities within the U.S., like People of Red Mountain in Nevada, continue to fight a DoD-backed lithium mine that bypassed consent.

This will only become exacerbated as more funding is distributed to mining companies. Quebec has a choice to make: uphold and honor their commitments towards UNDRIP and climate justice or quietly align with U.S. military priorities. Thus, an example of how the rhetoric of sustainability can function as a smokescreen for other objectives.

The Quebec Paradox

Quebec’s ban on fossil fuel exploration under Bill 21 has been celebrated as proof of bold climate leadership. Yet, when viewed alongside the province’s expansion of mining, the contradiction becomes impossible to ignore. Oil and gas are outlawed in the name of climate justice, while destructive mining projects advance under the banner of the “green transition”.

The La Loutre graphite mine and Strange Lake rare earth project illustrate how this dynamic plays out when Indigenous territories are targeted for mineral extraction, FPIC remains sidelined, and external funding steers projects less toward climate solutions and more toward securing military supply chains. Quebec’s leadership narrative reveals the nature of extractive projects where sovereignty, ecosystems, and long-term solutions are sacrificed for industrial goals.

If the province were serious about a just transition, Indigenous nations would hold decisive authority from before the projects are started. Free, Prior and Informed Consent would not be reduced to a mid-project checkbox but respected as a binding right that can change, reshape or halt projects entirely.

The paradox of banning fossil fuels while accelerating mining reveals that Quebec’s “transition” is less about climate justice and more about replacing one extractive practice with another. It is not being dismantled but rebranded. A truly just transition requires centering Indigenous sovereignty as the foundation of climate policy.

Earthworks advocates stopping pollution from oil, gas, and mining, while promoting a just and clean energy future.

Cover Photo: Regroupement de Protection des Lacs de la Petite-Nation

Tags: Indigenous Debates