8th Fire Rising has released new research on injunctions — court orders routinely used to police movements for Indigenous sovereignty and environmental justice. Meanwhile, the legal challenge against Bills 5 and C-5 continues to grow, Bill C-15 quietly exempts corporations from most federal laws, and resistance is rising from Minnesota to Toronto.
In this Update:
- New Research on Injunctions
- Update on Legal Challenge Against Bills 5 and C-5
- Bill C-15: Budget Bill Exempts Corporations from Most Laws
- Update on BC LNG Projects
- ICYMI: Webinar Recordings
- Resistance News
New Research on Injunctions
Injunctions — court orders prohibiting certain actions — are commonly used to police movements for Indigenous sovereignty and environmental justice. In preparation for the fight against the flood of legislation that aims to dispossess Indigenous communities and fuel corporate power, we’ve put together a set of resources on injunctions. These cover the basics of injunctions for activists and land defenders, injunctions and policing, connections between injunctions and Indigenous rights and title, and the threat of “zombie injunctions.” Understanding this powerful legal tool is crucial because corporations and governments wield injunctions extremely effectively, far outpacing the success rate of First Nations looking to assert jurisdiction or enforce rights.
The Breach published this work as part of our partnership. See 8th Fire Rising member Irina Ceric’s piece on zombie injunctions, where she lays out the dangers of injunctions that hang on for years past their intended use, continuing to haunt land defenders and activists despite shaky legal grounds.
You can also check out our updated Injunctions Statistics, which tracks the percentage of injunctions granted and denied in applications filed by First Nations, corporations, and governments. Corporations and governments continue to be far more successful in obtaining injunctions against First Nations across cases involving resource extraction, exercises of treaty and constitutional rights, and the duty to consult.
Update on Legal Challenge Against Bills 5 and C-5
Back in July 2025, nine First Nations filed a legal challenge in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice against Ontario for the passage of Bills C-5 and 5. In February 2026, five more First Nations joined the fight. They argue that these laws aimed at “fast-tracked” development are unconstitutional, violating Charter rights to life, liberty, and security of the person. Moreover, the Crown has a duty to “act honourably” in the passage of new legislation affecting Indigenous peoples.
As Chief Sheri Taylor of Ginoogaming First Nation put it: “If Canada and Ontario are so worried about threats to Canada from a bullying US President whose administration has been stripping human rights protections, then why are Canada and Ontario supposedly answering those threats with their own laws that bully First Nations and strip human rights and environmental protections here?”
The 14 First Nations currently involved in the challenge are Alderville, Apitipi Anicinapek, Aroland, Attawapiskat, Fort Albany, Ginoogaming, Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI), Oneida Nation of the Thames, Wabauskang, Walpole Island (Bkejwanong), Kashechewan, Mississaugas of the Credit, Wapekeka, and Wunnumin Lake. 8th Fire Rising are intervenors in the case.
Bill C-15: Budget Bill Exempts Corporations from Most Laws
Bill C-15, the Budget Implementation Act, is a recently passed omnibus bill that allows government ministers to exempt any “entity” — a person or corporation — from federal laws, except for the Criminal Code. This goes hand in hand with Bill C-5, Ontario’s Bill 5, Bill 33, and other legislation that grants federal ministers sweeping powers to bend laws for Projects of National Interest or anything deemed to be in the “public interest.” This bill allows industry to sideline environmental laws, the Endangered Species Act, workplace safety laws, and Indigenous rights. As Ecojustice reports, some of the most egregious of these changes were buried on page 300 of a more than 600-page bill.
Update on BC LNG Projects: Mounting Environmental and Economic Risks
As we discussed in our recent update on Bill C-5, the economic risks are mounting for BC’s LNG projects. Despite rhetorical emphasis on “fast-tracking,” it’s more accurate to say these projects are being financially de-risked via government backstops than simply sped up.
Shell and Mitsubishi (who own 40 and 15 percent respectively) are exploring sale options for their stakes in the $40-billion LNG Canada project. This comes amid LNG Canada’s Phase 2 expansion proposal, despite industry fears of global oversupply and predictions of an “enormous glut” in the LNG market for 2026–2030.
These economic risks are compounded by serious concerns about gas flaring at LNG Canada’s facility in Kitimat, BC. The Narwhal reports that company officials have been aware of malfunctioning flaring equipment for more than a year. The facility is currently flaring up to 15 times more gas per day than expected, and LNG Canada says this issue will take at least three years to fix. Complaints from local residents have begun to pile up, triggering a special meeting of the Kitimat District council, with some residents expressing concerns about potentially toxic emissions and observing a thin film of black residue covering homes and vehicles near the facility.
ICYMI: Webinar Recordings
Canada’s Approach to Critical Minerals at Home and Abroad
This webinar (February 2, 2026) brought together panelists from civil society and government to unpack and critique Canada’s approach to critical minerals at home and abroad. As Canada’s investment in critical minerals exploration and extraction expands, it is necessary for civil society to understand the government’s plans as well as the potential harms that could result from them.
Speakers: Nicole Uher (Deputy Director, Critical Minerals Centre for Excellence, Natural Resources Canada); Leah Gilbert Morris (VP Public Affairs & International Relations, Export Development Canada); Jamie Kneen (MiningWatch Canada); Nicolas Hubert (Canada Research Chair in Territorial and Socio-Environmental Transitions, UQAR).
This is the second webinar in a series co-organized by MiningWatch Canada and Above Ground.
Sovereignty or Surrender
The “Sovereignty or Surrender” webinar (January 24, 2026), moderated by 8th Fire Rising co-founder Eve Saint, brought together experts on Indigenous law and land and treaty rights: Rolland Pangowish, Doreen Cardinal-Somers, and Russ Diabo.
As the organizers put it: “We need to start asserting our rights! Use them or lose them. This is the first of a series of webinars to inform yourselves — learn what most Chiefs & Councils and AFN aren’t telling you!”
Resistance News
Dakota Prayer Camp & Lives Taken by ICE
As our Indigenous relatives in the south face violent mass deportation, we offer our prayers for those who have lost their lives to the ICE regime. Al Jazeera has reported on lives taken, including the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Please take care when traveling south, especially Indigenous relatives.
Read the Assembly of First Nations travel advisory, which warns that Indigenous people are being held hostage so that ICE can force its way onto Indigenous territories. In response to the violence in Minnesota, the Indigenous community set up a prayer tent and reclaimed lands near Fort Snelling — a historic Native American concentration camp that imprisoned thousands of Dakota and Ho-Chunk people, now used by ICE as a detention centre.
Toronto Indigenous Harm Reduction Fights Ontario’s Bills 6 and 223
Please support our friends and kin at Toronto Indigenous Harm Reduction in their efforts in community care for Indigenous kin who are houseless and/or use drugs or alcohol.
They are fighting Ontario’s Bills 6 and 223, which target and criminalize folks suspected of using drugs outdoors, expand policing, and shut down life-saving safe consumption sites. You can find more on these bills and how to take action in a collaboration article with Amnesty International. Please contribute to their winter outreach program and check out their list of supplies needed to distribute to folks facing the frigid winter blasts we’ve been having this year.
Charges Dropped Against Nine Protesters from October 8, 2025
This was in response to the illegal capture of Mskwassin Agnew, a Cree/Dene Indigenous sister and harm reduction worker with Toronto Indigenous Harm Reduction, who journeyed on the Conscience Flotilla to bring much-needed humanitarian aid to Palestinians suffering an ethnic cleansing. Her family, relatives, supporters, and community members organized actions for three days demanding that the aid get through to Gaza, a two-way arms embargo, and safe return for the people on the flotillas. All charges have been dropped against protesters from October 8, 2025 at University Ave and Queen St. W. See the full post from Turtle Island to Palestine.
If you are planning an action, attending a rally, providing analysis, or want to share info, please email us at comms@8thfirerising.ca.
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Chi Meegwetch.
