The provincial government continues to sell the importance of opening up the Ring of Fire.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Greg Rickford and Webequie First Nations Chief Cornelius Wabasse spoke to the Toronto Board of Trade on Wednesday.

Rickford says the mining area’s development will be done in partnership with First Nations.

He says opening access to the area is more than just about mining.

“This is not just about building an opportunity to access an exquisite, qualitatively and quantitatively mining site or sites, plural. It is about the development of a region responsibly,” says Rikford.

“And the only way, in my respectful view, based on my experience and my relationships with the leadership and generations of young people who I have an interest in ensuring, have the promise of economic prosperity and better overall health, that this is about community and economic partnerships.”

Rickford also announced more funding to add to the road link to the area.

Nearly $62 million will be provided to Greenstone to upgrade Geraldton’s Main Street, a street that connects Highway 11 to Highway 584.

“This five-kilometre stretch from where the TransCanada base is in and through Geraldton cannot handle the kind of commercial and industrial and personal travel that is required to build a corridor that will revitalize the region, create enormous opportunities for First Nations communities much farther north,” says Rickford.

“This first segment of building the corridor to prove prosperity into the Ring of Fire and, as importantly, the communities most proximal to it, represents not only the single biggest infrastructure announcement for Greenstone in its history, but the first announcement for physical, real construction activity in that region.”

Plans are also in place to connect two existing roads to Webequie and Marten Falls, two communities in proximity to the Ring of Fire area.

Webequie Chief Cornelius Wabasse says his community is showing support because it fits within the vision they have.

“This is one of the things that will make our vision come to reality with the potential of mining in our community that could help us with our vision,” says Wabasses.

“With the reservation that we have there, we have to somehow find ways to flourish.”

Rickford adds that the development of the Ring of Fire can not be done without First Nation participation.