Chief Theresa Okimaw-Hall to Be Executive Director of Canada Chrome

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Canada will celebrate the 150th Anniversary of Confederation

Ring of Fire Chief Theresa Okimaw-HallMONTREAL – KWG Resources Inc. is very pleased to announce that Her Worship, Chief Theresa Okimaw-Hall has been appointed Executive Director of Canada Chrome Corporation (“CCC”). CCC is the wholly-owned subsidiary of KWG which has staked a corridor of claims from the Ring of Fire to Exton, Ontario and is assessing those for the construction of a railroad.

Chief Theresa Okimaw-Hall – Canada Chrome

On June 30, 2011 the Greenstone Economic Development Corporation (“GEDC”) and CCC filed a proposal with PPP Canada in response to its Round 3 Request for Proposals, suggesting a loan guarantee for the last 25% of the estimated cost of constructing the railroad would lower the project’s funding costs.

The proposal outlined a long term plan for the First Nations of the James Bay Lowlands to be vested with ownership of the railroad in consideration of their consent to its construction within their traditional lands. As the legal entities required for the vesting of such ownership have yet to be created by those First Nations, the GEDC Board agreed to be the proposal’s present proponent on their behalf. Recently, PPP Canada advised GEDC that its Round 3 funding would be allocated only to “shovel-ready” projects, and that the railroad funding support proposal would require identification of the First Nations’ enterprise in order to receive further consideration. As Executive Director of CCC, Theresa Okimaw-Hall will now pursue the opportunities CCC has identified amongst all of the First Nations affected by the Ring of Fire developments, to formulate the mechanisms for their participation in the equity of CCC.

“We have maintained for some time that development of the Ring of Fire will be what forever changes for the better our relationship with Ontario’s aboriginal Canadians,” said KWG President Frank Smeenk. “In my view, the “sharing” contemplated by their side at the signing of Treaty 9 either starts with this development or the development simply won’t happen. That sharing concept is part of the genius of the Harper government’s PPP Canada program for the funding of First Nations’ infrastructure projects.”

“We believe that Theresa’s experience as a Justice of the Peace in Cochrane for 16 years, followed by her election as the first female Chief of the Attawapiskat First Nation, suit her admirably to the challenges of this historic undertaking. In the first of her two terms as Chief of Attawapiskat, she negotiated the many agreements that resulted in the creation of the De Beers Victor Mine on the Attawapiskat River, Ontario’s first diamond mine. It is clear to me also that the James Bay coastal Cree communities of the Mushkegowuk Tribal Council are amongst those that will be chiefly affected by these developments upstream in the watersheds that drain to their communities in Ontario’s mighty northern rivers. We believe Theresa’s stature as a former Chief of one of the principal Mushkegowuk communities will enable her to broker their participation in the equity of CCC also.”

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James Murray
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