In a tense interchange, an inconsolable young Caden Jakesta expresses his concerns to Goad about legal action befalling his family and damage being inflicted on their traditional hunting grounds. Many Tahltan elders have been arrested in past conflicts over Fortune’s mining plans and Shell Oil’s failed attempt to develop coal bed methane in the same region. “There’s a lot of different rocks all over the world,” Caden implores the Fortune CEO – who replies, “There’s not very many special rocks like this.” According to Dana Hibbard of Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition, a local environmental group supporting the Tahltan opposition to the mine, “The meeting got off to an awkward start as [Goad]…recognized the Tahtltan’s responsibility to the stewardship of their land and then attested that his company also had a ‘historic responsibility’ to the area. The members of the crowd looked around at each other, incredulous that this man could compare Fortune Minerals’ thirteen years in the Klappan to the millennia that the Tahltan have spent living in and protecting the Sacred Headwaters.” Goad appears to have further offended his First Nations hosts when he challenged their knowledge of their own territory. Wrote Hibbard following the meeting, “Incredibly, at one point Goad disputed with the Tahltan as to which mountain is actually Mount Klappan. He claimed that his coal mine was not on Mount Klappan but was on the mountain behind him. The crowd cried in unison “that IS Mount Klappan.” Goad momentarily tried to deny this, but soon fell silent.” In the end, Goad allegedly showed no willingness to back down from the controversial development, asking that the Tahltan peoples respect his company’s financial investment in the project and responsibility to its shareholders.
Posted on: Fri, 06 Sep 2013 02:37:01 +0000
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