OpEd by Chief Joe and Chief Roger in vancouver Sun: vancouversun/news/Opinion+Mine+rejection+wakeup+call/9670232/story.html Opinion: Mine rejection is wakeup call While the province stays mired in the past, First Nations are urging reforms Vancouver SunMarch 27, 2014 4:11 PM Fish Lake was threatened by a mine project. The old mining laws, which give mining first priority over land use and seek to let mining companies go where they want and mine what they want, are just not acceptable in the 21st century, First Nations say. Taseko Mines Ltd.’s bid to upturn a huge portion of the pristine Tsilhqot’in area of B.C. has now been rejected for the third time in almost 20 years, two of these after scathing independent panel reviews. Wakeup calls do not come much bigger than this. Taseko and its politically funded supporters — B.C. Mines Minister Bill Bennett and his government — seem to be the only ones who do not realize this project is dead and that continuing with legal challenges will only add to the two decades and the more than $100 million of investors’ money the company says it has already thrown away on this non-starter. Even the conservative Fraser Institute recognizes there is a problem and is calling for change. The institute’s latest survey of global mining executives found B.C. had slipped in the rankings to 32nd place in terms of confidence as a mining jurisdiction. In a recent Vancouver Sun column, the institute’s Alana Wilson noted: “Uncertainty deters investment by increasing risk for investors as it decreases their confidence in being able to recoup and profit from investments.” While the institute is known for being extremely supportive of B.C.’s mining industry, Wilson at least acknowledges that relations with First Nations need to be addressed, as do environmental issues. The changes the institute would like are probably very pro-industry but at least it recognized the status quo is a mess. The mining industry in B.C. faces every bit as much of a challenge as Enbridge is facing with its Northern Gateway Pipeline, and it is time the government awakened to this fact. Yet it continues to stand by politically supportive companies such as Taseko, and blindly flogs dead horses such as the New Prosperity mine, which has generated nothing but financial losses for 20 years. The old mining laws — which give mining first priority over land use and seek to let mining companies go where they want and mine what they want — are just not acceptable in the 21st century. First Nations say so, the courts say so, and the public says so. The root of the problem is the free-entry staking process, in which anyone with a computer and a few bucks can stake a claim. This system allows areas to be claimed that never should be, and projects to be developed that simply can’t be allowed to proceed. The textbook case of why this is a problem is now Taseko’s efforts to turn the waters and lands of the Tsilhqot’in into one of the world’s biggest open-pit mines just so the company could get to a very low-grade gold and copper deposit (it would on average need to move one tonne of earth just to find less than half a gram of gold). It should have walked away in 1995 when the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans told the company and the province to forget the idea. But the land was under claim — without the Tsilhqot’in’s consent — and so the battle continues 20 years later. No wonder mining executives around the world are wary of B.C. as a safe jurisdiction in which to invest. No wonder smarter companies already recognize the new realities and seek to work in a meaningful way with First Nations from the outset. The only surprise is that the B.C. government still thinks it is 1870, when First Nations’ rights in B.C. were not recognized, and mining can do what it wants, where it wants. This has to change, and the Tsilhqot’in Nation, like other First Nations, are not prepared to wait years or decades more for politicians in Victoria to see the light. The Tsilhqot’in Nation is now putting the final touches to its mining policy, based on the culturally and ecologically conscious development of mineral resources in the Tsilhqot’in traditional territory. It will define how relationships between the Tsilhqot’in and mining and exploration companies must be built on a foundation of respect for Tsilhqot’in values, rights and governance, and real partnerships. This is not an anti-mining initiative. Quite the contrary, it is aimed at creating a process under which projects that can be supported can proceed and that time and money is not wasted on projects that are doomed to be mired in confrontation for years before finally failing. Had such a system been in place before, Taseko and its investors would now not be so much out of pocket with nothing to show for it, and the Tsilhqot’in and provincial and federal taxpayers would not have had to waste so much time and money on a non-starter project that lies in one of Canada’s only court-proven aboriginal rights areas. Our 20-year-old landmark aboriginal rights and title case is now the subject of a title appeal before the Supreme Court of Canada. Our hope is that in the future, the Taseko fiasco need never be repeated. Surely that is something everyone should hope for. Joe Alphonse is chief of Tl’etinqox-t’in and the Tsilhqot’in tribal chair. Roger William is chief of the Xeni Gwet’in First Nations government. © Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 00:07:59 +0000
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