Six months after dam breach calamity, First Nation takes the lead on mining regulation.
Thursday marked six months since the Imperial Metals-owned Mount Polley mine became the site of the most devastating tailings storage facility disaster in Canadian history, when nearly 25 million cubic metres of toxic mine effluent waste and chemicals spilled.
The spill damaged both Hazeltine Creek and Quesnel Lake, which reside within the traditional territorial boundaries of the Secwepemc Nation.
An official report on why the spill happened from the Mount Polley mine itself was set for release at the end of January, but the B.C. government altered the regulations. Now a report from Mount Polley isn’t due until 2017.
Such moves from the provincial government have spurred the Secwepemc, and specifically the Xat’sūll (Soda Creek) First Nation, to takes steps to ensure nothing like Mount Polley happens again.
The Northern Secwepemc te Qelmucw leadership council, which is composed of four northern Secwepemc bands, finalized a mining policy dated Nov. 19, 2014. Formation of the mining policy began in 2012, but the Mount Polley spill provided the council the motivation to finish it.
”One thing I want to make perfectly clear is this policy isn’t a wish-list,” said Jacinda Mack, leadership council co-ordinator. ”This is prescriptive. This is indigenous law. We did very thorough research and took more than two years to release the final document.”
The leadership council had mining experts and lawyers comb through the policy, which is now part of the partnership between mining proponents, the province, and the northern Shuswap. Mining proponents have a definite baseline framework to abide by on Secwepemc territory, Mack added.
”This goes above and beyond anything the B.C. government currently requires from a mining company,” Mack said. ”We have compiled the best mining practices in the world into one document.”
First Nation claims ‘inherent jurisdication’
The 54-page policy outlines exactly what the Secwepemc expect to happen within any current or future mine on its more than 53,000 square kilometres of traditional territory.
”The Secwepemc Nation has un-surrendered and un-extinguished title and rights throughout the Secwepemc traditional territory known as Secwepemculecw,” the policy reads. ”The Secwepemc Nation has the inherent jurisdiction to provide stewardship of Secwepemculecw and to ensure its sustainability and viability for future generations.”
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