Mining Conflict and Opposition – Page 75

NEWS RELEASE: NAN WARNS PROPOSED ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT CHANGES COULD LEAD TO UNREST

April 18, 2012

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THUNDER BAY, ON: Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) is warning that changes to the environmental regulatory process will lead to direct confrontation on the ground. Yesterday, the federal government released details of a plan to overhaul the environmental review process for major projects as announced during the recent federal budget.

Currently, Environmental Assessment processes are underway in the Ring of Fire region within NAN, and more major projects are expected to take place. In November 2011, First Nations in the Matawa region, within the Ring of Fire, filed a judicial review against the Environment Minister’s decision to proceed with a comprehensive environmental assessment process for the proposed Cliffs Chromite Project, as opposed to a joint panel review they had called for. This judicial review is expected to be heard in the fall of 2012.

“Consultation and accommodation, let alone consent, have not been met with First Nations. I am concerned with how regulatory reform will affect First Nations, including their ability to meaningfully participate in an environmental assessment process that is proposed to be fast-tracked and unchanged in funding capacity,” said Grand Chief Stan Beardy.

Another threat to Canada’s mining industry – by Fred McMahon (Troy Media – April 18, 2012)

April 18, 2012

Troy Media is dedicated to fostering debate about issues shaping Canada and the world. Fred McMahon is the Fraser Institute’s vice-president of international policy research.

VANCOUVER, BC, Apr. 18, 2012/ Troy Media/ – Canadian politicians like to beat their chests about creating world-class centres of industrial and technological excellence. So why then, do some appear intent on destroying our mining industry, the one area where Canada is not simply a world leader but THE world leader?

Mining has deep historical roots in Canada. It was a growth engine that elevated us from a developing economy to one of the world’s richest nations. But now the mining sector is facing a threat posed by Private Member’s Bill C-323, the stepchild of C-300 which was narrowly defeated in 2010.

Idea has merit . . . but

Bill C-323, which appears to be aimed primarily at resource companies, would give Canadian courts jurisdiction in all civil cases from anywhere in the world that involve a violation of international law or a treaty to which Canada is party. The idea is to hold companies responsible in countries where the court system is corrupt, an idea that has merit.

But typically, bias in many countries is against foreign companies. For example, in 2001, Chevron bought Texaco, which once had operations in Ecuador.

Federal budget: Critics blast Ottawa’s plan to overhaul environmental review process – by Michael Woods (Toronto Star – April 18, 2012)

April 18, 2012

The Toronto Star, has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

Critics cried foul Tuesday over the federal government’s decision to overhaul its environmental assessment process, calling it a bid to fast-track big oil and gas projects at the expense of the environment.

And environmentalists say there’s no better cautionary tale than the proposed Prosperity mine near Williams Lake in Interior B.C., which the province approved in 2010 but the federal government later disallowed.

The Conservative government’s planned changes, announced Tuesday but first mentioned in last month’s federal budget, would hand over environmental oversight for many projects to the provinces and reduce the number of federal review organizations and departments from more than 40 to three.

Minister of Natural Resources Joe Oliver said the assessment process needs streamlining because the current one is duplicative and cumbersome, and small projects that pose no risk to the environment are delayed. The government says new rules would provide predictability for investors.

Hungry miners covet Yukon’s pristine Peel watershed wilderness – by Paul Watson (Toronto Star – April 16, 2012)

April 16, 2012

The Toronto Star, has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

VANCOUVER—A mining boom that has turned Canada’s North into the country’s fastest growing economy is threatening a vast stretch of the Yukon that is one of the continent’s last unspoiled wildernesses.

Central Yukon’s Peel River watershed, a pristine region almost as big as New Brunswick, is just one of the natural treasures coveted by mining and oil and natural gas companies riding surging global commodity prices.

Demand for the mineral resources of the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut is so strong, the Conference Board of Canada expects their economies to grow by an average 7 per cent in 2012 and 2013, “easily outpacing the Canadian average.”

The hunger for resources from rapidly developing countries such as China and India are combining with a warming climate and new technology to draw mining, oil and natural gas companies farther north.

That trend isn’t going to be short-lived, predicts the Conference Board, a privately funded economic and policy research agency.

Innovate or die: How Canada is courting long-term failure [with resource development] – by Richard Poplak (Globe and Mail – April 14, 2012)

April 16, 2012

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Richard Poplak is a Canadian writer currently based in Africa.

For policy wonks, this season’s equivalent of tween thriller The Hunger Games is a book called Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty. The pundits are giddy about its mixture of deep historical context and forehead-slapping common sense. Authors Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson, economists by day, insist that functional political institutions lead to successful economic institutions, and not the other way around.

Antagonizing libertarians, geographical determinists and the Ottawa chapter of Atlas Shrugs Rulz! alike, the authors claim that any smart economic policy will necessarily arise from an inclusive political system, where all is governed by rule of law, property rights are protected and hard work is rewarded by a paycheque subsequently taxed.

So far, a gold star for Canada (and a dunce cap for China) – until we slam into the following statement: “Sustained economic growth requires innovation, and innovation cannot be decoupled from creative destruction, which replaces the old with the new in the economic realm and also destabilizes established power relations in politics.”

Free, prior and informed consent for certainty, prosperity [resource development and First Nations] – by Shane Maffat (Greenpeace Blogpost – April 13, 2012)

April 14, 2012

http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/

A lot of effort has been made, by Minister of Natural Resources Joe Oliver and others, to portray the principle of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) for industrial development in traditional Indigenous territories as somehow obstructionist, an impediment to “progress”. This is as intentional as it is disingenuous.

Enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which Canada has formally endorsed, the principle arose from a shared experience of Indigenous communities around the world whereby “consultations” have almost exclusively constituted a rubber stamp for unfettered resource exploitation to benefit a wealthy few and large corporations. The broader global context, Greenpeace and others would argue, is one of environmental, economic and social unsustainability which has in great part been caused by the heedless exploitation of lands where Indigenous peoples have been ignored, and their authority eroded.

How to address the recurring phenomenon of rubber stamp consultations, which has, and continues, to produce such negative results for people and planet alike? After more than two decades of multilateral negotiations between Indigenous peoples (including many of Canada’s own Indigenous leaders), UN member-states, observers from UN organs and specialized agencies, the finely balanced principle we now know as FPIC has emerged as the internationally recognized minimum human rights standard for solving the conundrum.

Innu women march against Hydro-Quebec project [Plan Nord protests] – by Lorraine Mallinder (Toronto Star – April 14, 2012)

April 14, 2012

The Toronto Star, has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

‘If Plan Nord goes through, we’re finished’

ST-HILARION, QUEBEC—Elise Vollant would not consider herself a political person. Yet, the former nursery school teacher is currently leading members of her Innu community on a 900-kilometre march to Montreal to protest the Quebec government’s Plan Nord, a multibillion-dollar scheme that will open the north to mining and energy companies.

The group, originally comprising 14 women, left Uashat Mak Mani-Utenam near Sept-Îles nearly two weeks ago. They plan to reach Montreal on April 22 to join wider environmental protests against the Plan Nord. Along the way, they’ve picked up supporters from other reserves and a French ethnologist. Now, midway, they are nearly 40 strong.

“I would never have imagined we’d get this far,” says Vollant, raising her voice against the din of passing trucks on a dismal stretch of Highway 138. Her political odyssey began last month after she joined a five-day blockade of a road running through her reserve to the $6.5 billion La Romaine hydroelectric project.

Treaty 3 ready to sit down with Miners United group – by Jon Thompson (Kenora Daily Miner and News – April 12, 2012)

April 12, 2012

http://www.kenoradailyminerandnews.com/

Treaty 3 has cautiously agreed to speak with 60 junior mining outfits who make up Miners United, provided the companies leave “racist” attitudes behind.

Last week’s resolution at Grand Council voted the companies “will not be tolerated” in Treaty 3 territory, due to media reports describing their “revolt” against First Nations consultation. Following a conversation with the Ontario Prospector’s Association, Treaty 3 Grand Chief Diane Kelly said defiant and ignorant approaches to consultation would not be tolerated.

“Those kinds of attitudes are not going to be tolerated by anybody. We’re not just wandering around in the bush looking for blueberries,” Kelly said, pointing to Miners United members’ public statements regarding unwillingness to look for arrowheads on behalf of First Nations communities.

“It’s just fuelling the fire when there’s comments like that in their press release,” she explained. “We’re not against economic activity, we just want to make sure our rights are respected and we’re part of it.”

Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation Letter to Supporters – April 10, 2012

April 12, 2012

“We are under attack by the ultra-conservative mining lobby group Miners
United. Already Miners United members have pledged to challenge the
Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug right to say ‘no’ to mining abuse and
protect the Watershed Declaration area.”

Office of the Chief and Council – Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug

Dear Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug Friends,

God’s Lake Resources plan to drill on our sacred landscape at Sherman Lake has been stopped. It looked like we were facing another $10 billion lawsuit and the risk of being jailed again, but after our community took action backed up by all your letters, emails, calls, and rallies to the Ontario Government and hundreds of media stories about our campaign, Ontario bough out the God’s Lake Resources leases and claims and stopped the drilling.

Thank you for standing up for indigenous rights. Your support helped tip the scales to prevent the drilling and protect the sacred. Your solidarity made a huge difference. Without help from supporters like you, our campaign to protect our sacred landscape at Sherman Lake might have taken a much harsher toll on our community.

Wabauskang mobilizes against Red Lake resource boom – by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – April 11, 2012)

April 12, 2012

This article came from Wawatay News: http://www.wawataynews.ca/

Fed up with getting no benefits from the resource boom on their traditional territory, Wabauskang First Nation is vowing to make its voice heard.

Wabauskang’s chief and council say they are in a tenuous position of having their traditional territory overlapping the gold mining explosion happening around Red Lake.

Chief Leslie Cameron said his community of 250 members is overwhelmed with having to deal with more than 40 resource companies that have staked claims on Wabauskang traditional territory, and frustrated that the provincial and federal governments are neglecting their duty to consult First Nations on development.

“We are a small community but we still have rights,” Cameron said. “We are the First Peoples here and we never gave up our right to our resources. We’re tired of being pushed to the side.”

Massive Mongolian mine raises environmental fears – by Josh Tapper (Toronto Star – April 11, 2012)

April 11, 2012

The Toronto Star, has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

Economic project led by Canadian miner Ivanhoe a boon – except it’s soaking up valuable water

Buried in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia’s economic future rests on a massive mining project called Turquoise Hill.

Known locally as Oyu Tolgoi, the copper and gold mine, co-owned by Vancouver-based Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. and the Mongolian government, is expected to balloon the Central Asian country’s GDP — an estimated $13.28 billion in 2011 — by more than 30 per cent when it starts full production later this year.

But the economic boon is also, for some, an environmental nightmare as the project will allegedly soak up valuable water resources in the already-arid Gobi. While reports vary, the mine plans to use up to 920 litres of water per second.

Dugersuren Sukhgerel, executive director of local NGO Oyu Tolgoi Watch, said lack of water is the “No. 1 issue” in the region.

In Ghana, a mining activist fights the gold goliaths – by Paul Carlucci (Toronto Star- April 7, 2012)

April 10, 2012

The Toronto Star, has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

TARKWA, GHANA—Whether on billboards along the roads or embroidered on shirt collars, mining companies are ubiquitous in this jungle hub of Ghana’s Western Region.

Their presence is sometimes lost behind the lazy-leafed plantain trees, drooping palm fronds, and steep, green hills encasing the town, but a mountain of waste rock obscures much of the horizon.

“They take the gold and leave these kinds of things,” says Daniel Owusu-Koranteng, executive director and co-founder of the Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM).

Ghana, once known as the Gold Coast, is the continent’s second-biggest producer of gold, after South Africa. It is also home to significant deposits of bauxite, manganese, aluminum and diamonds.

Home And Native Land – by Cooper Langford (Financial Post Magazine – April 2012)

April 10, 2012

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

In many respects, the city of Kitimat is an iconic Canadian community. Situated in a wide, flat valley at the head of the Douglas Channel in northwestern B.C., it has, for the past 60 years, been home to one of the world’s great hydroelectric and aluminum smelting projects. A technological marvel when it was built by the Aluminum Company of Canada during the industrial boom that followed the Second World War, the project brought the modern world to a resource-rich wilderness and became the foundation of a prosperous frontier city.

More recent history, however, has been less kind to the Kitimat region. Technological advances mean the smelter, now owned by global mining giant Rio Tinto, no longer employs as many people as it once did. The businesses — methane, ammonia and paper — that followed it into the deep reaches of the province are no more. Kitimat is a community looking to re-stake its claim on the future. And there is a new prospect on the horizon: Calgary-based Enbridge has identified the community as the terminus for its proposed Northern Gateway pipeline project to ship bitumen from Alberta’s oil sands to the Pacific coast and, potentially, new markets in Asia.

Northern Gateway — if it goes ahead — will be a groundbreaking project in its own right, a 21st century statement of Canada’s role as a global energy supplier. But getting to that point is far from certain. Whatever technological and business innovation it may represent, the pipeline has become the centre of an iconic debate.

[Miners Unite] Caught ‘off guard’ [by Treaty #3 exploration ban] – by Jodi Lundmark (tbnewswatch.com – April 9, 2012)

April 10, 2012

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/

A call to ban mining and exploration companies from Treaty 3 territories has caught members of Miners United off guard.

“I think there’s been some major misconceptions on what Miners United is trying to do and where it wants to go,” said Gary Clark, executive director of the Ontario Prospector’s Association.

The group, made up of about 60 companies, is newly formed and Clark said they have only met twice so far. That includes a meeting held two weeks ago.

A March 27 report on the meeting by the Globe and Mail said the companies “shared concerns about the concessions and cash they say native bands expect from companies looking for minerals on Crown lands that are considered traditional aboriginal territory.”

The Grand Council of Treaty #3 issued a release on March 30 stating they strongly disagree with the tactics discussed at the Miners United forum.

[Northwestern Ontario] Treaty 3 bans 60 mining companies from territory – by Jon Thompson (Kenora Daily Miner and News – April 5, 2012)

April 6, 2012

http://www.kenoradailyminerandnews.com/

A coalition of junior mining companies who observed “a revolt is taking place” with respect to First Nations consultation is no longer welcome in Treaty 3 traditional territory.

Representatives of Miners United spoke to the Globe and Mail last week, saying the 60-member organization was taking a “hard line” stance on consultation. They accused First Nations of demanding compensation rather than consultation and raising prices for junior companies to explore in their traditional territory.

“We disagree strongly with the hard-line tactics discussed at the Miners United forum,” said Treaty 3 Grand Chief Diane Kelly in a release. “In many instances, Treaty 3 communities have developed strong partnerships with mining companies because of the early commitment of companies to talk with us, build our capacity to understand the projects and the real impacts and potential benefits.”

Kelly called the Miners United statements “hurtful” and “full of stereotypes,” pointing out gold was an important part of negotiations leading up to signing Treaty 3. She argued Grand Council Treaty 3’s definition of consultation defines a constitutionally sound process and was clear Miners United’s member companies “will not be tolerated” in the territory.