Mining Conflict and Opposition – Page 78

Mining company [Taseko Mines] asks government not to consider aboriginal spirituality in environmental probe – by Peter O’Neil (Postmedia News – April 30, 2012)

May 1, 2012

http://www.canada.com/index.html

OTTAWA — A Vancouver company pushing the Harper government to reconsider a controversial gold-copper mining project in the B.C. Interior has privately urged Ottawa to ignore aboriginal requests to consider native “spirituality” as a factor in their determination, according to a letter the company sent to Environment Minister Peter Kent.

A new federal environmental review panel “does not have any right to attribute significance to the spirituality of a place per se,” wrote Taseko Mines Ltd. president Russell Hallbauer in a letter obtained under the Access to Information Act and provided to the Vancouver Sun by B.C. independent provincial representative Bob Simpson.

Taseko, which failed in its 2010 bid to get federal approval after a “scathing” federal review, also asked Ottawa to not permit aboriginal prayer ceremonies at pending hearings on the revised proposal.

And children’s plays should also be banned, Hallbauer told Kent in his November letter.

Direct action threat shows fragile peace on Nishnawbi Aski land [Northern Ontario First Nations] – by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – April 26, 2012)

April 28, 2012

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

Remember back in January when all sides were talking about the new relationship between the federal government and First Nations? Phrases like resetting the relationship, unlocking the potential and realizing the promise were being bandied about by everyone involved.

Those days seem like a long time ago. Since then a number of major resource projects have taxed the federal government-First Nations relationship. Paramount is the Northern Gateway pipeline that would bring oilsands bitumen to BC’s west coast, for transport by supertanker to Chinese refineries. Over 50 First Nations oppose that project, including nations with traditional lands all along the pipeline’s route.

Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver lumped together opponents to the pipeline, including First Nations, environmentalists and labour organizations, as “radicals” out to stop all development. He stated publically that these radical groups are being funded by foreign money in order to “undermine Canada’s national economic interest.”

[Goldcorp Latin American] Mine closing sparks concerns – by Kyle Gennings (Timmins Daily Press – April 27, 2012)

April 27, 2012

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

Activists travel from Central America to share concerns at Goldcorp AGM

Here in Timmins we are reminded of mining operations everywhere we look. It’s written on the sides of trucks, headframes thrust into the skyline and shafts driven deep into the Earth. Here, mining means life, prosperity and reason.

For some in Central America, however, they claim mining means many other things: Suffering, loss of independence and sickness. Activists blame mining corporations.

“Goldcorp does not operate in Honduras and Guatemala the way it does in Canada,” said Reina Gamora, a Honduran school teacher and activist, who made the 6,000-kilometre trek to appeal to the hearts and minds of those who understand mining. “They operate through utilizing the corrupt government that operates in Honduras. They ignore the human rights and environmental impacts their operations have.”

Gamora and two colleagues made the trip to appeal to the shareholders in Goldcorp at the firm’s annual general meeting in Timmins on Thursday. They want to ensure proper cleanup measures are taken as the San Martin mine undergoes its closure process.

A regulatory burden lifted but opposition remains – by Gary Mason (Globe and Mail – April 19, 2012)

April 19, 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.

Governing is so much more fun with a majority, as Prime Minister Stephen Harper reminds us every day. Opposition parties can yell and scream all they want, but the Conservatives don’t have to listen. They can kill the long-gun registry and bring in an omnibus crime bill and simply plug their ears when Liberals and New Democrats get up in the House of Commons to complain.

The latest move by the federal government to upset the Opposition is a plan to streamline – some would say neuter – the environmental assessment process. The Conservatives have been telegraphing this one for a while.

Mr. Harper has staked the economic future of the country on the resource riches of The West, and why not? In particular, the Prime Minister is focused on helping Alberta get its crude to market as quickly as possible. Future federal budget surpluses depend on it.

In the Prime Minister’s home province of Alberta, they still talk about the Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline project, which ultimately died, in part because of a burdensome regulatory assessment process that dragged on for years.

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.