Friends of Nemaiah Valley - May 22, 2012

Hello all Friends of Friends of the Nemaiah Valley;

For the 10th year in a row, FONV is pleased to announce a speaker as part of our Annual General Meeting.

When: Monday, June 4th, 8:00 p.m.
Where: Garry Oak Room, Fairfield Community Centre, 1335 Thurlow Road, Victoria, B.C.

This year, we are pleased that Jay Nelson, a lawyer with Woodward and Company since 2002, has agreed to be our speaker. Jay is committed to assisting First Nations in achieving recognition of their Aboriginal rights, through education and awareness, consultation and accommodation, negotiated settlements and, where necessary, litigation.

Jay graduated from the University of Victoria Faculty of Law in 2000, where he received the Law Society Gold Medal. Upon graduation, he served as a law clerk for the Chief Justice of Canada, Beverley McLachlin. Jay then joined Woodward and Company and has spent the following years as a member of the legal team for the Xeni Gwet’in First Nation and the Tsilhqot’in Nation in their historic Aboriginal title and rights claim, Tsilhqot’in Nation v. British Columbia.

With co-counsel  Sean Nixon, Jay acted  for the Tsilhqot’in Nation in their opposition to the proposed Prosperity Gold-Copper Mine, which was rejected by the Federal Government in November 2010. He appeared as co-counsel on behalf of Tsilhqot’in Nation in the Tsilhqot’in Nation appeals argued before the B.C. Court of Appeal in November 2010.

Last December, while acting as counsel for the Tsilhqot’in National Government, Jay successfully argued that the Tsilhqot’in people were not properly consulted before the B.C. government granted two work permits to Taseko. Subsequently Judge Grauer granted the Tsilhqot’in National Government an injunction against Taseko Mines Ltd. coming onto their territory. Since then, the TNG allowed Taseko to proceed with exploration in order to do work required for their Environmental Impact Statement.

Jay will give us an update of what’s happening with the “New” Prosperity Mine project and the coming CEAA process. This should be of great interest to anyone who has been following this ill-conceived proposal as it goes forward for a second round of hearings.

This talk is free and open to the public.  Please share.

Cheers,
FONV
info@fonv.ca

Winnipeg Free Press - January 29, 2012

CNW Canada News Wire - January 23, 2012 3:36 PM

CNW Canada News Wire - January 23, 2012

Friends of Nemaiah Valley - December 3, 2011

Hello All Friends of Friends of the Nemaiah Valley;

Good news! The Tsilhqot’in people win!

On Friday, December 2, 2011, Judge Gruaer granted the Tsilhqot’in National Government an injunction against Taseko Mines Ltd. coming onto their territory. TNG’s lawyer, Jay Nelson (Woodward and Co.), successfully argued that the Tsilhqot’in people were not properly consulted before the B.C. government granted two work permits to Taseko. At the same time, Taseko lost their injunction application to force the TNG to stop blocking the mine company’s access.

Ts’il?os, the great and sacred mountain that watches over the Nemaiah Valley and the Tsilhqot’in people of Xeni Gwet’in, continues to protect Nabas and Teztan Biny. In their fight to protect their lands, the Tsilhqot’in people have gone to the Canadian courts time and again.Time and again they have won for the facts are that these lands, in the Caretaker areas of the Xeni Gwet’in and Yunesit’in Tsilhqot’in communities, have never been ceded or given up through treaty or any other means. It is deep within Tsilhqot’in culture and way of life that the land, above all, must be protected against inappropriate activities like industrial logging, mining and dam building.

“New Prosperity” mine would destroy, Little Fish Lake, Fish Creek and Nabas, and ultimately Fish Lake. It would imperil the Taseko River and the provinces great Fraser River salmon runs. It is an enterprise that must never be realized. Ts’il?os and the Tsilhqot’in people know this.

In Judge Vicker’s Rights and Title ruling of 2007, he found that, “…. to the Tsilhqot’in First Nation, the land is inseparable from their history and tradition and, as a people, the Xeni Gwet’in have “the sacred duty to protect the nen (land) …..on behalf of the Tsilhqot’in people.”

The injunction will be in force until a judicial review over the provincial government permits can be heard.

Support for this fight has been constant and growing. Drummers and singers, speakers and representatives from Tsilhqot’in communities, along with dozens of other supporters from the UBCIC and environmental organizations and concerned citizens, have been rallying outside the Vancouver court house all week along to bear witness to this case. Each morning court was in session, people have been praying and drumming in Tsilhqot’in communities far from Vancouver.  The depth and strength of opposition to this project is overwhelming.

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TSILHQOT’IN WELCOME INJUNCTION AGAINST TASEKO MINES LTD

Williams Lake BC, Fri. Dec. 2, 2011: The Tsilhqot’in rejoices with the decision by Justice Grauer to grant an injunction to prohibit Taseko Mines Ltd from performing exploration work on Tsilhqot’in traditional lands. This is another victory in the fight to preserve these pristine and sacred lands and waters.

A judicial review will commence scrutinizing the work permits granted to the company by the Province.

“Today’s decision signifies the assertion of our request for deep and meaningful consultation. This is an important judgement that sets the tone for industry and the B.C. Government when dealing with other First Nations,” said Tsilhqot’in Tribal Chair Joe Alphonse.

“We have already soundly defeated this mine proposal once, and the option now being pursued has already been declared worse than the original plan. We are frustrated to be faced with an Environmental Assessment again but we need to be adequately engaged to assist with the determination of what is exactly necessary with the least amount of disturbance for

Xeni Gwet’in Chief Marilyn Baptiste called on the Provincial Government to save taxpayer’s and the Tsilhqot’in from further legal expenses by withdrawing the exploration permits and beginning a new consultation process that is accountable and ensures deep and meaningful consultation.

“Much good will has been wasted with this attempt to bring this terrible project back from the dead, but some of that might be restored if the Province were to end its efforts to help the company bulldoze more than 20 kilometres of new roads and drill dozens of new holes in pursuit of an option everyone knows it worse than the plan we defeated last year. The government   Binyand company need to prove, not only to the Tsilhqot’in, but to the public, that this destruction is even necessary for the EA process. In this regard we’ll continue to stand strong and united.”

Chief Alphonse added: “It would clearly be better for everyone – for our Nation, for the mining industry and for governments, for investors – if Taseko Mines were to withdraw this highly confrontational and clearly doomed resubmission and allow us all to focus on more productive ideas and talks.

“First Nations across the country have a reason to be concerned. If this can happen to us, in an area where an Aboriginal Title decision is being awaited, then what can we expect elsewhere?”

Media contact: Chief Marilyn Baptiste 250-267-1401 Chief Joe Alphonse 250-305-8282

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Media coverage and more background here: Taseko hears about province’s failure to consult (Stockwatch) and B.C. court issues injunction to stop exploration at the proposed New Prosperity Mine  (Vancouver Sun)

The injunction win awarded costs to be paid by the TNG to Taseko, the “injured party”.  Court proceedings are very costly to communities with limited financial resources. Please conside making a donation to R.A.V.E.N. (tax deductible) for “Fish Lake” or to the TNG Defense Fund.

FONV
info@fonv.ca

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Hello All Friends of Friends of the Nemaiah Valley;

1.  Message from the Council of Canadians:
Support the Tsilhqot’in in Court
DEFEND TSILHQOT’IN LANDS AGAINST TASEKO MINES LTD

Friday, November 18th
Rally @ 9:00 AM
BC Law Courts
Gathering Corner of Hornby & Nelson

“This past weekend Taseko Mines Ltd. (TML) attempted to begin exploration near Teztan Biny (Fish Lake) on un-ceded Tsilhqot’in Territories. The company was asked to leave the territory & on Monday November 14th the Tsilhqot’in Nation filed for an injunction “to halt its plans for extensive road-building, drilling, excavation of test pits, and timber clearing in support of its unprecedented and controversial resubmitted bid for approval of its soundly rejected Prosperity Mine project.”

“TML is attempting to begin work on the territories knowing that they will not get approval from the federal government for at least 12 months, and without the consent of the Tsilhqot’in. The company proceeded to apply for their own injunction on November 15th against members of the Tsilhqot’in Nation that will be heard at the BC Law Courts on November 18th.

“We are asking you to come support the Tsilhqot’in while the attempt to defend their territories against devastation by this so-called “new” mining proposal.

“The company now claims they won’t drain Teztan Biny or Fish Lake, however the new tailings pond it is planning to build will destroy two other bodies of water that are vital to the survival Teztan Biny. “Fish Lake will still be on life support and die a slower death” says Chief Marilyn of the Xeni Gwet’in, one of six Tsilhqot’in communities.

“It is unimaginable that a company is allowed to threaten Teztan Biny in pursuit of a proposal that both the CEAA and Taseko have acknowledged is more environmentally damaging than the proposal that was already rejected last year. “The company is on record admitting this new option is worse than the one that was rejected last year, and a CEAA review panel has already agreed with that assessment,” said Chief Joe Alphonse, Chair of the Tsilhqot’in National Government, which represents six First Nations. “To proceed any further will place an unjustified burden on us and on taxpayers and will demonstrate the excessive influence that this company, its lobbyists and hired guns have on government.”

“Join us outside the BC Law Courts on November 18th to stand solidarity with the Tsilhqot’in Nation in defense of their land, water & right to self determination.”

FONV will be there.

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2.  As you know, the CEAA is proceeding with a Panel review of the “New” Prosperity Mine project. FONV is fully in support of having the original 3 member Panel recalled to conduct these hearings. They are fully conversant with all the details regarding the mine development and would be best able to quickly and efficiently make an informed decision. Please contact Elaine Feldman - President of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency at
elaine.feldman@ceaa-acee.gc.ca to let her know you want the original Panel to hear this review.

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3.  In “Why Culture Matters: Prosperity Mine’s Impacts on the People and Land of the Nemaiah Valley”, FONV President writes, “Culture matters. These voices bring an important message. Indigenous cultures and languages are vital repositories of knowledge and custom that show a thousand ways to be human. Indigenous cultures, and a way of life still strong in the Nemaiah Valley, can teach us all how better to live in this land. Until we learn to show respect for the land, and for them, we will continue an ethic of endless growth that is having cumulative environmental impacts that threaten the very ecosystems that make life on this planet possible……It is time to put an end to this colonialist venture if Canada is to maintain even the pretence of being a just nation.”

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4.  A new poll by the Sierra Club of B.C. reveals that the majority of people in B.C. want our mining rules to change:  “The poll found that 73 percent of British Columbians believe the Fish Lake case shows that B.C.’s environmental assessment process needs to be strengthened. It also found that 82 percent of British Columbians are opposed to the practice of allowing mining companies to fill fish-bearing lakes with mine waste. More than 60 percent support more mining regulations and environmental oversight, even if it slows growth, compared to 25.5 percent who want to make it easier for mining to expand. Fewer than 10 percent think mining companies should continue to be allowed to stake claims and explore on private property without permission.”

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5.  FONV is pleased to have met with Dr. Luisa Maffi of Terralingua (Unity in Biocultural Diversity)and to learn about the “Voices of the Earth” project.  Together with Linda Smith of Yunesit’in, Terralingua “is establishing a partnership with the Tsilhqot’in People of the interior of British Columbia, Canada, to support the first steps in the development of a long-term community effort to document and revitalize Tsilhqot’in oral traditions.

“The project will have a special focus on places of historic and spiritual significance in the Tsilhqot’in traditional territory. Tsilhqot’in community members who are committed to rekindle their language and culture will work with their Elders to record historic narratives about the land and people’s presence on and use of it, including traditional knowledge of foods and medicines, traditional survival skills, sacred sites and ceremonies—all of which are bound together in oral ways of thinking. The materials will be used for language and culture revitalization efforts, educational curriculum, and land title and rights cases.”

You can find out more about this exciting initiative here: Voices of the Earth:  Documenting and Revitalizing Indigenous Oral Traditions.

FONV
info@fonv.ca

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Terralingua - Unity in Biocultural Diversity - November 13, 2011

Tsilhqot’in

Helena Myers (Yuneŝit’in) harvesting cambium from a lodgepole pine. Photo by Linda Smith, 2011

“The Elders have spoken
What happens to nature, to water and air will soon happen to mankind
Respect the land and take care of it, in turn, it will take care of you
Whatever you do to earth, you also do to your children
The power of the earth works in circles, the seasons as well as human understanding.”
—as told by Douglas Myers

The project

Mount Tatlow, Photo by Luisa Maffi, 2011

Terralingua is establishing a partnership with the Tsilhqot’in People of the interior of British Columbia, Canada, to support the first steps in the development of a long-term community effort to document and revitalize Tsilhqot’in oral traditions.

The project will have a special focus on places of historic and spiritual significance in the Tsilhqot’in traditional territory. Tsilhqot’in community members who are committed to rekindle their language and culture will work with their Elders to record historic narratives about the land and people’s presence on and use of it, including traditional knowledge of foods and medicines, traditional survival skills, sacred sites and ceremonies—all of which are bound together in oral ways of thinking. The materials will be used for language and culture revitalization efforts, educational curriculum, and land title and rights cases.

The Tsilhqot’in People and their language: Overcoming the odds

The Tsilhqot’in People, or People of the Red-Ochre River, belong to the Athapascan language family. They live in their traditional territory in the high Chilcotin Plateau of south-central British Columbia. The plateau, which is drained by the Fraser River and its tributaries, is a wide wilderness region surrounded by high mountain ranges and dotted with several glacial lakes. The landscape is dominated by the majestic Mount Tatlow (Ts’ilʔs), a sacred mountain that is the object of many Tsilhqot’in oral traditions.

Jeffan Smith and fish weir made by Christine Lulua, Jididžay 2009 Photo by Linda Smith

The Tsilhqot’in Nation is subdivided into six different communities, each with its own dialect: the Yunesit’n Gwet’in, Xeni Gwet’in, Esdilagh Gwet’in, Tl’esqox Gwet’in, Tl’etinqox Gwet’in, and Tsi Del Del Gwet’in. Their communities are located about 100-200 km west of the city of Williams Lake. As in other parts of Canada and elsewhere, the Tsilhqot’in were subjected to the assimilative actions of the government, the church, and the educational system, which prohibited the use of their language and the performance of many of their cultural traditions. Perhaps due to the relative remoteness of their region, the Tsilhqot’in were able in part to maintain closer links to their ancestral way of life. A number of them still practice, to varying degrees, their traditional subsistence lifestyle based on hunting, fishing, and gathering. Small-scale horse and cattle ranching is also common. Various traditional crafts, such as tanning hides, making buckskin garments, beading, and basket weaving, are still practiced.

Yet, there has been much change, too. Large-scale logging, ranching, and mining have already scarred the landscape of the Chilcotin Plateau. “In the Aboriginal understanding of nature, in the myths and legends, the understanding starts with roots, four-legged, wings, fins, insects, stars, and ends with the two-legged. Why destroy the most interesting nature we are born with?”, says Douglas Myers, a Tsilhqot’in Elder.

Now, a culturally important part of the Chilcotin region is threatened by a proposed copper and gold mining development. This proposed mine would forever transform a lake-studded area known to the Tsilhqot’in as Nabas. Nabas is found within the traditional caretaking area shared by the Yunesit’in and Xeni Gwet’in communities, who have had a long-term cultural association with it, as attested by numerous archeological sites and historic cabins. The initial plan for the mine involved draining one of the fish-bearing lakes located in the Nabas area (Fish Lake) to use the basin for storage of mining waste, and turning another one (Little Fish Lake) into a tailings pond. The mining company proposed to “mitigate the damage” to the Tsilhqot’in by creating an artificial lake (ironically to be called “Prosperity Lake”) and stocking it with fish. The Canadian federal government rejected the proposed project in view of its expected environmental and cultural impact. However, the company has submitted a revised plan that, while sparing Fish Lake, would still destroy Little Fish Lake and the surrounding area. The Tsilhqot’in People continue their decades-long land title and rights case related to this mining proposal.  The Federal Environmental Assessment Process provided an opportunity to further document their historic presence in the Nabas area and their material and spiritual connections with it is a crucial aspect of their effort to affirm their right in this case.

Little Fish Lake, Photo by Luisa Maffi, 2011

These and other development pressures are placing the Tsilhqot’in language and culture at risk. The incidence of social problems is growing in the communities, especially among youth. Today, while many adults are still fluent in the Tsilhqot’in language and culture, and a few are completely monolingual, intergenerational transmission has been largely interrupted. A Language Needs Assessment carried out in Yunesit’in in 2005 revealed that over the preceding decade the percentage of Tsilhqot’in speakers in the community had decreased by 50%. The average age of fluent speakers is 50 years, and many of the most knowledgeable elders are advanced in age. What’s more, parents of young children mostly do not use Tsilhqot’in in the home. “Should this trend continue the language will be dead within one generation”, concludes Linda Smith, a Tsilhqot’in Elder and linguist who has devoted her life to documenting her language and cultural traditions.

There are some Tsilhqot’in language and culture programs and activities in the schools as well as occasional cultural camps, singing and drumming circles, and other related activities for adults in the communities. As yet, however, there has not been a concerted effort to support systematic language documentation and recording of oral literature, aside from some academic research and the dedicated efforts of individual community members such as Linda Smith. Further, while some oral histories relevant to land boundaries and land use have been gathered in connection with the mining court case, there is a gap in eliciting the spiritual significance of important places in the landscape. Much more needs to be done to overcome the odds.

Photo by Luisa Maffi, 2011

The Yunesit’in and Xeni Gwet’in communities, in particular, have expressed a special interest in documenting and revitalizing their language and oral traditions for future generations. They wish for the materials to be gathered and archived so that all Tsilhqot’in can have access to them for the purpose of learning their ancestral knowledge, as well as for developing educational curriculum. Documenting traditional knowledge and uses of the land also serves to support land preservation and land title and rights cases. A long-term goal is to create a Cultural and Healing Center to offer ongoing teachings and training in traditional values, knowledge, and skills. The partnership that Terralingua is establishing with the Yunesit’in and Xeni Gwet’in communities will allow for this vital process to get off the ground.

Further Resources:

Video: Blue Gold: The Tsilhqot’in Fight for Teztan Biny (Fish Lake)

Friends of Nemaiah Valley

http://www.terralingua.org/voicesoftheearth/tsilhqotin/

The Common Sense Canadian - November 11, 2011

(CLICK the link at bottom of page for comments to article)

Written by David Williams

A Xeni Gwet’in woman fishes Teztan Biny (“Fish Lake”) - photo courtesy of FONV.ca  

Editor’s Note: In the wake of two major developments regarding the highly controversial proposed Prosperity Mine - the Harper Government’s decision to provide Taseko Mines a new environmental review for an alternate version of the project and the BC government’s issuing of road building and exploration permits to the company, over First Nations opposition - David Williams of Friends of Nemaiah Valley provides a candid summary of the enormous environmental and cultural implications of the proposed mine. This is the first story from our new op-ed blog, Your Voice.

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Earlier this week, we at Friends of the Nemaiah Valley (FONV) heard that the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) has agreed to conduct an environmental assessment of Taseko Mines Ltd. (TML) proposed “New Prosperity” mine application in Tsilhqot’in territory.

This unfortunate decision is misguided for many reasons. This is the third try by TML to develop this mine, one of the largest gold/copper deposits in British Columbia. It was turned down twice in the recent past because the environmental consequences would be too great. Even by Taseko’s own admission during hearings last year, this “tweaked” proposal, then known as Option II, would have even worse environmental consequences than the one rejected by the federal government.

While there are environmental reasons to reject this mine – it is in prime grizzly habitat, will destroy a large rainbow trout population, and threatens large salmon runs that are part of the Fraser River fishery – it is the impact it will have on the local Xeni Gwet’in community in the Nemaiah Valley that I want to focus on.

Picture a “camp” of up to 600 miners placed into a remote First Nations Community that is still largely dependent upon the land for sustenance and identity. This camp will be in place for up to 35 years.  250 Xeni Gwet’in, the People of the Rivers, live in the Nemaiah Valley alongside a small settler community of about fifty people. The latter operate small ranches, run wilderness lodges, fish, hunt and trap, and just like the way of life that prevails here.

Xeni Gwet’in, like indigenous people everywhere, identify with their land. They see themselves as part of it and view any action that destroys any part of it as an assault upon their very being. These days Tsihqot’in culture is recovering from the onslaughts of the colonial era; displacement from places they have relied upon for survival for virtually forever, the reserve system, and residential schools that were designed to destroy their language and culture. That recovery is well advanced in the Nemaiah Valley.  Fully 50% of the food consumed comes directly from the land and includes salmon and trout from Nabas.

Consequently they have the lowest diabetes rate in British Columbia. The Tsilhqot’in language, almost lost a few years ago, is now taught in the local school. Peter Brand, Director of the brilliant First Voices programme, says that of all the places he visits across the province the Nemaiah Valley Xeni Gwet’in live closest to their traditional way of life.

An ethic of caring for their land lies deep within the culture.

Chief Marilyn is one of three Xeni Gwet’in co-authors interviewed by Jonaki Bhattacharyya, doctoral candidate at the University of Waterloo. (It’s Who We Are: Locating Cultural Strength in Relationship with the Land, a chapter in a forthcoming book published by UBC Press).

“You need to teach about the importance of caring for water and resources as early as you can! And that’s how the language is learned.

The Tsilhqot’in language is where the deepest strength of who we are and how we’re tied to the land really is.”

Speaking of the panel hearings into Prosperity Mine specifically specifically Marilyn says:

“Our community here, Xeni Gwet’in…we went into the CEAA Panel hearings thinking that we weren’t going to have enough speakers. That was always the fear in all the communities. Because that is a very threatening, intimidating process! Even to us, as leaders!  But…our people did just tremendously.  It would blow your socks off! Our Elders, our people…just being there, filling the room all those days, and being here those long hours. You couldn’t chase them away if you wanted to. They’d probably chase you away! [laughs] And our youth, the school, all of the kids… The senior class decided to do some submissions.  They did a beautiful job. And the intermediate class, they did a play. That was so amazing! They did such a tremendous job. The strength and the voices of everybody in the Tsilhqot’in communities…”

From the same chapter by Bhattacharyya, Xeni Gwet’in Wild Horse Ranger David Setah: 

“I think in order to give, to find that strength…your kids should also know their past, your past histories… all that about being caretakers, Chilcotin War, all the legends. All that will lead them to who they are. And all that will strengthen them, because they know that they are actually Tsilhqot’ins, and they know their history. And they can go out there being proud because they know they’re connected to that area.

That’s one of my biggest goals is that we’re being caretakers. We’ve done it in the past, and with European contact and things like that, we can still do it. We must still keep in mind that we need to protect our rights. If we keep on in that fashion we’re just building ourselves a stronger nation, and it would be pretty hard for something to come in to affect us. The land is… to remain as a nation and to be recognized as a nation you need the land. We need to take care of the land. That’s what we did a long time ago.  And that’s why we’re situated in the areas that we are: to take care of the land.”
 
Culture matters. These voices bring an important message. Indigenous cultures and languages are vital repositories of knowledge and custom that show a thousand ways to be human. Indigenous cultures, and a way of life still strong in the Nemaiah Valley, can teach us all how better to live in this land. Until we learn to show respect for the land, and for them, we will continue an ethic of endless growth that is having cumulative environmental impacts that threaten the very ecosystems that make life on this planet possible.

The people of Xeni are not unsophisticated. They and their settler neighbours and friends were  opposed to Prosperity Mine last year. The new model is no better or even worse. They know what 600 miners running loose in their community will do to their way of life, to their land, and to their children. Drugs, alcohol and abuse will be an inevitable component. Mechanized recreation on a vast scale will destroy budding attempts by the community to build a local economy centred around wilderness and cultural tourism. There is plenty of precedent for similar disasters throughout Canada and in third world countries.

It is time to put an end to this colonialist venture if Canada is to maintain even the pretence of being a just nation.

David Williams is the President of Friends of the Nemaiah Valley

http://thecanadian.org//your-voice/item/1152-why-culture-matters-impacts-prosperity-mine-taseko-nemaiah-valley-fish-lake-tsilhqotin

Pacific Free Press - October 19, 2011

The Prosperity Mine issue has been re-opened with a vengeance!

by FONVHello All Friends of Friends of the Nemaiah Valley: At this moment Tsilhqotin National Government (TNG) Tribal Chair Joe Alphonse, Tsilhqot’in Chiefs Marilyn Baptiste and Frances Laceese, along with Grand Chief Stuart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, are in Ottawa. They are accompanied by Councillor Roger William and TNG staff and expect to be joined by Regional Chief Jody Wilson-Raybould of the National Assembly of First Nations.
Federal officials meet with Tsilhqot’in leaders and band members at Yanah Biny/Little Fish Lake earlier this month (Nate Einbinder)

They will be holding a Press conference in the Parliamentary Press Gallery following meetings with federal ministers and deputy ministers, as well as staff of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, as they try to prevent any further time and money being spent on this very flawed proposal.

TNG News Release Here: cnw.ca/WG7X

Once again, the Tsilhqot’in people find themselves fighting this battle despite the fact that the federal government has found this mine to be unacceptable on many grounds and that it has been consistently opposed by the Tslhqot’in people and non-government organizations like FONV and an overwhelming portion of the public,
Taseko Mines Ltd. (TML) is trumpeting that the new proposal will “save” Teztan Biny/Fish Lake, will answer the concerns the original CEAA Panel had with regard to grizzly bears, and will create many billions of dollars revenue for the government.

The truth lies elsewhere. The “New” Prosperity Mine is nothing more than Alternative #2 that has already been determined to be environmentally worse than the original proposal. Taseko itself said that it was worse and the Panel agreed. This is well documented. Alternative #2 will destroy Yanah Biny/Little Fish Lake, Fish Creek and the entire Nabas region as a viable, functioning ecosystem. It will eliminate 81% of Teztan Biny’s spawning habitat.

Furthermore,at the end of the proposed life of the mine in 21 years, 50% of the resource (gold and copper) will still be in the ground, much of it under Teztan Biny. At that point, Teztan Biny will have to be destroyed to get at the ore and this will then become a 33 year mine. Taseko admitted as much during the last round of hearings:

“As commodity prices increase, as the potential pit increases, it increases out, radially out towards the lake. So that as commodity prices increase…..you reach a point where you actually impact Fish Lake and you lose Fish Lake….And then maximizing the extraction of the resource, you’ve lost the lake.” (Scott Jones, V.P. Engineering, TML).

New claims by Taseko of huge economic benefits appear to be based on highly speculative estimates of growth in which indirect spending accounts for over 50% of the projected benefits. We became used to this from this company during the last go ‘round when wild and ever increasing claims went unexamined by government and were finally punctured by economist Dr. Marvin Shaffer. Neither do Taseko figures take into account the very real economic losses that will ensue to a growing wilderness tourism industry and the potentially huge losses to our fisheries as the mine is located at the Fraser River headwaters.

A legacy of this mine will be tragic cultural loss for Tsilhqot’in people and social disorder in the form of 500 and more miners imposed on a small and remote community. In 33 years most of the people who will then be “allowed” to return to the area for the food resources and cultural practices they have carried on there for millenia will have joined their ancestors, some of whom are buried where this mine will be.

The new mine does nothing to mitigate the loss of grizzly habitat, nor does it respect the rights of Tsilhqot’in people whose rights and title case was appealed a year ago. A decision by the B.C. Court of Appeal is imminent. This may grant title to this area or, at the least, confirm the aboriginal rights that Justice Vickers found pertained here almost exactly four years ago.  Meanwhile, Taseko continues to ask for road building and tree clearing permits all around Teztan Biny before any review commences.

The federal government has just announced severe cuts to the CEAA under a new round of economic restraint. Does it make sense to now embark on a costly enterprise to re-examine a mine proposal that has already been determined to be environmentally unacceptable by this same Agency and by this same government?

It is clearly long past time for this company, Taseko Mines Ltd., to call it a day. They have imposed great stress and hardship on Tsilhqot’in people. They have cost the public treasury millions of dollars in repeated attempts to push the mine through, all the time being encouraged by a provincial government whose own environmental review process has been proved to be little more than a rubber stamp to resource projects.

By November 7th. the CEAA will decide whether to grant a full environmental review – once again – to this project. We ask you to join us and other environmental groups across Canada in condemning this mine proposal by calling your MP and MLA and demanding an end to this charade.

OCTOBER 19, 2011
David Williams, President
Friends of the Nemaiah Valley

http://www.pacificfreepress.com/news/1/9976-return-of-the-fish-lake-gold-miners.html