BC Chiefs stand with TNG against New Prosperity

Courtesy of Vancouver Sun blog section:

The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs will take a stand against Taseko’s New Prosperity Mine at a federal review panel site visit in Teztan Biny (a.k.a Fish Lake) tomorrow, warning that “First Nations are watching closely.”

UBCIC members are visiting the site in a show of support for the Tsilhqot’in Nation on the UN’s International Day of the World’s Indigenous People.

This is the second Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency review for the area. The proposed open pit Taseko site would mine gold and copper.

Chief Bob Chamberlin said in a statement that the New Prosperity Mine “will effectively kill Teztan Biny and will have detrimental, cumulative and long-lasting impacts on the environment, Xeni Gwet’in and Tsilhqot’in families and communities.”

But Williams Lake Mayor Kerry Cook has argued the environmental effects of the mine would be small potatoes in comparison to the economic benefits it would bring to her city.

The proposed billion-dollar New Prosperity Mine was initially approved by the federal government, but rejected by a federal environmental assessment panel in 2010 because of a plan to drain Teztan Biny, a culturally significant spot for the Tsilhqot’in, among other environmental concerns. The federal visit tomorrow is part of a chain of public hearings for a revised mine proposal set to stretch into August.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip called the proposal “significantly deficient.”

“If there is federal government approval of Taseko’s New Prosperity Mine proposal it will signal to Indigenous Peoples across Canada that their values, beliefs, and ways of living will be trampled upon whenever the federal government deems a potential resource development project economically significant,” he said.

“First Nations are watching closely.”