LandKeepers News Archive
First Nations Demand Mining Reform in Wake of Harvard Law Report
June 07 2010 | Media Releases
NEWS RELEASE
First Nations Demand Mining Reform in Wake of Harvard Law Report
Independent human rights study details unjust B.C and federal mining laws
Monday June 7, 2010: Takla Lake Traditional Territory/Takla Landing, B.C – The BC and
federal governments must heed the recommendations contained in a just-released Harvard Law
School report on the impacts of an “unjust” government mining regime on Takla Lake and First
Nations across BC, Chief Dolly Abraham of the Takla Lake First Nation said today.
The 200-page study was initiated and funded entirely by Harvard’s International Human Rights
Clinic and is its first involving indigenous peoples in Canada. It details how mining laws are
stacked against Takla Lake and other First Nations in BC, describing them as in contravention of
international and constitutional law, overly favourable to industry, lacking in fair compensation,
and in need of “urgent law reform.”
“For example, the provincial government’s lack of action on historic and abandoned mining sites,
such as the contaminated Bralorne mercury mine and the environmental impacts of numerous
past exploration sites, have resulted in roads and contaminated waste strewn across our traditional
territory,” she said. “BC promised to help us clean up the legacy contamination from the mining
industry, and yet no progress has been made. At the same time, BC is constantly approving
exploration projects in our territory while paying little attention to our concerns”.
“When these historic impacts are combined with today’s intense exploration, you start to see
large scale damages to our land and we are still not consulted or compensated for this,” said Chief
Abraham, who noted Takla has still not been compensated by the province for the massive
Kemess South open-pit mine, which has generated huge revenues for the BC government over the
years.
“Premier Campbell and the province must heed the call for reform and sit down with First
Nations to get it done, and the federal government must start living up to its international
commitments and its own laws to ensure our rights are protected,” said Chief Abraham, who is a
member of BC’s First Nations Women Advocating Responsible Mining (FNWARM).
FNWARM Chairperson Anne Marie Sam said: “We commend Takla Lake First Nation for
cooperating with this detailed study and Harvard for devoting its resources to this analysis of the
human rights issues that our members and other First Nations across BC continue to experience.
“This report exposes the rights violations and other infringements we experience as a result of
unjust and outdated pro-industry BC mining laws, and the failure of the federal government to
meet its duties to us as defined in its international agreements and the Canadian constitution,”
said Ms. Sam, a band councilor with the Nak’azdli First Nation, which is challenging the Mt.
Milligan mine in its traditional territory because of the lack of meaningful consultation and
environmental concerns.
“The provincial government has to reform its impoverished attitude toward First Nations’
concerns with mining in BC, starting with the free entry system, which must be
abolished, and online mineral staking,” said Ms. Sam. “The environmental review process is
another major issue, and must be revised to fully address Aboriginal interests through joint
decision making.”
The Harvard study found that mining “frequently prevents First Nations from using their
traditional lands for subsistence and cultural practices and causes significant environmental
harm,” and that First Nations generally “bear an unfair burden at every point in the mining
process,” from registration of claims to exploration, production, and abandonment of closed sites.
It also found that current safeguards for First Nations and the environment in fact “favor the
industry they are designed to regulate.” For example, the study highlights how the online mineral
staking system, similar to British Columbia’s free entry system, gives miners legal access to First
Nations lands without any specific requirement to consult or accommodate them.
The report says that despite the unfair burden that mining places upon First Nations they “do not
always reap economic benefits” from the sector. It also states the province’s mining regime fails
to live up to international laws and treaties that Canada has signed or domestic law, thereby
leaving First Nations without the proper protection that these laws are intended to provide.
The report, “Bearing the Burden: The Effects of Mining on First Nations in British Columbia,”
was authored by Bonnie Docherty, an expert on international human rights law and a lecturer
with Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic, and a team of her students.
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View the report at: http://law.harvard.edu/programs/hrp/BearingTheBurden.pdf. Or go to
http://www.fnwarm.ca for more information and background.
Media Inquiries/Interviews:
Chief Dolly Abraham: Contact Dave Radies, Takla Lake Mining Coordinator at 604-921-2024 or
250-961-1614
Anne Marie Sam, FNWARM Chair: 250-996-7171.
Chief Abraham and Ms. Sam – Ottawa contact: Sean Durkan. 613-851-2151
Author Bonnie Docherty: Contact Cara Solomon at 617-495-9214 / .
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