The BC Mining Law Reform network welcomes the Declaration Act Action Plan, released by the B.C. government this week. Notably, the plan lays out numerous actions on the self-determination and rights of Indigenous Peoples … and the specific action to “modernize the Mineral Tenure Act in consultation and cooperation with First Nations and First Nations organizations.”
More than seven years after the dam breach at Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley mine, communities and the environment are still at risk from mine waste failures in British Columbia. The province lags behind other jurisdictions in Canada and globally in mine waste storage safety.
First Nations in BC are proactively working towards re-establishing sovereignty over their territories in British Columbia, by introducing and exercising their own law-making authority to regulate and monitor mining on their own lands.
In a new backgrounder report, MiningWatch Canada and the BC Mining Law Reform network conclude that British Columbia fails to meet the Indigenous consent standard for mining, even two years after the passing of the province’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA).
Four out of five British Columbians (80%) would support the BC government creating more protected areas with Indigenous peoples to meet the target of protecting 30% of the land and water by 2030, “even if that means reducing areas available for mining and forestry.”
In a victory for the Tŝilhqot’in Nation, but also for the integrity of environmental assessment processes, the Supreme Court of Canada today dismissed Taseko Mines Ltd.’s application for leave to appeal last year’s Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) ruling about the federal assessment of Taseko’s proposed New Prosperity copper-gold mine in Tŝilhqot’in territory in central British Columbia.
