The Council of Canadians is supporting a run by Caribou Legs across the country to highlight the need to protect water.
He has now run 3,391 kilometres from Vancouver to White River, Ontario with this message.
This morning he witnessed the Barrick Gold Hemlo/ Williams underground and open pit mine, which is located about 350 kilometres east of Thunder Bay.
A CorpWatch report has noted, “The Hemlo Gold Camp is located on the north shore of Lake Superior near Manitouwadge. …Workers at the mines have reported numerous cases of lung ailments at these mines, including some cases of silicosis and sarcoidosis. The company has fought worker compensation claims for these ailments ferociously.”
That report also highlighted, “The First Nations indigenous community that lives downstream from the mine are the Pic River peoples. In 2000, the community reported having to replace their water treatment plant in order to remove cyanide from their drinking water.”
CBC recently reported that the gold for the medals at the Pan Am games in Toronto this summer came from this Hemlo/ Williams mine.
In a video posted to his Facebook page, Caribou Legs says, “I am not pro-mining one bit. As far as I’m concerned, this thing could shut down today.”
Watch the 4-minute video below.
4-minute video posted by Caribou legs
Caribou Legs has another 1,104 kilometres to run to complete his ultra-marathon in Ottawa in mid-September.
For more on Caribou Legs, please click here.
