The Council of Canadians Fredericton chapter visited the Sisson Brook today.
Chapter activist Joan Green tells us, “The Fredericton Chapter Council of Canadians & Allies visited The Wolastoq Mothers & Grandmothers who are exercising their inherent rights by moving on to the land at Sisson Brook above Stanley, N.B. Sisson Brook is the site of one of the world’s largest open-pit mines proposed near Stanley on traditional Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) territory. Fredericton COC & Allies were happy to deliver supplies to them & are looking forward to working with them in the future.”
The Council of Canadians is opposed to the proposed Sisson Brook mine in New Brunswick that was approved by the Trudeau government in late-June.
Sisson Brook is a proposed open-pit tungsten and molybdenum mine that would be built at the headwaters of the Nashwaak River on Maliseet territory about 100 kilometres north of Fredericton. The mine would also include an unlined tailings pond and an ore processing plant. Molybdenum is used for warplanes and industrial motors.
This past February, CBC reported, “The Todd Corporation, a 130-year-old company based in Wellington, New Zealand — with remarkable similarities to New Brunswick’s own Irving family enterprises — has emerged as the chief backer of Northcliff Resources Ltd. and the beleaguered Sisson Brook mine it has been attempting to create.”
St. Mary’s First Nation Chief Candice Paul has stated, “We assert Aboriginal title to the area where the mine is being proposed …The mine would destroy this part of our territory, it would never be the same again.” Chief Patricia Bernard of the Madawaska Maliseet First Nation says, “We do not approve and at no point do we approve of that mine.”
Construction on the mine is expected to start in the spring of 2018.
