Photo by Murray Bush.
Council of Canadians activists protested at the Imperial Metals annual shareholders meeting in Richmond yesterday morning.
Imperial Metals is the Vancouver-based company responsible for the Mount Polley mine tailings pond dam failure in August 2014 that spilled about 25 million cubic metres of water laden with arsenic, lead and copper into nearby waterways and lakes in Secwepemc Territory in central British Columbia. Grand Chief Stewart Phillip has stated, “Like the Exxon Valdez, Mount Polley will be synonymous with one of the most disastrous environmental events in British Columbia.” The mine has resumed its operations, notably with the provincial government in March granting the company permission to discharge further untreated mine site runoff into Hazeltine Creek and Quesnel Lake until July 31.
The Vancouver Media Co-op reports, “[Shareholders] were met with a noisy demonstration opposed to Imperial’s catastrophic Mount Polley Mine tailings spill – the largest mining disaster in British Columbia history. So far they have not cleaned up their toxic tailings spill and have resumed mining operations. RCMP tried unsuccessfully to shield shareholders from questions and comments from the crowd.”
Council of Canadians organizers Harjap Grewal and AJ Klein took part in this protest along with “activists and members of Indigenous Land Defenders, Ancestral Pride, Secwepemc Women’s Warrior Society and No One Is Illegal”.
On May 3, the Canadian Press reported, “British Columbia’s auditor general has delivered a scathing report that concludes the government is not properly prepared to protect the environment from potential disasters in the mining industry. …[The report] ‘An Audit of Compliance and Enforcement of the Mining Sector’, took two years to complete, and it questions whether the province can properly protect the environment from risks posed by mines. It says almost all expectations for government compliance and enforcement in the mining industry are not being met.”
The Vancouver Sun adds, “The [Mount Polley] tailings dam failure looms large in [Auditor General Carol Bellringer’s] report, not least because it happened when staff from the office of the auditor general had already begun to audit compliance and enforcement by the ministry. …The collapse of the tailings dam was triggered by weakness in the foundation that had gone undetected for years. But, as well-documented in a 2015 report from a panel of engineering experts, the structure might have survived the slumping of its foundation, were it not for other failings ranging from too much water buildup in the tailings pond to a too-steep slope on the dam face.”
Also, in June 2015 the Globe and Mail noted, “The [BC First Nations Energy and Mining Council] has, for the first time, mapped out the 35 active mine tailings ponds [on 48 key watersheds] in the northern half of the province and traced the potential paths of contaminants from dam failures at any of those sites. The survey found that 80 per cent of the chinook and sockeye salmon in the region are either downstream from a tailings facility or would migrate up a river that could be contaminated. It also concluded that there are risks to the drinking water of 33 First Nations and 208 other communities, including Prince George, Smithers and Terrace.”
Organizers of yesterday’s protest against Imperial Metals stated the company is “engaging in mining practices and operations that are in direct opposition to the protocols and inherent rights and title of the Secwepemc, Ahousaht, Tla-o-qui-aht, Wet’suwet’en, and Tahltan First Nations.” In February 2013, the Secwepemc issued a Sacred Water Declaration that states, “As Secwepemc, we are collectively responsible to take care of our land and water, to uphold all of our responsibilities and follow our Natural Laws, as was passed down to us from Tqelt Kukpi7 and our ancestors. Therefore, we will not, under any condition, compromise the health of our water and our future generations.”
Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow has stated, “In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly recognized the human right to water and sanitation. As a result, there are now three obligations that governments must follow: the obligation to respect, protect and fulfill.” The obligation to protect means that drinking water should be protected from being polluted from mine tailing ponds. The provincial government of British Columbia is failing in its responsibility to uphold this right.
#imperialnomore
