Chamber of Mines News Briefs – July 1-2, 2013 [Note: News Headlines Are Hyperlinked to Their Stories in This Document.] NUNAVUT NEWS
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Chamber of Mines News Briefs – July 1-2, 2013 [Note: News headlines are hyperlinked to their stories in this document.] NUNAVUT NEWS ........................................................................................................................................... 1 Nunavut faces at Expo Labrador ............................................................................................................... 1 NWT NEWS .................................................................................................................................................... 2 Métis caribou ruling sets legal precedent in Canada ................................................................................ 2 Staying firm on Edehzhie .......................................................................................................................... 4 Devolution is a done deal .......................................................................................................................... 5 Sixty-years in the making, devolution deal signed .................................................................................... 6 Giant cleanup team will lean on Yellowknife ............................................................................................ 7 RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND ENERGY NEWS .......................................................................................... 8 Mining group head sees tough times now, but better prospects ahead .................................................. 8 Rio Tinto’s Diavik diamonds debut in Israel ............................................................................................ 10 De Beers and GNWT sign Gahcho Kué deal ............................................................................................ 10 Diavik diamond sale to Dominion falls through ...................................................................................... 11 Nervous time for U.S. coal ...................................................................................................................... 12 ENVIRONMENT NEWS ................................................................................................................................. 13 North America isn’t ready for climate change, say experts .................................................................... 13 Feds must focus on fighting climate change ........................................................................................... 17 NUNAVUT NEWS Nunavut faces at Expo Labrador Premier talks partnerships and shared knowledge Lyndsay Herman Nunavut News/North – July 1, 2013 There were a few Nunavut faces in the crowd at this year's Expo Labrador, an annual event put on by the Labrador North Chamber of Commerce in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, N.L. "Both Nunavut and Labrador's economies are expanding rapidly and host a variety of similarities despite the distance," states Debbie Purvis, events co-ordinator for the Baffin Region Chamber of Commerce, in an email from the event. "New opportunities (mean) developing businesses of all sizes and sectors can participate in this growth." These opportunities provide "a solid foundation for businesses to develop products and services for growing regionally, domestically and into international markets." Opportunities for both Nunavut and Labrador include exploration and development of world-class mineral deposits and public and private investment in transportation, housing and economic development, she stated. The Baffin Region Chamber of Commerce ran a booth at the Expo Labrador trade show representing the Northern Lights Trade Show, an event run in partnership with the Labrador North Chamber of Commerce and held in Ottawa. Nunavut Premier Eva Aariak spoke at a luncheon on June 25 at the Happy Valley-Goose Bay Royal Canadian Legion. Chamber News Briefs 1 Ernie McLean, chairperson of Expo Labrador, said the event had a record turnout this year, likely due to the Lower Churchill hydroelectric dam project's advancement. Once complete, the project will provide power to Labrador and Nova Scotia. He said Aariak's description of the value of partnerships between Nunavummiut and industry to Nunavut is similar to Labrador's own situation "Our businesses are not in a position to make huge investments but they are in a position to be partners with these developers and benefit from the industrial development," said McLean, referring to hydro- electric, off-shore drilling and similar large-scale ventures. Aariak's speech touched on Nunavut's growing fishing and marine-related industries and their similarity to industries already established in Labrador, as well as Newfoundland. "The MV Nuliajuk is operated by a full-time crew from Newfoundland and Labrador, along with deck hands from Nunavut," said Aariak. "Together, the crew on board the Nuliajuk supports research that is helping to develop our industry sustainably while promoting conservation for future generations. The crew highlights the natural alliance between Nunavut and Nunatsiavut, Labrador and Newfoundland beyond." Labrador expertise may be solicited as ports, docks, and wharfs are built, she said. "In Nunavut, you will find no ports, no dock, no wharfs," said Aariak. "A single small craft harbour is under construction in the community of Panniqtuuq. Labrador alone has 17 such harbours." McLean said partnerships with Nunavut are something Labrador would certainly be open to. "The one theme that I heard from (Aariak's) speech is (Nunavut is) willing to look at this area to do business with them, as we are looking outside to do business with us," he said. "The more you work together, the more opportunities there are, and the better opportunities there are for our young people to benefit from major developments that are taking place." NWT NEWS Métis caribou ruling sets legal precedent in Canada Northern Journal - July 1, 2013 Meagan Wohlberg For the first time since the Paulette caveat 40 years ago, a Northwest Territories court has ruled on Aboriginal rights with its decision confirming the North Slave Métis Alliance’s (NSMA) right to harvest Bathurst caribou – a decision that could impact the group’s ongoing legal battle with the federal government. The precedent-setting court decision came through after over a year of deliberation on the eve of Aboriginal Day, affirming the Crown’s duty – and failure – to meaningfully consult with the NSMA when, in response to the Bathurst herd’s decline, the GNWT along with the Tlicho government agreed to limit the annual harvest to 300 caribou. While tags were split between the Tlicho and Yellowknives Dene First Nation, the NSMA was left out of the allowable harvest. NWT Supreme Court Justice Shannon Smallwood applied the “Powley test” – a legal test to determine whether or not Métis have prima facie rights – for the first time in NWT history, concluding NSMA members do, in fact, have claim to Aboriginal rights under Section 35 of the Constitution in the area north of Great Slave Lake. Chamber News Briefs 2 In her ruling, she found that ancestors of NSMA members, including Francois Beaulieu, travelled, hunted, fished, guided and trapped in the area where NSMA members continue to exercise their rights. “It’s a very significant victory,” NSMA president Bill Enge said. “We are the only Métis people in the Northwest Territories that now have judicially affirmed Section 35 Aboriginal rights, and there’s now no question that the area north of Great Slave Lake is the traditional lands of the North Slave Métis people.” Smallwood ordered the GNWT to immediately consult with the NSMA and provide reasonable accommodation, through negotiation, with respect to management of the Bathurst herd. The victory for the Métis marks the first time in Canadian jurisprudence where a Métis organization has successfully prosecuted a consultation and accommodation lawsuit, thereby setting the foundation for other Métis groups in Canada – along with First Nations and Inuit – to use as a means to remedy wrongful decisions made by the Crown. The ruling now has the potential to impact an ongoing legal suit taken by the alliance against the federal government, following a decision by Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development (AANDC) Minister Bernard Valcourt stating that North Slave Métis are not a distinct rights-bearing Aboriginal group in the region. Enge, on behalf of the NSMA, recently took the matter to a federal court to have a judge decide whether or not the group has enough evidence to prove it has prima facie rights in the area. That decision could impact the alliance’s claim to resource revenues from devolution along with the ability to negotiate its own land and resources agreement. “I can’t predict how the government of Canada is going to react to this decision, but what I can say is that government along with citizens have to respect the law, and right now the law says that the North Slave Métis people possess Section 35 Aboriginal rights,” he said. Enge said the AANDC minister told the NSMA in a November 2011 letter that the approach he would take regarding including the Métis in devolution negotiations would hinge upon whether or not NSMA members were deemed to be rights-bearing. “Now we have secured a decision from the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories to the effect that we are indeed Section 35 Aboriginal rights holders. He didn’t tell us what kind of approach he would take with us, but it certainly is different than the one he has taken, which is to exclude us and