ESDILAGH FIRST NATION #4 - 9001 West Fraser Road Quesnel BC V2J 6R4 Phone: (250) 747 - 2255 Fax: (250) 747 - 3920 Email [email protected]
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?ESDILAGH FIRST NATION #4 - 9001 West Fraser Road Quesnel BC V2J 6R4 Phone: (250) 747 - 2255 Fax: (250) 747 - 3920 Email [email protected] August14, 2013 Proposed New Prosperity Mine Review Panel Secretariat New Prosperity Gold-Copper Mine Project Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency 160 Elgin Street, 22nd Floor, Place Bell Canada Ottawa, ON K1A 0H3 Telephone: 613-957-0700 or 1-866-582-1884; Fax: 613-957-0941 Email: [email protected] ?Esdilagh First Nation Community Hearing Presentation Provided by Chief Bernie Mack, ?Esdilagh First Nation Dear Panel Members, Elders, Community Members, Leaders and Guests: I am pleased to be here today on our ancestral lands and on Alexandria Indian Band Indian Reserve #12 to be speaking to this Federal Review Panel on the proposed New Prosperity Gold-Copper Mine project. It is good that these public hearings are open to the public to those wishing to observe the proceedings and more importantly to hear directly from those most impacted by this proposed project. The Panel has stated that, “The primary purpose of the hearing is for the Panel to receive the information it requires to complete its assessment of the environmental effects of the project.” It is very important that all people be offered an opportunity to share their information on the impacts of this proposed New Prosperity Gold-Copper Mine project and the environmental effects of this project. 0 In Canada many have learned of the negative consequences of mining where lands and waters have been disturbed and in many places abandoned contaminated waste sites left for the public to clean up after a company has left. We do not want to see that type of negative environmental effect anymore just like most people do not want to see negative environmental effects that damage Mother Earth and destroy the valuable environmental values such as fresh water, fish, vegetation, trees and so on. These environmental values have taken a long time to develop and have provided us with our sustenance and long-term sustainability. I will be speaking directly about and sharing information related to the proposed New Prosperity Gold Copper Mine project as it relates to environmental effects we believe to be important and which must be given full consideration. First, I want to thank all Elders, Community Members, Leaders, Industry members, Media, Government officials, Panel members and Guests for attending this important Panel Hearing. As many of you know, the Tsilhqot’in are the oldest and longest serving governments in our traditional homelands. We are making our community presentations to the Federal Review Panel here on our Indian Reserve number twelve which is directly adjacent to Taseko’s Gibraltar Mine. Taseko Mines Limited is the proponent of the New Prosperity Mine; therefore, it is good to see their managers here today. We can share our information on their proposed New Prosperity Mine from our experience of living beside this mine which started operating next to our community over 40 years ago. We believe our experiences here and throughout our larger Tsilhqot’in National Government lands and waters will provide valuable information for the Review Panel to complete its assessment of the significant potential environmental effects of the project. I want to share a little snapshot of the history of this area as it relates to mining as I believe it is important for people to understand the true historical context of mining in our areas so that we can learn from it with an effort at improving relationships that are of mutual beneficial nature to all people. The potential environmental impacts that will happen if the proposed New Prosperity Mine is approved will be significant; therefore, it is important to learn from past experiences so as to be informed about the true environmental impacts. 1 With this in mind, the most important consideration always for us is the conservation and protection of our lands and waters. As everyone knows, we cannot have a good economy without a healthy environment. The area around which the proposed New Prosperity Mine will be located is an area that is still producing fish, wildlife, plants, medicines and an environment that is free from the environmental impacts of large scale industrial development activities. These environmental values are of the highest importance to our people and to our long-term sustainable economy and survival. Our historical experience with mining can provide some very valuable understandings and truths about impacts that we have experienced. Long before Europeans left their homelands in search of freedoms and a better place to live, the Tsilhqot’in Dene were living in this area. Our people were like others who lived in an economy based on using our natural resources to sustain us and using them in a responsible manner. We depended on the fish, wood, wildlife, stone, minerals, trees and vegetation from the lands, waters and natural resources within vast areas for our sustenance. We travelled long distances and set up villages and camps in areas where there was good fishing, hunting, and harvesting of berries, roots, medicines and other life nourishing foods. Our society and governance evolved like others through a co-existence of inter-dependency on the abundance provided by our natural resources. Our people also came into contact with other people and through these contacts we embraced and became part of a stronger more unified nation. For example, ?Esdilagh First Nation is a First Nation that has mixed Tsilhqot’in and Carrier Dene ancestry. This is a long known fact. Alexandria or Fort Alexandria is a National Historic Site of Canada on the Fraser River which is located right next to one of our reserves. Our original name is ?Esdilagh which means ‘where the peninsula is” in reference to the geography of the area where we lived along the Fraser River. The Fraser River provided our people with fish, water and a transportation system for as long as we can remember. On June 21, 1793 an explorer named Alexander Mackenzie travelled to our village sites close to this area down on the Fraser River. 2 In 1821, the North West Company established Fort Alexandria as an outpost fur trading fort. In that same year of 1821, the North West Company merged with the Hudson’s Bay Company. Fort Alexandria was named after Alexander Mackenzie and became a community that was to become a key way station along the Hudson’s Bay Brigade Trail. Later, our First Nation was called Alexandria First Nation by the government of Canada when it started setting aside small amounts of land for our people, which the government called Indian Reserves. Like many First Nations, we changed our name back to reflect the reality of who we are. We are now known as we were before any traders, companies and settlers entered into our lands as ?Esdilagh and we are part of the greater Tsilhqot’in Nation which is a part of the greater Dene people who stretch farther north, east, west and south from here. In fact the Dene stretch from northern Alaska all the way to Arizona and Mexico. Like in many other places of Canada, precious minerals which were originally known to our people to exist, were shown to explorers which set off a Gold Rush. So by 1859, in large part due to the gold discoveries on our lands that ultimately set off the Cariboo Gold Rush, Fort Alexandria had grown from a Hudson's Bay fur trading post to a large tent community of miners. Other activities started to occur like the building of roads such as the Old Cariboo Road. It is interesting to point out that this area is called the Cariboo Region now but because of much so called development; most of the caribou are now gone. This is one clear and important historical point to make with regard to development. If there is no consideration for wildlife and no monitoring or mitigation for impacts on animals like the caribou of the past or the current day deer, moose and small game, they too could suffer the same consequences…loss of habitat, over predation due to development activities opening up lands and making them easier prey to predators including man, and the potential for dumping of waste water from mining activities into the water that sustains them. Moving along with the brief history of mining activities in our area a sternwheeler called Enterprise was based at Fort Alexandria from where it would ferry passengers and supplies up the Fraser River to Quesnel in the 1800s. From Quesnel a wagon road was built in 1864 to provide a transportation route for miners to travel to Barkerville. Another road to the gold fields was planned from Bute Inlet on the coast of BC to Fort Alexandria, by entrepreneur Alfred Waddington. 3 This road was never built as our ancestors rose up to fight off the intrusions into our homelands. They did this because these intrusions onto our lands were impacting our people and communities in a negative way. Our people were significantly impacted with new diseases, displacement from our lands and resources that sustained us. The impacts to our lands largely due to the Gold Rush and ancillary activities related to it were significant and was largely responsible for the displacement of our people. The impacts to our land, waters, wildlife, vegetation and our very existence caused our ancestors to defend our homelands. Our ancestor’s fear of ongoing harassment, displacement, racist treatment, and marginalization caused them, in the spring of 1864, to rise up to fight against the road through the Homathko River Valley to the gold fields at Barkerville.