National Director for Conservation at CPAWS - helping to protect land and water across Canada for future generations.
Last week, there was a heap leach failure and landslide at the Victoria gold mine near Mayo, in the traditional territory of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun First Nation, in the Yukon. 2 million tonnes of materials spilled from containment, with the potential for more to follow. Huge volumes of cyanide have escaped into the environment, with potentially devastating consequences for people and wildlife. The full ramifications of this disaster are, as of yet, unknown. The First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun First Nation has called for a halt on all mining in their traditional territory. This mine was held up as the gold star for mining done right in the Yukon, but that seems to be a fairly low bar. As far as I am aware, there has not been a single hard rock mine in the Yukon that has been fully remediated and closed without leaving a toxic legacy on the environment, huge tax payer cleanups or both. Meanwhile, most of the profits move to shareholders who don't have to live with the impacts. I realize we need to mine, but we cannot afford for any industry to supersede the rights of Indigenous people, local communities and the environment. To prevent the likelihood of future disasters moving forward: 1) Mining operations should be held to the highest environmental standards. If it's not financially viable for them to do that, then the mine is not financially viable. 2) Mining has to be limited to the right locations (determined through consultative processes like land relationship planning) to maximize benefits and minimize negative environmental, community and cultural impacts. 3) Mining should only proceed with the free, prior and informed consent of any impacted Indigenous Nations.
