Yukon placer miners fight back (March 12, 2003)

Vancouver — A decision by the Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) to phase out placer mining in the Yukon has prompted the Dawson City Chamber of Commerce to call a general strike.

The chamber called on local businesses to shut down from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on March 12 to protest the DFO’s proposed changes to placer mining regulations in the territory. Also, businesses in Whitehorse closed shop for an hour in support of the Dawson strike, and the Yukon Chamber of Commerce asked its members throughout the territory to do the same.

The DFO has traditionally partnered with the Yukon Placer Committee, which operated under the Yukon Placer Authority, in classifying streams. However, the latest move by the DFO calls for a unilateral review of all placer mining applications, thereby scrapping the Yukon Placer Authority in favour of a new regulatory approach under the Fisheries Act.

The Yukon Fish and Wildlife Management Board, the Yukon Salmon Committee, the Yukon Conservation Society and other environmental organizations have applauded the decision.

However, under the federal initiative, more than half the Yukon’s family-owned placer gold operations would be forced to shut down as a result of inability to meet stringent new standards. Placer mining contributes more than $50 million per year to the Yukon economy and is the territory’s second-largest industry, after tourism.

The fisheries minister has cited the need to increase protection of fisheries and fish habitat, though a growing number of researchers insist placer mining has no long-term negative effects.

The regulatory changes include a discharge standard of 25 mg per litre at the point of discharge. Industry insiders say that will essentially mean miners will have to go to a recycling system.

Says Tara Christie, president of the Klondike Placer Miners Association: “We know that the minister doesn’t understand the full implications for families here in the north or for the Yukon’s already ravaged economy. We want to sit down with him and discuss, in a rational and reasonable way, how we can meet his needs without destroying our industry and our livelihood.”

Christie says only 12 of the 124 placer mines that operated last year would have been able to meet the new standards.