GUEST COLUMN — Time for industry to act in BC

As a resident and activist in Britannia Beach, which is enduring a crisis over acid mine drainage from an old copper mine, I have observed that misinformation about mining is a serious problem that needs to be addressed. In order to begin to solve this problem, it is necessary to know the language of opposing positions and seek out common ground.

Britannia Beach is undergoing international scrutiny for what has been described as the worst point source of mineral contamination in North America. The forestry industry in Squamish is also surrounded by controversy. Mining and forestry have propelled Canada into what the United Nations calls the most desirable country in the world in which to live. I cannot imagine a better place than this area in which to initiate what has been neglected for too long: a public relations overhaul of our bread-and-butter industries.

Britannia Beach is home to the British Columbia Museum of Mining. A registered charity, the Historical Society that governs the museum was created during the years that Anaconda operated the Britannia mine. When the properties were sold in 1978, provisions were made under contract with the buyers, Copper Beach Estates, to designate land for the museum.

For several years I sat on the board of the museum. My concerns at the time were focused on community issues, but I came to believe that the museum was missing an opportunity to educate the public and promote mining based on fact rather than submit to a negative portrayal by hysterical media outlets. It must be frustrating to be a legitimate and historically significant industry maligned in public forums by articulate but ill-informed environmental activists.

In the fifteen years I have lived in Britannia and raised my son, my ecological concerns have become tempered by years of experience and knowledge gained from gathering information and finding the facts.

This compels me to ask the mining industry how can it can allow its public image to be distorted, and be engaged in confrontational environmental dialogues rather than conveying the information the public deserves?

Activists railing against resource industries can be legitimate. What is dangerous is their tendency to overlook the facts and the power bestowed upon them by the media, often for confrontation rather than for successful negotiations or productive dialogue. Though remediation at the mine will soon address acid mine drainage, environmentalists will unfairly keep this issue in their arsenal for their public assault against the industry.

There has never been a better time or place for the mining industry to make its case and demonstrate not only advances in technology, but its competence and good will. This is an opportunity for the industry to assert its position and reclaim its significance in the Canadian economy.

Consider this both a challenge and an invitation for the mining industry to return to Britannia. Where should our school children learn of modern mineral extraction processes and their benefits? Who will present the arguments to counter those of the passionate environmentalist? There has never been a more compelling set of circumstances or a more timely opportunity than now. It is time for reason and common sense to get us out of the gridlock.

It is the public that must invest in our resource industry, as the public reaps the economic rewards. I am one activist tired of the confrontations and the media hysteria. There is a middle ground for all of us, and the mining industry cannot afford to remain in a public forum stacked against it. The public must be reminded that Canada owes much to its resource-based economy, and it is up to the mining industry to get this message out. Don’t ignore the opportunity at Britannia Beach.

— The author resides in Britannia Beach, B.C.