Wilderness group sues DIAND, Westmin over Yukon exploration

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), represented by the Sierra Legal Defence Fund, has filed a lawsuit against the federal government and Westmin Resources (TSE) related to the company’s exploration activity in the Bonnet Plume River region of the Yukon.

Westmin has been exploring claims in the area since the summer of 1992, with exploration directed at evaluating numerous large, Proterozoic-age, mineralized breccias and their surrounding sedimentary rocks. The search is for deposits similar to the large Olympic Dam copper-gold-uranium deposit in Australia. Other companies hold claims and leases, mostly for coal, in the lower portion of the river basin.

Westmin said its exploration and the work of others have “demonstrated this remote area has excellent potential for some very significant copper-gold deposits.” Government geologists have also been busy in the area during the past two years, undertaking extensive geologic mapping and mineral potential evaluation.

The CPAWS lawsuit relates to a land-use permit issued to Westmin last September by the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND). Last winter, the company, using this permit, mobilized bulldozers along an existing winter road system to its claims, the purpose being to build an air strip to facilitate a drill program planned for this year. The strip was completed in early May. The company says it made every effort to minimize physical disturbance and ensure that local streams were protected from erosion, keeping in mind the fact that the Bonnet Plume River had been nominated to the Canadian Heritage River system.

“We heard no protest when we met with the local community (Mayo) and the local First Nations to discuss our 1994 exploration program and (enquired as to whether there were) any concerns related to the use of the winter road and plans to build our airstrip,” said Harlan Meade, Westmin’s vice-president of exploration and environment. “The Yukon Conservation Society, which we believe may have overlapping membership with CPAWS, also had the opportunity to review the permit application and raised no protest.”

Robert Hager, chief of Nacho N’y’ak Dun First Nations (whose land claim agreement covers much of the Bonnet Plume River area), said his people will not be supporting CPAWS’ legal action against DIAND and Westmin. “We are working with other stakeholders on a management plan for the region, which we expect to complete in six months to a year. We are not opposed to development, including mining,” Hager said.

He added that Westmin had met several times with First Nations and other stakeholders to discuss its proposed activities. “They did do their job (communicating with us) absolutely, and we support the activity going on,” he said. Local media reports also suggest that the community of Mayo will support a multiple-land-use designation for the region.

Juri Peepre of CPAWS said the legal action is about much more than Westmin’s exploration activities. The action challenges DIAND’s interpretation of land use laws in the Yukon and also focuses on the inadequacies of the Yukon Quartz Mining Act — specifically its lack of environmental guidelines governing exploration activities on mineral claims. The federal government’s environmental assessment review process does apply in the Yukon, but its scope is focused on projects rather than activities.

“We don’t dispute that there is a gap in legislation governing exploration activities in the Yukon,” said Robert McIntyre of the Yukon Chamber of Mines. “We have been working with several groups (Council for Yukon Indians, the Yukon Conservation Society, and others) on ways to modernize the existing legislation since the late 1980s. The recommendations were arrived at by all the stakeholders by consensus, which means everyone gave a bit.” McIntyre said the Yukon Mining Advisory Committee’s report was filed with the federal government in 1992. “But nothing has happened, I suppose, because, it has not been a top priority for parliament,” he said.

Westmin also agrees that the Yukon Quartz Mining Act governing mineral claims does not include adequate regulations to protect the environment. Company President Walter Segsworth points out, however, that despite the regulatory gap, the company “exceeded” the environmental standards of neighboring jurisdictions while exploring its Yukon claims. The company also operates under the environmental policies and guidelines of the Mining Association of Canada and the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada. “We hope the federal government will act on the report of the Yukon Mining Advisory Committee, rather than react to a perceived judicial crisis,” Segsworth said.

So why, if all parties agree in principle to the proposed regulations put forward by the Yukon Mining Advisory Committee, is there a lawsuit at all? Stewart Elgie, staff lawyer for the Sierra Legal Defence Fund, said CPAWS is “tired of waiting” for the federal government to regulate mining and other industrial activities in the Yukon.

Some northerners fear, however, that the legal action is a smokescreen for conservationists whose real agenda is to exclude resource development in the Bonnet Plume region. And it appears to be a fear which Juri Peepre of CPAWS will not entirely put to rest.

“Our position is that the government, in co-operation with other stakeholders, ought to designate a representative, protected area (within the drainage system),” Peepre said. “The Bonnet Plume might be the best candidate for complete protection, where resource development is excluded, as it has been nominated as a heritage river.”

James McIntyre, director of parks and outdoor recreation for the Territorial government, said the heritage river designation is symbolic and does not have any legislation attached to it that precludes resource development. “We will not be seeking a withdrawal order (for the region), although some people would like to see that happen,” he added.

Heritage rivers are usually nominated for having outstanding natural, historic or recreational features. McIntyre points out that the Grand River in Ontario is a heritage river with 650,000 people living within its watershed and with plenty of industrial activity, including a Toyota plant. In the case of the Bonnet Plume, McIntyre expects land-use decisions will be determined by local stakeholders currently involved in developing the management plan for the region. “The goal is to have representatives from industry, First Nations, conservation groups, hunters, trappers and outfitters work together, and by consensus come up with a management plan we can all live with,” McIntyre said.

At presstime, there were signs of movement on the matter of legislation governing exploration activities in the Yukon. The Chamber of Mines was informed that a bill containing proposed amendments to the Quartz Mining Act and the Yukon Placer Mining Act will provide the authority to develop these land-use regulations.

“We are finally seeing movement on this issue and anticipate receipt of the draft regulations shortly,” said the Chamber’s Robert McIntyre (no relation to James). “This type of process may be slow, but we believe it is a more mature and responsible way to solve problems.”