EDITORIAL PAGE — A heritage river runs through it

Several promising mineral projects have been aborted as a result of wrangling between environmental groups and mining interests. The Yukon’s Bonnet Plume region was poised to become yet another casualty but recently escaped this fate when a federal court allowed Westmin Resources and partner Newmont Mining to continue exploring in this geologically prospective district.

Westmin was attracted to the region because of its potential to host “Olympic Dam-type” copper-gold deposits. After receiving a permit from the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND) in late 1993, the company mobilized bulldozers to its claims and built an air-strip to allow a spring drill program.

By this point, Bonnet Plume had been nominated to the Canadian Heritage River System. In 1994, a lawsuit had been filed against Westmin and the federal government by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), represented by the Sierra Legal Defence Fund. The lawsuit was about more than Westmin’s exploration; in effect, it challenged DIAND’s interpretation of land-use laws in the Yukon.

The lawsuit highlighted the inadequacies of the Yukon Quartz Mining Act, specifically its lack of environmental guidelines concerning exploration. While the federal environmental assessment review process does apply in the Yukon, it is for advanced projects rather than exploration activities. At first glance, it might appear that CPAWS was performing a public service by drawing attention to this gap in legislation, and that its lawsuit was more than justified.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. Since the late 1980s, the Yukon Chamber of Mines had been working with several groups (including the Council for Yukon Indians and the Yukon Conservation Society) on ways to amend the existing legislation. A set of recommendations was arrived at by all stakeholders, and, in 1992, these were filed with the federal government. The government had other priorities, and the proposals sat in limbo, although reports suggest they will soon be enacted.

Westmin also agreed that the Act did not include adequate regulations to protect the environment. But the company made efforts to exceed the standards of neighboring jurisdictions. It consulted with local communities and native groups, minimized physical disturbance and ensured that streams were protected from erosion. It also operated under the environmental policies of the Mining Association of Canada, and the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada.

In view of all this, it is hard to understand why CPAWS proceeded with a lawsuit that had to be defended at taxpayers’ expense. Some northerners believe the real (hidden) agenda was to prevent resource development in the Bonnet Plume region. But this land-use decision ought to be made by local stakeholders who have already worked to devise a management plan for the region.

The Bonnet Plume area appears to have significant mineral potential, which should not be quashed simply because a heritage river runs through it. After all, such a designation is symbolic and is not tied to legislation that would prevent resource development. Just ask the 650,000 people who live and work within the watershed of another heritage river, the Grand, in southern Ontario.