Skip to content

Raising concerns part of review process

National Chief Shawn Atleo and Prime Minister Stephen Harper both spoke of a renewed relationship a week ago Tuesday.

Editor:

National Chief Shawn Atleo and Prime Minister Stephen Harper both spoke of a renewed relationship a week ago Tuesday at the Crown-First Nations gathering in Ottawa.

Sadly Chief Joe Alphonse decided in advance that attending such a meeting would be a waste of time. Alphonse is also taking a somewhat similar outlook regarding the upcoming New Prosperity mine review process.

Rightly or wrongly this second review process has come about by the many issues raised at the first review process. That process had the panel considering several items of concern raised by environmentalists and native populations. Raising those concerns seems to me to be what a review process should be about.

As with any similar judicial process a proponent has the right to appeal a judgment, as long as the proponent is prepared to make changes and to address concerns, and the proponent is financially prepared to continue. When a point is reached where a proponent says enough is enough, the project is no longer economically viable, then further review processes will likely end.

As quoted from a Canadian Press interview, Alphonse said he fears that approval of the mine is a foregone conclusion.

The Tsilhqot’in will still take part in the review, however, “as distasteful as that might be,” Alphonse said.

This almost sounds like if you are not going to play the game my way, I don’t want to play.

A major Central Coast, Bella Coola gravel mining project of the early 2000s as proposed by Arthon Industries Limited is an example of where opposition to a project can eventually force the proponent to abandon a project. One major argument against the project was both noise and road traffic.

The proposal was to ship quarried rock from Bella Coola south to California and Oregon using very large ships called Panamax, a size as used through the Panama Canal. For Bella Coola, having lost its forest industry, the project would have been a shot in the arm for the economy.

What I find interesting about the opposition to this rock quarry project is that almost 10 years later, literally hundreds of trucks, machines, and blasting equipment worked almost around the clock for months to answer the call to build dykes, berms, and excavate stream beds as a result of the Sept. 18, 2010 floods. Go figure.

Doug Wilson

Williams Lake