Nations at the table on Mount Polley review

The British Columbia government will be moving ahead with all seven recommendations that have come from a panel investigation into the Mount Polley breach.

The announcement is welcomed by Xat’sull First Nation and Williams Lake Indian Band, who were impacted when the open pit gold and copper mine owned by Imperial Metals Corp. released 24 million cubic metres of wastewater into nearby streams and lakes on Aug. 4, 2014.

Although subsequent testing declared aquatic life to be safe, many members chose not to fish and that left communities scrambling to find substitute meat for the winter. Salmon was purchased from coastal communities, partially funded through government dollars.

The panel, appointed by the BC Ministry of Energy and Mines, working in collaboration with the two First Nations, found that the “dominant contribution to the failure resides in the design (which) did not take into account the complexity of the sub-glacial and pre-glacial geological environment associated with the Perimeter Embankment foundation.”

The panel also found no negligence in inspections of Mount Polley’s tailing storage facility and stated that regulatory staff were qualified to perform their duties.

Williams Lake Indian Band Chief Ann Louie is pleased with the results of the investigative report, although she stresses it wasn’t the panel’s duty to find blame, only to determine how the breach was caused. 

Louie is also pleased with the government’s decision to implement all the recommendations, which look at both best applicable practises and best available technologies.

The First Nations have worked alongside the government since the breach occurred, which is an accomplishment, said Louie, considering they were not included in the initial notifications when the breach happened.

Now, Louie and Xat’sull First Nation Chief Bev Sellars are at the principle table with the assistant deputy ministers of environment, Aboriginal relations and reconciliation, and energy and mines.

The collaboration came about through a letter of understanding negotiated by the two impacted First Nations, the First Nations Summit, Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, and BC First Nations Energy and Mining Council with the provincial government. It was signed by Louie and Sellars.

“Through that negotiation we were able to achieve hiring experts to determine what happened and work alongside the panel,” said Louie. “We’ve been pretty much at the table all along. So it’s been first, I think, in our province and probably Canada as far as I’m concerned.”

Louie believes the BC government was forced to include First Nations.

“We were in the position, I think, at the time of the disaster, that they didn’t have any alternative in front of them because we made it very loud and clear we weren’t just going to sit back and them tell us how it was going to be run,” she said.

The First Nations had their own expert. Jim Kuipers is internationally renowned for his environmental work in the mining industry. He critiqued the examination undertaken by the panel.

In moving forward, Louie would like to see the government work with the First Nations in revisiting existing laws, regulations and policies in relation to the mining industry.

“I think it’s an excellent opportunity for the government to take a good hard serious look at the overall mining industry in Canada and not just B.C.,” she said. “There have been many disasters that have happened but nothing to the magnitude of Mount Polley … so Mount Polley brought it to the light… I think it’s pushed to the forefront of the government that they have to do something, and they can no longer ignore (that) the mining industry needs reformed legislation.”

In the meantime, band members remain wary about harvesting fish. While the plume sediment has cleared and Quesnell Lake and the turbidity level is classified as good, Louie says the lake is a “fjord lake. It washes back and forth all year long.”

Polley Lake has 10 metres of debris sitting on the bottom, running the length of the lake, “so the unknowns there are still unknown at this time,” she said.