The fight for Fish Lake

One of the largest undeveloped gold and copper deposits in Canada is at the centre of a very large controversy.
The developers of the Prosperity Mine Project claim that it is an environmentally-sound endeavor, and could, in fact, be a boon to the local economy, but as far as one Aboriginal community is concerned, they are opposed.
"We need to review and look back at 1864," said Chief Marilyn Baptiste of the Xeni Gwet'in First Nation. " Our war leaders put a stop to an invasion of our territory on the west side. They were after gold back in those days, but now they're after gold again, but it's on the east side of our territory."
The territory is known as Teztan Biny, or Fish Lake, and is not only considered sacred ground by the Tsilhqot'in Nation, it is one of the area's best fishing locations.
"Fish Lake will be compromised as part of the mine development plan," confirmed Brian Battison, vice-president of corporate affairs for Taseko Mines Ltd.
"As part of our fish compensation plan, we're proposing to develop a new lake, a lake that's slightly larger and slightly deeper than Fish Lake. So that will be home to rainbow trout and we think it's quite a thoughtful, ingenious plan," said Battison.
The proposed new lake, which will be called Prosperity Lake, is said to be an improvement over Fish Lake.
"Fish Lake is overpopulated and the fish are starving there and have been for a long time. That is why they only grow small. They're small fish, torpedo shaped (and) there's not enough room for them to grow larger," said Battison.
Battison claims that the new lake will host larger, healthier fish, however, Baptiste believes Taseko is missing the point entirely.
"Our people have a name for the lake in our language and they also have a name in our language for the fish."
"Not only is it destroying a lake, it's destroying an enormous area and it's not only impacting that specific area, it'll be impacting the whole Chilcotin," said Baptiste.
Another concern that was raised about Prosperity Mine, this time by Joe Alphonse, the director of government services for the Tsilhqot'in Nation Government, is that creating a new lake would expose acid-producing rocks that would then make the new lake unable to sustain life. It is a worry that Battison believes is unsubstantiated.
Battison explained that there are rocks that, when exposed to a certain combination of moisture and oxygen, can change the Ph balance of the water that runs into the lake.
"The best way to deal with that and the best practices to avoid that situation is to put the rock under water. So if you deny the rock oxygen, it's just a regular rock that's not harmful to anybody," said Battison.
"They may have a number of different concerns. So if acid rock drainage is one of them, we have to provide a plan, a scientifically proven, scientifically and technically defensible plan for the management of potentially acid generating materials."
Battison went on to explain that Taseko has gone to great lengths to address the many concerns brought forward by the Aboriginal organizations, and said that they will soon submit their environmental assessment report.
"This is a massive set of documents; 3,000 pages of scientific documents and technical data information, which explains the project, what we want to do, why we want to do it, and what's the value to the public interest that will result from this work," said Battison.
Baptiste, along with other First Nation people, believes that Taseko will attempt to move forward on the project by exploiting a loophole found in a former court judgment.
Two years ago, after a 15-year battle in court, Tsilhqot'in Chief Roger William was victorious proving that the Tsilhqot'in Nation had the right to hunt, trap and trade on roughly 400,000 hectares of the territory.
Nowhere in this judgment does it say that the Tsilhqot'in have the right to specifically fish on the said 400,000 hectares of land.
"I guess the focus was hunting and trapping," said Battison. "Why it didn't include fish is beyond me, because the clear-cut logging has impacted fish barren waters everywhere, all over. You'd think it would have been a bigger part of it."
Battison said rather than try to exploit that oversight in the judgment, the company intends to leave the matter between the Xeni Gwet'in and the provincial government. Battison said Taseko is not disputing whether or not they have an Aboriginal right to fish.
"It's a fight over who has management and control over the resources. The Xeni Gwet'in say they should have management and control over the resources on behalf of their people and the provincial government says they have management and control over the resources on behalf of all the people of B.C.," said Battison.
"And so we're caught in that crossfire," Battison added.
Baptiste suggested that Taseko should have done its research before engaging this project and does not believe that it's simply a company caught between two quarreling governments.
"Taseko Mines Ltd has been suggesting to the media that they're caught between the two governments. In our fight, they need to do the right thing and step aside," said Baptiste.
To help ensure Taseko steps aside, Baptiste has launched a lawsuit on behalf of the Tsilhqot'in Nation to declare an Aboriginal right to fish in Fish Lake in hopes that it will delay the project, and may even halt the project entirely.
Battison, however, does not believe the lawsuit will have any bearing on the progress already made, nor will it alter the plan already in place.
"I think the lawsuit is tactical, designed to achieve a bargaining position. That bargaining position has not yet been defined. So it's not a serious lawsuit in that context. It's a tactical lawsuit," said Battison.
According to Taseko, the project will begin development in the summer and begin production in 2012. It would create well over 1,000 full-time and part-time jobs and generate nearly $500 billion in its 22-year life span.