Road through traditional lands protested

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The chief of the Yukon first nation says his people will close down a proposed mining road that would cut through hunting grounds and possibly burial sites if they are not consulted first.

Yukon government leader John Ostashek said May 4 one of his government's top three highway construction projects is the expansion and extension of the Freegold road near Carmacks to reach two proposed copper mines. Chief Eric Fairclough of the Tsawlnjik Dan First Nation says no one from he Yukon Territorial Government (YTG) or the mining companies contacted him about the road before announcing the plan.

"We need to sit down and talk before any kind of information like that goes out to the public. For things like that to happen in our territory or for that matter anyone else's, there's got to be talks and agreements made. It's not like how it was before."

Economic Development Minister John Devries says he did mention the road "very briefly" to Fairclough at a meeting with federal Indian Affairs minister Tom Siddon in April. He says the First Nation will be consulted during the mandatory environmental review of the project.

The road now leads due west from Carmacks to a defunct mine at Freegold Mountain. The territorial government wants to turn the road north to a proposed copper mine at Williams Creek. Eventually, the road would stretch another 200 km north through the bush to the proposed Casino copper mine. Carmacks is 170 km north of Whitehorse.

The Yukon government attempted to upgrade the Freegold road about five years ago. Protests from the Tsawlnjik Dan and neighboring Selkirk First Nation stopped construction after five miles of road had been widened. The two first nations didn't want increased traffic in their areas. The government's plans at that time would have taken the road through Selkirk burial sites and traditional hunting grounds of both peoples. So far, the government has not announced changes to that plan.

Fairclough warns the first nations will stop any construction that goes ahead without their input.

"It won't make sense to me to plan all this and have it shut down because of us. That will be our first reaction - you don't talk with us, any development that happens, the natural reaction is to go against it."

However, YTG has backed away from the project following protests from Fairclough. The opposition NDP began questioning why the government is willing to pick up the bill for infra-structure such as roads and power lines for private business. Two days after Ostashek called the road one of the top three priorities, Devries said the project was only tentative.

"These mines, especially the Casino property, are in the preliminary stage. The drilling has not yet proven up. that's why the drilling (at Casino) is going on this summer - to determine if we should go into this process."

Construction at Williams Creek is to start next spring. The owners of the Casino site want to start producing copper in 1998.

The Tsawlnjik Dan are still negotiating an economic development agreement with Western Copper, owners of the Williams Creek property. Fairclough says he realizes there will have to be a road and power lines to the mine. But he says the mining companies should be talking to his people before making plans with the territorial government.

"Basically, the mine has been dealing with the wrong government by talking to the YTG instead of the first nation. We haven't signed any treaty yet, so basically the land is still ours."