Will New Prosperity Review Panel Retain Credibility?

Below is TNG's latest press release about the new Prosperity Review Panel
 

TŜILHQOT’IN NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

253 – 4^th Avenue North s Williams Lake, BC V2G 4T4 s Phone (250) 392-3918 s Fax (250) 398-5798

Tsilhqot’in confident that new Panel’s work will result in rejection of “New” Prosperity Mine

Tsilhqot’in Territory, May 11, 2012:  The Tsilhqot’in Nation today reaffirms its position to the newly appointed “New” Prosperity Review Panel that the mine cannot be approved and that the entire credibility of Canada’s environmental assessment process hangs in the balance.  This version of the mine was already reviewed and rejected by the previous Panel, then called “Mine Development Plan #2”, because Environment Canada and the company itself testified that it posed a higher environmental risk than the previous plan and would likely contaminate Teztan Biny (Fish Lake) over time.  The mine design does not solve any of the significant impacts found by the previous Panel.

“Although the government did not appoint a First Nations member to the Panel, we recognize that three professionals have been appointed. We are confident that upon scrutiny, that the work undertaken by this new panel will completely confirmthe previous panel’s findings that this alternative version of the mine poses even greater environmental risk,” said Tsilhqot’in National Government Tribal Chair Chief Joe Alphonse, “And will mean the same devastating impacts for our culture and our Tsilhqot’in way of life”.

“We trust This Panel will undoubtedly come to understand what it would mean for our culture to have a sacred place destroyed,” said Chief Marilyn Baptiste of the Xeni Gwet’in First Nation.  “Yanah Biny and Nabas – where we have homes and graves – are still threatened.  Teztan Biny would be surrounded and contaminated by one of Canada’s biggest open-pit mining operations.”

Chief Alphonse: “The Tsilhqot’in have already proven our Aboriginal rights to this area in one of Canada’s longest court battles.  We won’t back down.  No government can stop us from reflecting on who we are and the importance that this area has for us – this isn’t residential school.”

Chief Baptiste:  “We are fighting for our cultural survival.  We see this as a major environmental threat to the headwaters of the Taseko Lake and River systems.  At stake is the wellbeing of one of British Columbia’s salmon runs.  The Tsilhqot’in have protected our headwaters and salmon for generations and we won’t stop now.  Keeping our waters clean and salmon safe is for everybody, not just the Tsilhqot’in.”

 The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples requires States to consult and cooperate in good faith with indigenous peoples in order to obtain their free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories.  We expect nothing less as this proposal is a potential extinguishment of our Aboriginal Rights to hunt, trap and fish in a sensitive area at the headwaters of the Taseko River.

Media Contacts: Chief Marilyn Baptiste: 250-267-1401 or 250-394-7023    Chief Joe Alphonse: 250-305-8282 or 250-394-4212

Attachment: Ten facts that show why Prosperity Mine proposal cannot be approved

TŜILHQOT’IN NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

253 – 4^th Avenue North s Williams Lake, BC V2G 4T4 s Phone (250) 392-3918 s Fax (250) 398-5798