One after another, Elders described how mining had negatively impacted their lands during a water stewardship conference in Dettah last week.
Though Elders themselves, they said those who had gone before them had warned about the deleterious effects this activity would have on the Northern environment.
Now the fish are soft, which means they are no good – contaminated – and, as one woman said, it is their land.
Consider the damage the mines have done.
None of the MLAs who are pushing for an increase in mining activity and the softening of the regulatory approvals could make an appearance at the conference sponsored by the Department of Environment and Natural Resource’s Water Management and Monitoring Division and the Climate Change and Air Quality Division. And, of course, representatives from the mining sector did not make their presence known.
That means none of them were present to hear a first-hand account from the First Nation.
You can tell that there is a body of government employees working hard on the land and water files who do care and they were there to listen. And listen intently they did. It must be difficult to work in a bureaucracy riddled with inconsistencies.
While one respected Elder was outlining how their predecessors warned of the dangers of mining – the colonial tool of the day – an e-mail came in from the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce urging readers to fill out a discussion paper by the GNWT’s Plotting A Financial Way Forward.
People aware of the unspoken undercurrents know that what the chamber and GNWT want is more support for the mining sector, in general, and the Taltson expansion, in particular. They need that support to strengthen their case that borrowing money from the federal government is easier. They need to show a scenario from which most people seem to be on board.
The feds need to talk to the Elders.
Under the guise of providing communities with more hydro-electric energy, it is well-known that the expansion is primarily to attract more mining. It’s a carrot the GNWT is dangling before the industry.
We know some mining is needed, in fact essential, to move toward a green economy, but if some in the GNWT and, of course, the mining sector had their way, it would be full steam ahead.
In the meantime, the GNWT is petitioning the federal government for a couple billion dollars, at least, to cover the cost of the expansion. Wanting to stay on the good side of Northerners, the federal government may go along with the plan, not understanding the environmental implications.
The territorial government could be considered double-minded in its approach to healthy land and water management at a time when the planet is experiencing full-blown climate change events, which will get considerably worse in the next few years.
Either you care about the environmental footprint or you don’t – the GNWT needs to make up its mind.
Warnings of catastrophe
Last week, the head of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, warned that the rate of climate change impact was soaring faster than anyone could have predicted even a few short years ago. If immediate action is not taken now, by 2030, those impacts could be catastrophic.
They already are catastrophic in some parts of the world, including Atlantic Canada.
The problem is that climate change took a backseat to first, Covid-19, and now the Russia-Ukraine war. We lost sight of the other human-made war looming on the horizon from which there is no easy settlement.
In the meantime, COP27 will be held in Egypt next week and we have to hope this time, the GNWT sends people with a sincere interest in searching for solutions. We need pictures of people with their sleeves rolled up and ready to work – no PR selfies, please.
The North is in big trouble. If certain upper echelons of the GNWT would have attended the water stewardship conference last week, they might have heard how serious the situation is, based on first-hand accounts from the Elders and other First Nations people so intricately connected to the heartbeat of the land.
The colonial activities of the past are no longer done by the federal government, the church or imperial Great Britain. They are practised by more localized governments and business personnel bent on resource development for the sake of resource development. Neither are listening to what the real owners of the land have to say.
The stakes are way too high to be simply focused on making money. Surely, we can come up with economic strategies that will help us move forward in a way that will prevent more flooding, more permafrost melt and more infrastructure decay.
The GNWT must get its priorities straight and in line with present-day realities. It’s almost late in the game.
