New Prosperity Gold-Copper Mine Project FEDERAL REVIEW PANEL

Transcription

1 New Prosperity Gold-Copper Mine Project FEDERAL REVIEW PANEL August 6, 2013 Name: Alice M.William I am a member of the Xeni Gwet'in First Nations Government (the Xeni Gwet in ) and the Tsilhqot in Nation. I was born at Yanah Biny (Little Fish Lake). This is déjà vu for the Tsilhqot in Nation and not in a very good way. I was thinking that I went through this before, now I have to write another presentation to plead once again to join our nation to save our land, water, animals and plants. We Tsilhqot in though we had trodden down the enemy and it would be no more but here we are again. Did we not make ourselves clear at the last panel hearing? It would seem that a few thousand voices have gone unheard We do not want a mine at Teztan Biny. We Xeni Gwet in would love to be left alone to live our lives out to harvest our food for the winter; we need to fish and hunt and allowed to dry what we need, we need to gather medicine, we need to gather roots, we need to gather berries, we need to be left alone to teach the young and preserve what culture and language we have left. From our past history of segregation into the Colonial Society and through the Residential Schools we didn t exist as people, and in our elders history they were not allowed to sit in restaurants. I ve seen photos in some restaurants and waitresses having their photos taken by a sign which read, White Help Only. We have endured catastrophes caused by avalanches; we have endured earthquakes, we have endured wars, we have endured small pox, we have endured flu epidemics, and finally we have endured the Colonial segregation. We didn t have a voice; we were not allowed opinions, so now thank you for letting us have our say

2 I hunt, fish, harvest edible plants, berries and medicine every year I have claimed my homeland and trap-line. My brothers and sisters and their families come back to this area for hunting, for fishing and harvesting what they need for the winter and just camping to enjoy the outdoors My husband Tom Dillabough and I have been slowly fixing up my late dad Jimmy Sammy Bulyan s log house, it would be considered a cabin by today s standards but it housed our family of 12 at one time. We weren t all there all at one time. Some of the school age children went to St. Joseph s Mission south of William s. When they came back from school in the summer we camped out where dad worked to make extra money fort winter supplies, and a chance to socialize with other family and friends. We grew up around Teztan Biny,( Fish Lake) and the surrounding area of Nabis, ( Anvil Mountain) Dadilin Yex,(Taseko Lake and the lower (narrows) which we call the crossing ) Jididzay, (Onion Lakes). We also commuted back and forth from Xeni, Yunesit in, Anaham, Toosey, Tsuniah Lake, and Chaunigan Lake. Our dad and brothers made use of the back trails through Big Creek for work, for chasing cattle, for buying trips, for socializing and trading with non-first nations and other first nations We fished and we used boats, canoes and rafts to put nets in Teztan Biny, Yanah Biny, Dadilin Yex, and Jididzay. We hunted throughout these areas and beyond for moose, deer, California Big Horn Sheep, Mountain Goat, and Marmots, It is not our aim to go through the building of the Prosperity Mine. It would be a travesty to watch our Tsilhqot in culture and language totally annihilated. I have worked as a medic and cook in the oilfields, in the mining camps, and in the logging camps.

3 I have seen and watched drug and alcohol addictions taking over the lives of the young and old alike of first nations and non-first nations. I have also heard of biker gang affiliations taking over some of these towns and communities as drug traffickers. My co-workers thought of me as just another worker (a confidante) and talked about these things in a casual manner as in just a day-to-day existence of casual talk over coffee. This is what will happen if the mine is allowed to go ahead in our community, and we cannot allow that to happen. I worked as an environmental monitor in for TNG representing my community the Xeni Gwet'in First Nations Government. The Tsilhqot in people were disappointed to hear that the Supreme Court of Canada wanted us to come to an agreement with TML. The Tsilhqot in were angry that TNG, the lawyers, and the chiefs wanted us to agree, and some of the people accused the chiefs and councilors of being bought by TML. It was an agonizing time for myself, and our people who were in perpetual fear about what was going to be done to our land, water, rivers, streams and lakes. The Xeni Gwet'in waited anxiously for the final death sentence of Teztan Biny, Yanah Biny, Jididzay, Dadilin Yex, and Nabis Some of these fears were relieved when Marilyn Baptiste and JP Leplante reported about the progress of the drilling and the test pits through meetings. I talked about the heavy equipment graveyard to some of the people and about the bad luck that seemed to attack the Taseko Mines crew (Prosperity). Some of the elders would nod and chuckle in glee and let me know in subtle ways that they had practiced their curse and they were happy that is was working. The thing that was not mentioned was the ugliness of the operation. I will show some of the before and after images of the land and water during the drilling operations by slideshow.

4 The Tsilhqot in have lived out the years from generation to generation through out the past hundreds of years by sharing the culture, knowledge of land, of the water, of climate change of which they have passed down to the young. When you live on the land you learn to observe and learn about the environment, the animals, the aquatic life, the water, and the changing climates. If we as children were puzzled about things and wanted to know things we would go to our parents, grandparents or elders and they gave us answers. My brothers and sisters and I have learned from our parents and from growing up on the land, this knowledge of the environment around Teztan Biny, Yanah Biny, Jididzay, Dadilin Yex, and Nabis. And Forestry courses that I took helped me to gain further knowledge of soils, the aquatic environment, the terrestrial environment, ecology of our environment. I can see the plan of the New Prosperity Gold-Copper Project, and it resembles a large-scale fish bowl with all the contaminants coming down to one place. Despite all the contingencies to keep seepage in and prevent contamination from mixing with the environment it will happen. It doesn t take a physicist or an engineer to see this happening. Pressure and gravity goes downhill, down under to underground streams, creeks, rivers, and lakes We have seen a more than average run off this year. The creeks around Nabis are full, the meadows are flooded with water, the old beaver dams are full, Taseko River is high and the Tchaikazan was a roaring river in the middle of July. Knowing this from our history the run off is usually over with by then. These strange weather patterns will play a big part on the hydrology of the mine site.

5 Most of us know for a fact that Nabis, Teztan Biny, Teztan Yaqox, Yanah Biny, and Yanah Biny Yaqox are in a major watershed This whole area encompasses hills starting from Anvil Mountain to the south, under-ground water streams, underground water caverns, swampland and wetlands on through into the streams, the creeks, the lakes and the land of abundance of precious boreal plants, berries, shrubs, trees, sedge grass, moss that has been accumulating for a few centuries. Most of these plants that our people depend on are right in this area. If the mine should go ahead, Knock on wood that it doesn t happen. We will have to go into neighbouring communities and other tribes to ask for permission to harvest our medicine, berries, and food plants that we collect here in the wetlands. Other places that we can go to would be in the high sub-alpine areas and where the elders won t be able to go. We need to be careful and protect our plants, so that we do not over-harvest. When you think of saving the environment you also have to think of saving the plants, the trees, and shrubs in comparison to the amount of people who harvest. There are places that are readily assessable by vehicle where plants have been over-harvested and the elders were concerned I got this paragraph from Herb Hammond Forest Ecologist and Forester, S ilva E cosystem C o nsultants L td. Regarding the boreal forest and climate change, the boreal forest is the largest terrestrial carbon sink in the world, holding about 25% of Earth's carbon, 80% of which is found in organic material in the cold boreal forest soils and bogs. The boreal forest is also Earth's largest ecosystem and along with the oceans, Earth's climate regulator. The New Prosperity Mine site is also a major migration route for deer that has been used by them for centuries. Deer tend to go back on the same trails during migration in the spring and fall Before the deer there were elk and Caribou and now there are moose.

6 Even if New Prosperity Mine posts NO HUNTING or NO SHOOTING signs, the animals do not read. The mine will affect the migration route. The young will always go back to the range where they were born. If there s interference in their regular routes the does and cow moose will not go back to the range where they give birth. The deer and moose have their own areas where they eat certain shrubs and bark to reduce pain before giving birth The interference of the migration routes will cause a ripple effect to all outlying areas as well. We have witnessed the affects of the logging in our back yard. The numbers of Grizzly, and wolves have accumulated in and around Nabis, Teztan Biny, Yanah Biny, and the Taseko watershed. The moose, deer, goat and California Bighorn sheep have declined in numbers. This land is one of the last pristine areas in this little corner of the earth, and we would like to keep it that way for future generations Thank you for listening to me.

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