Videos
Blue Gold: The Tsilhqot'in Fight for Teztan Biny (Fish Lake) from Susan Smitten on Vimeo.
Blue Gold expresses the Tsilhqot'in peoples' unanimous rejection of Taseko Mines Ltd.'s proposal to drain Teztan Biny (Fish Lake) in order to stockpile mining waste.
"It is not possible for us to agree to the destruction of the land that sustains us." ~ Chief Marilyn Baptiste, Xeni Gwet'in First Nation.
This film was made possible through generous donations by several organizations, including Donner Canadian Foundation, Friends of the Nemaiah Valley and Small Change Fund.
The Tsilhqot'in Nation holds proven Aboriginal hunting and trapping rights in the area where Taseko wants to build its mine. Taseko's plan requires completely draining Fish Lake (which sits at the headwaters of the Taseko River and ultimately the Fraser River, 600 km north of Vancouver, BC) and filling it with waste rock. The company intends to create a reservoir to hold the 80,000+ trout. Much of the watershed to the south including Nabas (Little Fish Lake) would be used as a tailings storage facility. This is all in an area held as sacred by the Tsilhqot'in.
In the place of gorgeous, fish-bearing lakes in a pristine sub-alpine ecosystem, Taseko will leave behind an estimated 700,000,000 tons of tailings and waste materials, including arsenic, mercury, lead, cadmium and other toxic metals. These toxic creations will permanently scar the area, destroy habitat for major species like grizzlies, moose and deer, and potentially contaminate the largest wild salmon run in North America (the Fraser River).
Recent changes to Canada's Fisheries Act allow for the destruction of freshwater bodies - lakes and rivers can now be used as toxic dump sites for mining corporations. Teztan Biny is just one of many lakes slated for destruction.
We are now fighting to convince the federal environmental review panel which must decide on whether to allow Taseko to proceed of the significant and irrefutable impacts the project will have. The permanent destruction of the lake would be an unfathomable cultural and spiritual loss to the Tsilhqot'in people. And it cannot be compensated ecologically.
The Tsilhqot'in people need moral encouragement and financial support. Let's raise our voices against the destruction of our fresh water, for the future of all Canadians. Should you wish to donate to support the Tsilhqot'in, please visit R.A.V.E.N. (Respecting Aboriginal Values & Environmental Needs), a non-profit charitable organization, at www.raventrust.com.
LEGAL ACTION TO FIGHT THE MINE:
In addition to participating in the federal environmental review process, Chief Marilyn Baptiste has filed a Statement of Claim against Taseko Mines Ltd. and the Government of British Columbia, based on the fact that the Xeni Gwet'in First Nation holds proven Aboriginal hunting and trapping rights to the area that Taseko intends to use for its mine.
Truth, Trials and Tar Sands: The Beaver Lake Cree Nation Battle Big Oil to Save the Boreal from Susan Smitten on Vimeo.
Chief Al Lameman of the Beaver Lake Cree Nation and Jack Woodward, pre-eminent authority on Aboriginal law in Canada, speak to a full house on Salt Spring Island about the need to tackle the tar sands if we are going to really be effective in the fight against climate change.
After viewing a film by Alan Bibby entitled Liquid Truth, Chief Lameman describes with heartbreaking honesty how his people can no longer make a traditional way of life in their home territory: "Sometimes you lie awake at night and you think about it...you think this is the end."
The Beaver Lake Cree recently decided that enough is enough and this is where lawyer Jack Woodward comes in. His law firm, Woodward & Company, currently represents this small nation from Lac La Biche, Alberta in a lawsuit against both the federal and Alberta governments. The legal action claims "The cumulative impacts of tar sands developments are destroying their treaty rights."
In the 1870s, the people of the Beaver Lake area signed Treaty 6, giving up their traditional land in return for the promise that they could continue to live off the land as they had always done. According to Jack Woodward, the Canadian and Alberta governments are currently breaking this promise.
In Jack's talk, he describes the imminent threat of the massive expansion of the tar sands, explaining that if the expansion continues, the tar sands developments (currently the size of Florida) will wreak destruction on the great boreal forest - the largest carbon sink in the world.
Currently, Alberta's tar sands are the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada and the greatest obstacle to Canada meeting its global climate change responsibilities.
Should the tiny Beaver Lake Cree community of 900 prove victorious, tar sands expansion projects would be forced to stop. Jack Woodward's point is that the only sure way to halt the ecologically disastrous expansion is legally, through dealing with Aboriginal treaty rights that are protected under the Canadian Constitution.
"Only the Indigenous treaty peoples of Alberta have the legal power to curtail the reckless behaviour of the wealthiest, most powerful industries on the planet."
How British Columbia Got Its Name
Jack Woodward explains in two minutes how Canada's western-most province came to have its moniker. The explanation may not come as a surprise if you follow First Nations land or rights and title issues, but the province's previous name might!
Click here to watch the YouTube video!
Jack Woodward on Beaver Lake Cree First Nation and the Tar Sands - The Context, Law and Treaty Rights from IPSMO - Indig Ppls Sol Mvmt Ott on Vimeo.