August 21, 2013 Dog Creek - Agence canadienne d'évaluation

280 Pages·2013·0.57 MB·English

NEW PROSPERITY GOLD COPPER MINE PROJECT
FEDERAL REVIEW PANEL
CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AGENCY
AGENCE CANADIENNE D'ÉVALUATION ENVIRONMENTALE
HEARING HELD AT
Dog Creek Community Centre
15 Dog Creek Road,
Dog Creek, British Columbia
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Volume 21
FEDERAL REVIEW PANEL
Bill Ross
Ron Smyth
George Kupfer
International Reporting Inc.
41-5450 Canotek Road,
Ottawa, Ontario
K1J 9G2
www.irri.net
1-800-899-0006
(ii)
TABLE OF CONTENTS / TABLE DES MATIERES
PAGE
Opening remarks by Chief David Archie 4
Opening remarks by Panel Chair 6
Presentation by Taseko 15
Presentation by Chief David Archie 59
Presentation by Chief Bev Sellars 85
Presentation by Tina Sellars 101
Presentation by Jacinda Mack 109
Presentation by Donna Dixon 119
Presentation by Sandra Archie 132
Presentation by David Archie 141
Presentation by Chief Ann Louie 149
Presentation by Virginia Gilbert 159
Presentation by Heather Mckenzie 162
Presentation by Patrick Harry 164
Presentation by Chief Mike Archie 165
Presentation by Allan Adams 170
Presentation by Patrick Harry 181
Presentation by Devon Hancock 203
Presentation by Harold Harry 208
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1 (iii)
2 TABLE OF CONTENTS / TABLE DES MATIERES
3 PAGE
4 Presentation by Joyce Harry 219
5 Presentation by Linda Harry 233
6 Presentation by Virginia Robbins 237
7 Presentation by Linda Smith 241
8 Closing remarks by Taseko 241
9 Closing remarks by Panel 258
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1 Dog Creek, British Columbia
2 --- Upon commencing at 10:11 a.m.
3 --- Opening ceremony.
4 OPENING REMARKS BY CHIEF DAVID ARCHIE:
5 CHIEF ARCHIE: I'd like to
6 welcome our Chiefs, our community members, our
7 honoured guests, our visitors. Welcome to
8 Stswecem'c, Xgat'tem. Welcome to Secwepemc.
9 On behalf of our community, I'd
10 like to extend our hands in welcoming a good day
11 today, welcoming open hearts, open minds and good
12 words.
13 So, from that, we'll move into
14 the day. And thank you all for being here and we
15 look forward to what the day brings.
16 CHAIRPERSON ROSS: Thank you,
17 very much, Chief Archie. Good morning, everyone.
18 Welcome to the community hearing session within
19 Stswecem'c, Xgat'tem regarding Taseko Mine's
20 proposed New Prosperity Gold Copper Mine.
21 Our great appreciation to the
22 Stswecem'c, Xgat'tem First Nations within whose
23 traditional territory we are holding this hearing
24 today and for the warm welcome and the opening
25 ceremony that you have given us. At this time we
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1 have a modest gift for Chief David Archie and band
2 council as well as for elders.
3 --- Gift presentation from Panel.
4 CHAIRPERSON ROSS: I understand
5 Taseko also has some gifts for Chief Archie.
6 --- Gift presentation from Taseko.
7 CHAIRPERSON ROSS: I'll now
8 introduce the Panel. My name is Bill Ross. On my
9 right is George Kupfer. On my left is Ron Smyth.
10 Secretariat members, I believe all behind me, are
11 Livain Michaud, Jason Patchell, Joanne Smith,
12 Maryléne Cormier, and Courtney Trevis. Our
13 staff -- I see they're not all behind me.
14 Our staff are identified with
15 name tags and they will be able to assist you with
16 any logistics or process-related questions you
17 might have. At this time, Chief Archie, would you
18 like to introduce your council or others.
19 CHIEF ARCHIE: Once again,
20 welcome. I'd like to introduce our council, if
21 you could come up and -- we have Patrick Harry.
22 Allan Adams, Ken Harry. And Ken, I believe, is in
23 the kitchen helping out. There's Ken right there.
24 We also have Hank Adams, who is not available
25 today. He's out on the river. So welcome from
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1 our community and our elders. Thank you.
2 CHAIRPERSON ROSS: Thank you,
3 Chief Archie. I'm going from memory what's over
4 the page here. Yes, Taseko Mines, would you like
5 to introduce your staff.
6 MR. YELLAND: My name is Greg
7 Yelland. I'm the chief engineer of Taseko Mines.
8 Behind me is our legal counsel, Carl Gustafson,
9 and Brittnee Russell.
10 MS. GIZIKOFF: I'm Katherine
11 Gizikoff. I'm the director of environment and
12 government affairs for Taseko.
13 MS. SMITH: And I'm Christy
14 Smith, manager of community and Aboriginal
15 affairs.
16 OPENING REMARKS BY PANEL CHAIR:
17 CHAIRPERSON ROSS: Thank you.
18 Before we get to the session, I have a few
19 housekeeping items. The session here will go
20 until 6 o'clock today. We will try to finish at
21 that time to accommodate those who are required to
22 travel.
23 In terms of safety procedures,
24 if there is an emergency I will try to indicate
25 the nature of the emergency by making an
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1 announcement if that's a possible and appropriate.
2 In the event of a fire, we ask everyone to proceed
3 calmly out the nearest door, probably that one,
4 but that's a possibility as well, and assemble
5 away from the building.
6 In the event of a medical
7 emergency, please let one of the secretariat
8 members know immediately. We have limited first
9 aid supplies that could be helpful.
10 My opening remarks are fairly
11 lengthy today, so please bear we me. The purpose
12 of the community hearing session is to provide an
13 opportunity for the Panel to receive information
14 from the Stswecem'c, Xgat'tem First Nations and
15 other members of the community on the potential
16 environmental affects of Taseko's proposal to
17 construct an open pit gold copper mine in the
18 vicinity of Fish Lake.
19 The hearing is also designed to
20 provide opportunities to Taseko Mines to seek to
21 explain the proposed project and to respond to
22 concerns and questions raised by other
23 participants.
24 In terms of our terms of
25 reference, I should point out that we are not the
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1 Government of Canada. We are not the Proponent.
2 We are appointed by the Federal Minister of the
3 Environment to conduct an assessment of the
4 environmental affects of the proposed mine under
5 the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act 2012.
6 We've been given specific terms
7 of reference by the Minister for this review.
8 There are key features set out in the mandate.
9 The Panel has reviewed the
10 information generated as part of the 2009/2010
11 environmental assessment for the proposed
12 Prosperity Mine, including the environmental
13 impact statement and the previous Panel's report.
14 We have read the transcripts
15 from the Prosperity hearing, and so we're
16 interested in your views about the proposed New
17 Prosperity project.
18 We are mandated to provide
19 conclusions on the significance of adverse
20 environmental effects. We are also mandated to
21 provide recommended mitigation measures and follow
22 up programs for the management of the
23 environmental effects associated with the proposed
24 project, should the proposed project proceed.
25 If, taking into account the
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1 implementation of mitigation measures, the
2 proposed project is likely to cause significant
3 adverse environmental effects, we may include in
4 our report a summary of information that may be
5 relevant to a determination by the Government of
6 Canada with respect to the justifiability of such
7 effects.
8 With respect to First Nations,
9 the Panel shall accept and review information on
10 the nature and scope of Aboriginal rights and
11 title - potential or established - in the project
12 area, and on the potential adverse impacts and
13 potential infringement of those rights.
14 The Panel shall also review
15 information from the Prosperity Review for these
16 projects. The Panel must summarize this
17 information in it's report. The Panel also may
18 recommend mitigation measures regarding adverse
19 environmental affects of the project that could
20 adversely impact or infringe Aboriginal rights and
21 title.
22 It is important to note that
23 the Panel has no mandate to make any
24 determinations with respect to the validity or
25 strength of asserted Aboriginal rights or title
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1 claims. We have no mandate to make any
2 determination of the scope of Canada's duty to
3 consult and accommodate Aboriginal groups and we
4 have no mandate to make any determination
5 regarding whether Canada has met it's duty to
6 consult or accommodate.
7 Following the completion of
8 this assessment we will prepare a report for the
9 Minister of the Environment. The report will be
10 submitted within 70 days of the close of this
11 hearing and will be made available to the public
12 by the Minister.
13 Your participation and
14 involvement is very important to the Panel. We
15 trust it is helpful to Taseko and other
16 participants.
17 We recognize that the
18 conclusions and recommendations we will provide to
19 the Government of Canada on this matter will have
20 an impact on Canoe Creek, Dog Creek and
21 surrounding communities.
22 We want to assure you that we
23 take the responsibility given to us to assess the
24 potential environmental affects of this proposed
25 project very seriously. We ask everyone here to