(Vancouver, BC) – At the BC Assembly of First Nations’ annual general meeting in Kamloops last week, chiefs from across BC unanimously endorsed a resolution supporting those First nations in northern BC who object to the planned destruction of Duncan Lake by Vancouver-based Northgate Minerals Corporation.
Duncan Lake will be destroyed if the company’s Kemess North Mine application is approved by the joint Canada-BC environmental review process currently underway. Duncan Lake is also known as Amazay by the Sustu’dene (Sekani).
The company proposes to dump up to a billion tonnes of acidic tailings and waste rock into this pristine, fish-bearing, 6 kilometer freshwater lake. Yet, bunting, fishing and trapping still occurs in the area, while burial sites are located nearby. Moreover, the lake and entire region is subject to Aboriginal title and rights and to land claims as registered with the BC Treaty Commission.