Aur Resources

An emerging coalition of conservation, Aboriginal, and social justice organizations is calling on the federal government to immediately stop the practice of allowing mining companies to use Canada’s lakes as dumping grounds for toxic mine wastes.

Ottawa – NDP Fisheries and Oceans Critic Peter Stoffer (Sackville-Eastern Shore) today called on Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn to disallow mining companies the use of lakes as dump sites for toxic mining waste.

The amended Metal Mining Effluent Regulations (MMERs) have been published in the Canada Gazette Part One, and the public comment period has closed. They will become final when published in the Canada Gazette Part Two.

One of the amendments to the MMERs adds two lakes in Newfoundland to Schedule 2, which redefines them as mine waste dumps (for environmentally toxic tailings). Both lakes currently provide habitat for trout and Atlantic salmon as well as otter and other species.

Comments prepared by Catherine Coumans as representative for the Canadian Environmental Network (CEN) on the Metal Mining Effluent Regulations Multistakeholder Advisory Group, together with Maggie Paquet (Citizens’ Stewardship Coalition, Port Alberni, BC), Judy Parkman (Recycling Organization Against Rubbish, Richmond, BC) and Randy Fleming (Inter-Church Uranium Committee, Saskatoon, SK). “The current regulations and the proposed regulatory amendments do not adequately protect the environment and the health of Canadians.