Nunavut

The Indigenous World Uranium Summit, held in Window Rock, Arizona, on November 30 to December 2, 2006, was a vindication of the Navajo Nation’s ban on uranium mining in Navajo Nation Territory and a regrouping of Indigenous opposition to uranium mining globally. People from Indigenous communities around the world spoke about their experiences living with the effects of the mining and use of uranium, from Fiji to India to the North America.

There are no clean diamonds. Exploring for them, digging them out of the ground and selling them requires sacrifices from the natural environment, from the wildlife and fish that live on it, and from the Aboriginal people who depend on it.

We want to ensure that the public understand that Canada’s Aboriginal communities are engaged in a daily power struggle to ensure that the mines benefit their people, and to ensure that these mines do not irreversibly damage the intricate web of life on which we all depend.

The Innu Nation and MiningWatch Canada convened a workshop in Ottawa, Ontario on September 10-12, 1999 entitled "Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Aboriginal Communities and Mining". We present here the workshop summary and documentation, including the case studies that were prepared for it.