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[News release] Ontario should amend the Mining Act to provide for consultation with First Nations when granting mining claims and leases and stop treating public lands as freely open to mineral exploration, according to Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner, Gordon Miller.

[Joint news release] Litigation was launched today against Canada’s Minister of Environment to ensure that the hundreds of millions of kilograms of toxic mining waste being kept secret from the Canadian public are reported.

Following a Federal Court decision on September 25, 2007, the future of the proposed Red Chris mine - a huge acid-generating mine proposed for north-western British Columbia – has been put in doubt.

The precedent-setting decision upholds the fundamental right of Canadians to be consulted during the environmental assessment of large mines on the comprehensive study list. The Court found that the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act enshrined this right when it was amended in October 2003.

The Kemess North Mine Joint Review Panel has concluded that the mine "in its present form" would not be in the public interest. The Panel says that any economic and social benefits from the project are outweighed by its long-term risks to the environment and by its social and cultural impacts on Aboriginal people. It has recommended to federal and provincial environment Ministers that the project not be permitted.