Newsletter 31: Autumn 2011

At night, the lights at Rabbit Lake mine are visible in the west, looking across Wollaston Lake from Hatchet Lake Denesuline First Nation. “The mine opened up in the ’70s,” recalls Chief Bart Tsannie, “but it’s only recently that we’ve started to learn to live together. For a long time, there was nothing on the table for us.”

Following an extensive environmental assessment by an independent review panel, the federal government rejected Taseko Mines Ltd.’s proposed Prosperity Mine Project. Just three months later the company re-filed another proposal dubbing it the “New Prosperity” project.

One of MiningWatch’s core areas of work is the promotion of Indigenous rights and recognition of title and the stewardship role that Indigenous people maintain across Canada and internationally. This article offers an overview of recent developments, including hopeful signs but also the considerable challenges in reconciling Indigenous rights and title with the mining industry and Canadian governments.

This is a synopsis of a paper by Catherine Coumans published in: Governance Ecosystems CSR in the Latin American Mining Sector, edited by Julia Sagebien and Nicole Marie Lindsay, in the International Political Economy Series published by Palgrave Macmillan, November 2011.