White River First Nation ("WRFN") insists Goldcorp's Coffee Creek Mine Project requires Panel Review

BEAVER CREEK, YT, May 2, 2018 /CNW/ - WRFN is strongly suggesting to the Yukon Government and the Yukon Environmental and Socio-Economic Assessment Board ("YESAB") that the highest level of assessment (Panel Review) for this project is essential. Over the course of the adequacy screening process, WRFN has raised major concerns on the proposed Coffee Creek gold mine project with Canada, Yukon, Goldcorp and YESAB. WRFN will be submitting formal requests that this matter be referred to a Panel Review in the coming weeks.

"After returning from a trip to Coffee Creek, we are concerned more than ever that this project is just the tip of the iceberg in this area. This area is important to WRFN history, culture, and way of life. We share this area with other Nations and I'm sure all of us want to make the water, wildlife, and land the priority for our people. We don't want another repeat of the Faro mine where the First Nations were not adequately consulted…and now look at the mess all Canadians are paying to clean up. Nor do we want another situation like we saw in the Peel planning process where political goals superseded a process people put their trust in. We are worried this is a done-deal being rushed through," said WRFN Chief Angela Demit.

WRFN is particularly concerned about the impact this project will have on caribou herds and their way of life, given the project's intended expansion, as well as the development of a new major road network.

Goldcorp CEO David Garofolo stated publicly in Nov. 2017 in Up Here that he would like to build an "industrial complex" in this area to create a "much larger operation". The Premier and Prime Minister want to fund an expansive new road network attached to the project with their Yukon Resource Gateway Infrastructure project. As a result, WRFN has raised concerns about cumulative impacts within the area. https://uphere.ca/articles/qa-david-garofalo 

The WRFN Traditional Territory (submitted in 1990; when WRFN officially became a Government) and supporting historic and current use information affirm our claim to our asserted Aboriginal rights. These rights were exercised in the project area long before both Kaminak and Goldcorp acquired the mineral claims. The WRFN Chief in 1990 who submitted that assertion to both the Yukon- and Federal Governments was born in Coffee Creek, YT. WRFN is concerned that our rights will be detrimentally affected by this project, related developments and the current regulatory process.

WRFN Legal Counsel Robert Freedman said, "We have raised important regulatory issues that reflect WRFN's unique aboriginal rights assertions in this area. There are recent legal precedents such as the Clyde River case, germane to WRFN and this project, that are not being adequately addressed by the Crown and regulatory bodies.   My clients do not want political objectives to override proper environmental, cultural and rights-based regulatory reviews, in a rush to approve this project and the related new roads without properly considered public input."

Chief Demit also stated, "WRFN is supportive of responsible mining within our Traditional Territory, but I'm really worried that the assessment process is been pushed along too quickly and more time is needed to collect information...both points that we have been consistent in raising. How can YESAB properly review a project such as this without a full Panel Review? Ours is an oral history and culture which comprises our Traditional Knowledge; passing papers back and forth will not allow us to convey our issues and concerns through our oral history.  Yukoners will be taking on a significant liability licensing this project, and we are facing significant infringement on our rights, culture and sense of place…the full extent of which has yet to be determined."

SOURCE White River First Nation

Chief Angela Demit, WRFN, [phone]; Robert Freedman, JFK Law, [phone]