Demonstrators show support for Kaska Nation in fight over Yukon mine project

A group of demonstrators gathered outside the Yukon courthouse in Whitehorse on Monday, to show support for the Kaska Nation in its legal fight against a proposed mine project. 

A six-day hearing began last week in Yukon Supreme Court, focused on the territorial government's approval last year of the Kudz Ze Kayah mine in the territory's southeast. The Ross River Dena Council, on behalf of the Kaska Nation which is composed of five Dene-speaking First Nations in Yukon and B.C., asked for a judicial review of the federal and territorial government decisions to sign off on an environmental assessment of the project.

Kaska Nation has argued that the federal and territorial governments did not consult with First Nations in any meaningful way before signing off on the project. 

"I'm here to support them 100 per cent. Their message is clear, their rights are being violated," said Renée Claude Carrier, who was among the 30 or so demonstrators on Monday.

"And I'm here to support their voices, and make sure that a lot of people hear what they have to say."

The demonstration was organized by the Liard Aboriginal Women's Society, a non-profit based in Watson Lake, Yukon. Some at Monday's gathering held signs in support of Indigenous women and girls.

"When you're harming the land, you're also harming women and children. And we have to stand up and support women and children," said Carrier, who works at a transition home for women fleeing violence.  

Lianne Charlie, of the Tagé Cho Hudän/Big River People and a faculty member with the Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning, was also among the demonstrators. She said she was there to show support for Kaska elders.

"When they put the call out to say, 'come stand with us,' yeah, I had to be here," Charlie said.

"Their consent has not been given. So it stops there. And I support the right of the Kaska to be able to say no."

Vancouver-based BMC Minerals, the company behind the Kudz Ze Kayah project, wants to extract 1.8 million tonnes of zinc, 350,000 tonnes of lead and 600,000 tonnes of copper deposits over 10 years at the proposed site, about 115 kilometres southeast of Ross River, Yukon. At peak production, the mine will be capable of housing 250 workers.

Testloa Smith lives about 80 kilometres from the mine site, at Pelly Banks. He's sceptical about those plans and whether Kaska communities stand to gain much from the project.

He points to other notorious mine projects in Kaska territory — the Faro mine near Ross River, Yukon, and the Wolverine Mine near Watson Lake, Yukon — that have left behind big environmental messes.

Smith says government hasn't shown much interest in listening to Kaska concerns about wildlife and the environment.

"Their consultation doesn't go very far. They'll be in the community for maybe two or three hours in the evening, and then we voice our concern but they always seem to have some sort of answer for us that's, you know, it's kept us not fully satisfied with what they're telling us," he said.