NWT awards recognize mines for wildfire contributions

Mining companies that sent resources and people to combat the NWT’s summer wildfire crisis have been recognized at an annual industry awards ceremony.

The NWT Max Awards – Max being an abbreviation of mining and exploration – were held in Yellowknife last week.

Diamond mines Ekati, Diavik and Gahcho Kué shared an award for environmental and social leadership with junior firms Pine Point Mining and Gold Terra.

Kenny Ruptash, president of the territory’s chamber of mines, was among a group of Yellowknife residents who led efforts to hastily construct wildfire defences west of the city in August.

With Yellowknife evacuated, Ruptash said there was “tons of equipment and nobody to run it.” He described Diavik sending a night shift to help get fire breaks built, and noted how smaller firms donated everything from food to helicopter hours.

“It’s not just these five companies, but these five made sacrifices that they didn’t need to make and made them because it was the right thing to do,” Ruptash told the ceremony’s audience. The event was hosted inside Center Ice Plaza, a building that until recently housed the Luluz Market store.

Ruptash added: “The people who actually did the work, the people who supported the work, are the ones that should be getting the applause.”

Seven awards were given out on the night.

Former premier Nellie Cournoyea received a distinguished service awarded presented by another ex-premier, Bob McLeod.

“Nellie, as she has all her life, continues to support Indigenous rights, land claims and economic development in the North, and still sets an example for not just all Indigenous women and girls but all of us,” McLeod said.

“She shows us you can achieve anything if you are determined and willing to put the work into it.”

Cournoyea, accepting the award, said: “There are so many people entwined in my life that sometimes I really don’t know who I am but a whole, whole world of wonderful people who I have stood besides – who stood with me and worked with me – and worked for a cause that had visions and dreams.”

Cournoyea worked for decades not only as premier but as a leader in Indigenous governance and in industry. Though some projects, like pipelines, never came to pass, she gave examples of victories won along the way.

“We said, let’s tell Canada to quit saying ‘from sea to sea.’ We said it so much. And I notice you will not hear anything, nor anyone who does not now say ‘from sea to sea to sea,'” she said, referring to the country’s Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic coasts.

“So if we didn’t get a pipeline, we got a saying recognizing a broader country.”

This year’s women in mining award was won by Grace Mackenzie, the Tłı̨chǫ Government’s mines liaison coordinator, who was described by Women in Mining Canada chair Melissa Ng as a “leader and advocate for mining in the Northwest Territories, and particularly for Indigenous participation in this industry.”

Gaeleen MacPherson, the award’s inaugural recipient last year, said Mackenzie had been “an amazing sounding board” to her.

“I’ve gone to her for advice on a number of occasions, especially early on in my career. She’s so much fun to work with and always keen for a good laugh, and I’ve been so very lucky to call her a colleague and a friend,” MacPherson said.

Mackenzie told the audience: “As a Tłı̨chǫ person, actively working to advocate for our Indigenous brothers and sisters in mining is an incredibly rewarding experience, a rewarding time for me.

“To see individuals in the communities rise to their potential, to watch them participate in an industry that supports and promotes respect for Indigenous voices and traditional knowledge, is satisfying both professionally and personally.”

An economic leadership award was given to the Met/Nuna joint venture that has been remediating the shuttered Snap Lake former diamond mine.

That work is now around 90-percent complete, the audience heard.

“This first-of-a-kind remediation of a diamond mine project is as challenging as construction of the mine was at the time it was brought on-stream,” said Marc Whitford, president of the North Slave Métis Alliance, whose economic development arm is a partner in the joint venture.

“Taking it apart piece by piece, in a safe and environmentally friendly manner, is a far departure from the history of mine closure in the NWT. It is the way of the future,” Whitford said.

“We’re excited and remain more so as we are entering the later stages and home stretches of this remediation. The end is in sight in the distance, and we’ll get the job done together and properly restore the lands that we all live on.”

This year’s Indigenous achievement award went to the Inuvialuit Petroleum Corporation, which is working to open the M-18 gas well near Tuktoyaktuk.

Pamela Strand, deputy minister of the NWT’s Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, called that project “an ambitious and bold endeavour” that would generate natural gas, propane and synthetic diesel, providing energy security to the Beaufort Delta.

“This is just one example of how Indigenous governments and organizations can work to strengthen the NWT overall,” said Duane Smith, chair and chief executive of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation.

“Anything the Indigenous governments are able to obtain alleviates pressures on the GNWT, so we should really be working in collaboration.”

The Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission’s annual safety award went to Ekati’s Sheila Chernys. WSCC chief mines inspector Cary Ingram said Chernys had “done an excellent job in representing the North and safety in mining,” including as chair of the Northern Mine Safety Forum and as a representative on a Canada-wide mine safety roundtable.

“It really comes down to our front-line workers, the workers that are on the tools every day in the elements,” said Chernys, “and their courage to speak up and raise concerns around safety – and actually have solutions to address those safety concerns.”

The night’s final special achievement award honoured the late Don Bubar, who had been president of Avalon Advanced Materials. He passed away earlier this year at the age of 68.

Aurora Geosciences chairman Gary Vivian said Bubar “was and is a shining light in our industry.”

“Don brought not only strong exploration expertise but a vision for strong Indigenous participation to the NWT mining sector, along with a commitment to environmental sustainability even at the early exploration stage,” Vivian said.

“Don pushed environmental responsibility further, and made Avalon a leader in the junior exploration sector by filing an annual sustainability report to increase social licence confidence in his investors. This was extremely unusual, something only full-blown mines were producing at the time.”

Don’s son, Andrew, received the award on the family’s behalf.

“My father would be truly thrilled about receiving this award,” he said, “with the amount of passion and love that he had for what he did for so many years.”