Tłı̨chǫ Government signs Giant Mine benefits agreement

The Tłı̨chǫ and Canadian governments have signed a 10-year economic benefits agreement for the Giant Mine Remediation Project.

In a Thursday news release, the Tłı̨chǫ Government said its chiefs and executive council had unanimously approved the agreement with Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada.

According to that news release, Tłı̨chǫ Grand Chief Jackson Lafferty signed the agreement on behalf of the Tłı̨chǫ Government on March 6.

The Tłı̨chǫ Government said the agreement will provide it $1.99 million annually between 2025 and 2035 to implement training and employment programs for Tłı̨chǫ citizens to help them access job opportunities at the remediation project.

“This agreement not only enables us to plan for and implement training programs for Tłı̨chǫ citizens, but it also creates a path for relief from the impacts of the diamond mine closures that will also affect members of our nation who lose their jobs with mine closures,” Jackson stated.

“The training programs we advance with this funding will support the building of Tłı̨chǫ capacity and our goal to advance and uphold the Tłı̨chǫ Nation’s economic self-sufficiency.”

The federal government previously signed a community benefits agreement with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation in 2021. That agreement promised up to $20 million over 10 years to help Yellowknives Dene members benefit from the project.

The governments then signed a procurement framework agreement for the remediation project in 2023. Ottawa said at the time the deal confirmed its commitment to increase procurement opportunities for Indigenous people, while the First Nation said the agreement would provide tougher penalties for companies that fail to meet Indigenous hiring commitments.

The federal government signed a community benefits agreement with the North Slave Métis Alliance in 2023.

Remediation of the former gold mine officially began in 2021. The work is expected to cost more than $4 billion and take until at least 2038.

The project has so far struggled to meet northern and Indigenous hiring targets.

According to the project’s 2023-24 annual report, northern employees accounted for 37 percent of all person-hours worked on the project in the 2023-24 fiscal year. While that was an increase from 2022-23, it was still below the target of 55 to 70 percent.

Northern Indigenous employees worked 19 percent of total hours, again higher than 2022-23 but below the target of 25 to 35 percent.