At PDAC, mining told it must overcome past to gain Indigenous support

More than two decades have passed since Giant Mine ceased operations, but for the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, its memory is fresh.

The mine, which operated from 1948 to 2004 on the edge of Yellowknife, has a dark and destructive history which has left lasting social, cultural and environmental impacts in the region.

Matthew Spence, the First Nation’s chief executive officer, spoke about the legacy of the mine at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference in Toronto last week, during a session titled “Building social licence: A role in community-led mining education.”

Spence said some Yellowknives Dene remain distrustful of mining operations, which makes it challenging for new projects to gain traction in the area.

Over its lifetime, Giant Mine released more than 20,000 tonnes of highly toxic arsenic trioxide into the atmosphere, a byproduct of roasting gold ore. The contaminant then landed on the surrounding land and water.

“That legacy is a very difficult legacy for the Yellowknives and one that I know makes a lot of Yellowknives angry, even 25 years after the mine was closed,” Spence said.

The First Nation has, however, shown a willingness to take another look at the mining industry.

This past November, the City of Yellowknife and Yellowknives Dene First Nation staged a pair of public workshops to provide details on modern gold mining practices.

“It took a little bit of persuasion, but I think why we eventually were motivated to be involved was because of the educational nature of the workshop and that it was a safe space for people to ask questions and vent their concerns,” Spence said.

The workshops provided details about the current science behind gold mining in an effort to rebuild trust with the Yellowknives Dene.

Members of the First Nation were interested in learning what gold mining is like today compared to 1948, when Giant Mine was permitted to operate, Spence said.

“Gold mining is something that will continue, not only in Yellowknife but in the unceded territory of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation,” he said.

Spence said the workshops proved beneficial.

“I think that we saw a bit of an incremental movement towards a more trusting relationship,” he said, adding that’s largely due to a new generation of Yellowknives Dene First Nation members.

“They’re better educated,” he said. “They’re more aware. And they’re also more interested in taking a higher-level role in these things. What we need to do is bring the rest of the community along. And so, what that workshop did was provided an opportunity for a safe space.”

Spence said while the workshops started off “a little rough,” venting turned to conversation about how future mining could benefit the First Nation and “not create so many environmental issues around the community.”

“There’s really a need to change the way that Indigenous people participate in these projects,” Spence said.

“They have to be informed early. They have to have decision-making. And they have to see meaningful benefits, and the social impacts have to be managed properly. So, that’s why we got involved with the workshop.”

Building relationships

The four-day PDAC conference, which attracted around 27,000 delegates from about 135 countries, included various sessions as part of its Indigenous programming.

One of those sessions was titled “Citizen attitudes toward exploration and mining in Canada: The drivers of social licence to operate for critical minerals.”

Panel member Candice Tourville, the business development officer for the Taykwa Tagamou Nation in northern Ontario, spoke about the role of First Nations in negotiating with companies.

“Every nation is different,” she said. “Every nation has a voice and concerns. We have a lot of overlapping concerns with the environment. But I think it’s really important that we have that early engagement even before the permits are out to government. We want to [share] our perspective, our concerns, our questions.”

Tourville said companies should be asking about a community’s history and its values, and take the time to build a relationship before talking business.

“We have those types of relationships where it’s just business and it is what it is,” she said. “But I find the more meaningful relationships are where we can build that trust and they get to know us on a personal level and they respect our spiritual connections to the land.”

Tourville said there is a difference in how projects will progress depending on whether they are deemed to have a stark, transactional approach or one that will invest in building a relationship with the community.

“For those that want to be a transactional partner, I will be honest, I will dig my feet into the ground and I will hold permits off because it’s not the way that you want to deal with community,” she said.

“It’s not the way we want to have a relationship. If you were in a marriage and you didn’t listen to your wife, well, you would be in trouble. So, it’s the same thing. You want to have that reciprocal relationship.”

Tourville said an increasing number of proponents are engaging early, asking not only how they can work with First Nations but what types of concern First Nations have.

She said that’s a difficult question to answer as “there’s a spiritual element you can’t quantify.”

“I think what industry has to understand is that we’re connected to the fish, the land, the animals that utilize the air. We all have that connection,” she said. “So [proponents should] take a minute to not just come to a community and say this is our project.”

Tourville said First Nations members have critical traditional responsibilities to the land.

“We’re the ones that are speaking for the land,” she said.

“We’re the caretakers for the land. It’s the First Nation communities that live within the mining industry that will live with the impacts. So, we’re the ones that have those lasting memories of ‘I used to hunt here but now it’s a mine’.”

Asked about increasing trust with First Nations, Tourville said First Nations that support mining do not have a “drill, baby, drill” mentality.

“It’s about doing it responsibly along with the community and working together, building trust, having open communication about the positives, about the negatives, and not being scared to be transparent with communities,” she said.