Alternatives North calls for audit of NWT resource management

Following Ekati entering receivership and the NWT’s environment minister deciding to shut down two mining watchdogs, Alternatives North is calling for an audit of the territory’s resource management.

In a news release earlier this week, the NWT social, environmental and economic justice coalition argued the territorial government has “not proven itself as a responsible resource manager with repeated receiverships, public liabilities and contaminated sites,” and said it needs to “do much better.”

“I don’t think GNWT’s track record is very good in terms of resource management,” Alternatives North spokesperson and former NWT MLA Kevin O’Reilly told Cabin Radio.

He pointed to criticism of the territory’s management of the Cantung mine and Mactung deposit, Cameron Hills oil and gas project and Ekati diamond mine as examples, noting Ekati does not have an approved final closure plan.

While territorial officials have said they’re confident Ekati’s previous owners provided enough money for remediation, others, including O’Reilly, are not convinced taxpayers won’t be on the hook for the costs of cleanup.

O’Reilly also questioned whether there will be enough funding for the Independent Environmental Monitoring Agency, the independent oversight body for Ekati, to continue its work.

“This is not a good place to be,” he said. “So we think that it is time for the auditor general to look at GNWT’s performance as a resource manager.”

O’Reilly said he’s not aware of any previous analysis by the Auditor General of Canada into how the NWT government has managed lands and waters since devolution, particularly big mining projects.

The NWT Department of Environment and Climate Change and environment minister Jay Macdonald’s office did not return Cabin Radio’s request for comment by the time of publication.

‘You would think that you’d want to have some oversight of that’

Alternatives North further criticized two recent decisions by the environment minister to shut down independent oversight bodies for the Snap Lake and Diavik diamond mines.

“Independent oversight of large projects has been a hallmark of NWT environmental management for over 20 years. This builds public confidence that our environment is protected and someone is watching government and the co-management system itself,” O’Reilly was quoted as saying in the organization’s news release.

“It’s rather ironic that GNWT gets rid of independent oversight for itself at the request of mining companies, just when the largest diamond mine has become a public liability.”

Macdonald issued a decision in June to wind down the work of the Snap Lake Environmental Monitoring Agency, or Slema, by the end of March 2030. Late last month, the minister agreed to shut down operation of the Environmental Advisory Monitoring Board, or Emab, the public watchdog for Diavik, by the end of March 2027.

Alternatives North highlighted inconsistencies between the decisions and said they both lacked public engagement.

O’Reilly noted Emab is set to conclude while active closure work is underway at Diavik. The mine ended commercial production in March. Active closure work at the site is expected to take until roughly 2029, followed by a monitoring period that could continue into the 2040s.

By contrast, Slema’s work will continue into post-closure monitoring at Snap Lake. The mine ended commercial production in 2015 and closure activities at the site were completed last year. Under the final closure and reclamation plan for the mine, environmental monitoring it set to continue for at least 10 years following closure.

Alternatives North said independent oversight is needed to observe or detect potential closure impacts at Diavik. O’Reilly highlighted ongoing work to fill open pits at the mine with water as an activity he said should have third-party oversight beyond the oversight provided by the land and water board.

“These are huge pits right next to a very large freshwater body. This has never been done in the Northwest Territories before,” he told Cabin Radio. “You would think that you’d want to have some oversight of that.”

O’Reilly also raised concern that Diavik will be in charge of designing and reviewing a new fund for technical reviews during the mine’s closure, rather than the NWT government.

“It’s a very bizarre arrangement that does very little to protect the public interest,” he said.

In his decision regarding the future of Emab, Macdonald said he had considered input from signatories to Diavik’s environmental agreement.

While the Tłı̨chǫ Government and Yellowknives Dene First Nation had supported Diavik’s request to wind down Emab, the North Slave Métis Alliance and Kitikmeot Inuit Association had argued the advisory board’s work should continue through active closure and post-closure of the mine.

Macdonald wrote that his decision “recognizes the reduced need for Emab’s oversight role throughout the transition to closure, given the mature, integrated co-management system that has developed in the Northwest Territories,” since the environmental agreement was signed in 2000.

Diavik told Cabin Radio that it is “comfortable with the terms of the minister’s decision” and its “focus remains on closing the mine responsibly.”

Macdonald’s decision on Slema states he consulted the parties to Snap Lake’s environmental agreement. He wrote that the approach for winding down the agency “recognizes significant reduction in site activity following completion of active closure work.”

DeBeers Canada, which owns the mine, told Cabin Radio in a statement that the company welcomes Macdonald’s decision as it “reflects the fact the site is moving into a new phase of long-term monitoring.”

The company said it has “enjoyed a cooperative working relationship” with Slema since it was established in 2004.

Slema’s executive director, Shin Shiga, said in a statement to Cabin Radio that the oversight body “views the minister’s decision as a balanced outcome.”

Shiga said Slema particularly appreciates that the decision recognizes the importance of community and Elder site visits.

Going forward, he said, the agency will focus on supporting Indigenous governments to “ensure a smooth transition of oversight,” adding that that Slema remains focused on “ensuring that annual budget negotiations remain fair and constructive.”

“While site activity has reduced, effective technical review and community site visits require dedicated resources,” he said.

Both Shiga and De Beers said current activities at Snap Lake are focused on environmental monitoring and water management to ensure the site continues to meet environmental standards.

They said the site will transition to passive water discharge over the coming year, meaning water will naturally flow into Snap Lake without active pumping.

De Beer’s said once that transition is achieved, the temporary post-closure camp at the site can be removed allowing monitoring to shift to monthly site visits during the open-water season.

The company said water quality is “well below” thresholds outlined in the water licence and the final closure and reclamation plan for the mine.

Shiga said water quality in Snap Lake continues to show improving trends since underground mining ended, and physical structures on the site remain stable.

“Slema will continue to monitor these trends closely alongside community representatives over the remainder of our mandate to confirm that the site is on a permanent trajectory toward self-sustaining ecological recovery,” he said.