First Nation of Na Cho Nyäk Dun was not invited to technical briefings

Friday, 19 July 2024 12:51

A map displayed at the July 18 technical briefing that shows the locations of water monitoring sites near Eagle Gold mine. (Photo: S. Bonell

FNNND's Implementation and Governance Manager also says that senior government leadership have not met with the First Nation in person since the June 24 heap leach failure.

First Nation of Na Cho Nyäk Dun Chief Dawna Hope says that neither she, nor any representative from her Nation, were invited to speak at technical briefings discussing the Eagle Gold mine incident last month.

In an interview with CHON-FM following the Government of Yukon’s fourth technical briefing yesterday, Chief Hope echoed her earlier concerns with how the government is handling the heap leach failure at Victoria Gold’s Eagle Gold mine.

When asked why Na Cho Nyäk Dun wasn’t represented at these briefings, she explained that she didn’t even find out about the first briefing until it was almost too late.

“We were not even informed of the press to begin with until late after hours the night before the first press conference,” said Hope. “We had to actually request the link for that to participate the next day."

At every technical briefing, Yukon government officials insist that the government is in constant communication with the First Nation through this process. Chief Hope clarified that it is the technical teams that meet and communicate daily, and that the Na Cho Nyäk Dun team passes the information on to the First Nation internally.

Na Cho Nyäk Dun Implementation and Governance Manager Adrienne Hill spoke with CHON-FM as well. One of her concerns was that the government officials at these weekly panels have not visited Mayo since the incident.

“Kelly Constable has not been here,” said Hill, referring to the Yukon government’s director of mineral resources. “The [Deputy Minister] has not been here. The [Assistant Deputy Minister] has not been here. The Minister certainly has not been here.”

“Any of the senior leadership that have been on that panel, to my knowledge, have not actually been here to meet with us in person.”

“So, what Na Cho Nyäk Dun was calling for early on, in this independent panel, is to have everybody in one room to sort out the ideas. What we’re doing is we’re drafting letters and having correspondence and we’re creating ideas exclusive of the company [Victoria Gold], where the company comes back and says ‘Well, that’s not really going to work.’”

“So now we’re just wasting time.”

Two weeks ago, the First Nation of Na Cho Nyäk Dun called for the Yukon government to temporarily pause mining activity on its traditional territory. The government has yet to negotiate such a pause.

First Nation of Na Cho Nyäk Dun was not invited to technical briefings

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