Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

September 30, 2014

Mt Polley Disaster: Action on Oct 1, 2014



Emergency Action Oct. 1, 2014

We are calling upon communities to join us this Wednesday, October 1, at 12 PM for an emergency province wide action in solidarity with the Klabona Keepers to shut down Imperial Metals. Drum, sing, take the streets, rally, sit in, be creative and gather with your networks to stand up against the Mt.Polley disaster and keep Imperial Metals from destroying yet another integral salmon-bearing watershed!

This afternoon the Klabona Keepers in alliance with the Secwepemc lit an estsu kun’desk’āke (Grandmothers Fireplace) at the entrance of Imperial Metals Red Chris Mine to gather the Indigenous and settler communities to unite, and in one voice demand action. This fire is lit under the collective jurisdictions of all Nations connected by the water and the salmon and has been lit to halt the Red Chris Imperial Metals mine operations until further notice out of concern for their community of Iskut, which is located only 18km away from the mine site.

On August 4th, 2014, Imperial Metals Mount Polley mine unleashed billions of gallons of toxic wastewater into the deepest glacier fed lake in the world and into the river host to second largest salmon run in the world. It is common knowledge that sudden and catastrophic failure is a consistent and major risk of all large tailings storage facilities using earthen dams. The bigger the dam, the higher the risk. The Imperial Metals Red Chris mine's storage facility in Tahltan territory is much larger and uses the same structure and technology as the Mount Polley Mine and so it is not a question of if, but when the storage facility would breach and destroy yet another integral salmon-bearing watershed, the Stikine River of the Tahltan territory.

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