Committee focuses on impact to mining industry in Yukon

A group of people representing miners, environmentalists, native people and the government have a tall order in the Yukon: they must reach a consensus. Members of the Yukon Mining Advisory Committee are searching for common ground on proposed changes to the Northern Inland Waters Act and the federal environmental review process.

Then they will report by March 8 to Tom Siddon, the federal minister of northern affairs, committee chair Bill Dunbar said.

“If we can come to some consensus up here in the Yukon, it makes it easier for the minister,” Dunbar said. “We are all stakeholders in this.”

The March deadline for an initial report means a hectic schedule of meetings at a slow time of year for the territory’s mining industry.

Dunbar said meetings have taken up five full days since the committee was established in December. Two more days were set for the last week of January and another four days in February.

The committee plans to make recommendations to Siddon, Dunbar said, making sure that the minister understands the impact that changes in legislation will have in the Yukon.

A sustainable mining industry is an important goal in this process, Dunbar said.

“It accounts for a significant amount of our total economy,” he said, adding that “everyone wants to be reasonable and cognizant of the environment.”

Dunbar is president of NorthwesTel in Whitehorse. The idea, he said, was to have a chair not aligned with any one group. He said it has been an education for him so far.

Understanding other changes that are planned under the Yukon Indian land claim settlement is also an important part of the committee work.

In mid-January, Yukon native people agreed on a process for ratification of the settlement, under which the 14 Yukon bands would receive 41,000 sq. km or 8.6% of the territory. The land claim would also see establishment of more review boards for mining and other land uses.

Paul Birckel, chief of the Champagne-Aishihik Indian Band, is the representative of the Council for Yukon Indians on the mining advisory committee.

Being involved in the committee, Birckel said he is able to understand more of where miners are coming from. Birckel said his band is trying to put more members to work to reduce its social problems, and he can see that miners’ livelihoods are at stake, too.

“We have to have something that respects everyone,” Birckel said.

Other committee members represent the Yukon Chamber of Mines, the Klondike Placer Miners Association,the Yukon Conservation Society, and the territorial and federal governments.