B.C. Supreme Court says province failed to consult a First Nation not recognized by Ottawa as a band
https://www.westernstandard.news/bc/bc-supreme-court-says-province-failed-to-consult-a-first-nation-not-recognized-by-ottawa-as-a-band/74146
The BC Supreme Court has issued another decision stalling a massive project in Canada’s westernmost province, finding the government failed in its “duty to consult” a First Nation so small it is not even recognized as a band by the federal government.
The Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell project — better known as the “KSM Project” in northwestern British Columbia — is a proposed open pit and underground gold, copper, silver and molybdenum mine located in the asserted traditional territory of a number of First Nations.
As BC Supreme Court Justice Emily Burke noted in her June 8 decision: “It is said to be the world’s largest undeveloped gold project."
One of the groups whose territory overlaps with the project is the Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha Nation, led by Hereditary Chief Darlene Simpson.
In the petition that reached Justice Burke, Chief Simpson argued on behalf of the "nation" that the province failed to properly assess the strength of the "nation’s" Section 35 aboriginal rights and title claim before issuing the substantial start determination.
A “substantial start determination” is a critical regulatory step under the province’s Environmental Assessment Act. In plain English, it means a company has sunk enough money and research into a project that it is essentially ready to proceed, If the determination is granted, the certificate becomes valid for the life of the project.
Money and research had in fact been sunk into the project — a lot of money and research, in fact.
Seabridge Gold said it has invested more than $1.2 billion into the KSM project already.
The project sits about 65 kilometres northwest of Stewart in the Golden Triangle region of northwest British Columbia.
The Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha Nation had argued that significant parts of the project area, including the Treaty Creek Valley, lie within its "traditional territory."
A “substantial start determination” is a critical regulatory step under the province’s Environmental Assessment Act. In plain English, it means a company has sunk enough money and research into a project that it is essentially ready to proceed, If the determination is granted, the certificate becomes valid for the life of the project.
Money and research had in fact been sunk into the project — a lot of money and research, in fact.
Seabridge Gold said it has invested more than $1.2 billion into the KSM project already.
The project sits about 65 kilometres northwest of Stewart in the Golden Triangle region of northwest British Columbia.
The Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha Nation had argued that significant parts of the project area, including the Treaty Creek Valley, lie within its "traditional territory."
The federal government, however, does not recognize the Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha Nation as a band under the Indian Act.
Recognition as a band under the Act generally requires a formal request to Indigenous Services Canada or Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, followed by an assessment that the group constitutes a distinct indigenous community with shared identity, culture, language, and historical continuity.
The Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha Nation does not publicly disclose traditional government financial statements or operating budgets.
This also means there is no official federal registry or tracking of the number of members in the “nation.”
The recent June 8 BC Supreme Court decision that required KSM to go back to the drawing board as it waits for the province to meet its full "duty to consult" described the nation as having “58 known members.”
However, a 2017 environmental assessment report related to a different mining project referenced, however, a self-estimate by Chief Simpson of only 35 members.
The BC government has listed the number of members even lower, at approximately 30.
The Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha Nation, through Chief Simpson, refers to itself as the “matrilineal descendants of the original Tsetsaut people.” ""Continue…''