[IPSM] Report Details Free Entry Mining Conflicts with First Nations

[willowtree at mts.net]

FYI...



*Report Details Free Entry Mining Conflicts with First Nations
*http://intercontinentalcry.org/report-details-free-entry-mining-conflicts-with-first-nations/*
*

The International Boreal Conservation Campaign (IBCC) has just released 
a report that reveals the entire array of potential (and ongoing) land 
conflicts that exist as a result of Canada’s outdated (colonial) “free 
entry” mining law.

The report is titled “Mining Exploration Conflicts in Canada’s Boreal 
Forest,” and you can download it at the IBCC website. 
<http://www.interboreal.org./index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=98&Itemid=197> 


See below for a press release about the report by the Canadian Boreal 
Initiative. Also, here’s the map showing Mining Claims, Indigenous 
Communites and Treaty Lands
<http://intercontinentalcry.org/wp-content/uploads/map-borealforest-mining-aboriginalpdf_01.jpg>


        Report Details Free Entry Mining Conflicts with First Nations,
        Conservation and Wildlife

May 14, 2008 - A report and set of maps released today offer a first 
time overview of the extent to which mining claims staked under an 
outdated free entry system conflict with Aboriginal rights, private 
landowners, conservation, wildlife, and other values in Canada’s Boreal 
Forest. The report calls for modernizing the mining law.

Over a half-million sq km of mineral claims are currently staked across 
Canada’s Boreal Forest under a “free entry” tenure system implemented 
150 years ago during the Klondike gold rush era. Under the free entry 
system, mineral rights are acquired automatically without consideration 
of other land-use priorities or the prior and informed consent of 
affected Aboriginal people. Ten per cent of Canada’s vast Boreal Forest 
is staked for mining. “We are living in the 21st century with a mining 
law that dates back to the colonial era. It needs to be reformed,” noted 
Larry Innes of the Canadian Boreal Initiative, “Social and environmental 
objectives - such as resolving Aboriginal land claims and ensuring 
conservation planning before development–should take precedence but 
under the current system, mineral rights are given first priority.

The maps released today show potential conflicts over vast regions of 
Canada, including areas where mineral exploration overlaps with 
unsettled Aboriginal land claims; mineral claims which encroach on 
proposed protected areas; and regions where intensive exploration is 
occurring within threatened woodland caribou habitat. The report offers 
case studies of British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec to illustrate the 
rising conflicts fuelled by booming investments in mineral exploration 
and the outdated free entry mining system.

This report comes out as seven Ontario First Nations leaders serve 
extended jail sentences for peacefully protesting unwanted mining 
exploration activities on traditional land, underscoring the extent of 
the conflicts.

“Developing world countries have generally done a poor job of protecting 
indigenous rights from the pressure of mining interests. The world 
expects a country like Canada to demonstrate enlightened leadership, not 
to throw First Nations chiefs in jail,” noted Steve Kallick of the 
International Boreal Conservation Campaign.

A recently released report by the conservative Fraser Institute also 
recognized ongoing land conflicts between mineral exploration, 
Aboriginal Rights and environmental concerns as a serious impediment to 
mining investment.

“In our analysis, reforms are not only necessary, but readily 
achievable,” concluded Innes. “Moving to a modern system that enables 
rational planning, accommodates Aboriginal rights, and takes other 
values into account before decisions are made makes good sense on 
environmental, social and economic grounds. Such reform will promote a 
viable climate for investment, ensure protection of critical habitats, 
and improve opportunities for Aboriginal and Northern communities to 
benefit from responsible mineral exploration and development.”

The report calls for fundamental legislative and industry reform to 
resolve current conflicts and prevent future ones. This would include 
replacing the free-entry system with a permitting system for prospecting 
and exploration; requiring exploration and mining activities to conform 
to land use plans; requiring prior and informed consent from affected 
First Nations; and improving environmental standards for exploration.


        Further Information

For more information, please visit www.interboreal.org 
<http://www.interboreal.org> and borealcanada.ca <http://borealcanada.ca>.


        Contacts

Larry Innes, Executive Director of the Canadian Boreal Initiative, (416) 
575-6776, linnes at borealcanada.ca

Steve Kallick, Executive Director, International Boreal Conservation 
Campaign , (206) 905-4800, (206) 327-1184
(cell), skallick at pewtrusts.org.

*Background contacts:*
In Quebec: Nicolas Mainville, Boreal Campaign Coordinator, Société pour 
la nature et les parcs du Canada (SNAP), (514) 278-7627 ext. 223, 
nmainville at snapqc.org.

*Aboriginal contacts: *
Chris Reid, attorney for both KI and the Ardoch Algonquin, (416) 
466-9928, lawreid at aol.com. He can arrange interviews with jailed First 
Nations leaders KI Chief Donny Morris or jailed former Ardoch Algonquin 
Chief Robert Lovelace.

Jacob Ostaman, acting KI Chief since KI Chief Donny Morris is in jail, 
(807) 537-2263.

Dave Porter, Political Executive, First Nations Summit, British 
Columbia, former Deputy Premier of the Yukon, (778) 772-8542;

Paul Blom, expert on modern treaty negotiations and mining, (250) 613-7949.

*Private property owners: *
Marilyn Crawford, (613) 273-4511, marilync at rideau.net. Had her Ontario 
property staked and has now been working on the free entry issue since 
2002.

Rob Westie, (604) 533-3132, (778) 888-8563 (cell), rob at bclor.ca. Had his 
land staked by a neighbor. Formed the British Columbia Land Owners’ 
Rights group at http://www.bclor.ca/ and is in contact with other BC 
landowners.

*Government contacts:*
BC: Hon. Richard Neufeld, Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum 
Resources, (250) 387-5896;
ON: Hon. Michael Gravelle, Minister of Northern Development and Mines, 
(416) 327-0633;
QC: Hon. Claude Béchard, Ministre de Ressources naturelles et faune, 
(418) 643-7295;

*Wildlife Impacts:*
Jim Schaefer, Associate Professor of Biology, Trent University, caribou 
biologist, (705) 750-0812, jschaefer at trentu.ca.

*Human Rights: *
Craig Benjamin, Campaigner for the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 
Amnesty International Canada, (613) 744-7667 ext. 235, 
cbenjami at amnesty.ca. He has spoken on behalf of the imprisoned First 
Nations leaders.