It’s a familiar story — in Canada, and around the world. A small community is forever changed when a mining company is too cheap, or too careless, to safeguard ecosystems and human rights. These communities should not have to be the watchdogs over an industry that enjoys lavish government subsidies and tax breaks. Yet, off B.C.’s north coast, it was Gitxaała’s Guardian Watchmen who discovered the desecration of their territory after a company mining for gold released tailings and effluent into a nearby creek, pond, wetland, and forest on Banks Island — known, to Gitxaała, as sacred Lax k’naga dzol. The company filed for bankruptcy and abandoned the site, which still hasn’t been cleaned up. 

The mining mogul responsible for leaving that mess behind was fined just $30k. The cost of cleanup? $2.2 million — a price that B.C. taxpayers are likely on the hook for.  

But Gitxaała aren’t looking for compensation for the damage done in their territory. They want nothing less than to stop bad actors in the mining industry before they even get started. With their legal challenge, which they won  in September 2023, Gitxaała have secured a legally binding commitment for B.C. to reform the mineral staking system. Next up? Gitxaała have launched an appeal to that ruling that would, if successful, ensure B.C. abides by its own Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, which requires the free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples ahead of permitting mining on their territories.

Gitxaała Nation has pushed back against injustice with their courageous and wickedly effective legal challenge. In addition to setting a groundbreaking precedent, Gitxaała has managed to get B.C. to place a moratorium on any new claims staking on most of their lands and waters ahead of the new Mineral Tenure Act that will come into effect one year from now. 

Industry insiders are talking about an expected five fold increase in mining to get at the copper, nickel, and other minerals we’ll need to electrify the future. Meanwhile, enormously influential corporate lobbyists are telling regulators that the only way to meet the demand for this rush on critical minerals is to slash red tape. 

“Slashing red tape” looks like more ‘orphaned mines’ like the one on Banks Island. It means trampling over Indigenous land-use plans, and putting mines in delicate ecosystems where we should be prioritising their protection. And it means continuing a disgraceful pattern of dishonouring people’s rights that has caused untold damage to relationships between Indigenous Peoples and settlers, and between humans and the more-than-human world. 

For RAVEN, this new mining paradigm means that, unless we gather support for Indigenous Nations to uphold and strengthen their rights and protections in court, things are going to get a whole lot worse. 

Donate now as Gitxaała prepares their arguments in a case that stands to enshrine Indigenous consent into law — not only for Gitxaała, but for every Indigenous Nation in Canada.