Xatśūll First Nation is filing an appeal to overturn a B.C Supreme Court decision and continue to fight for the respect of its Aboriginal Rights and Title.
The First Nation filed with the B.C Court of Appeal to overturn the B.C Supreme Court’s decision on August 6 to uphold the Provincial authorizations to allow Mount Polley Mine Corporation to continue raising the height of its Tailings Storage Facility Dam by four metres. The dam is the same dam where a failure in 2014 led to catastrophic damage to Xatśūll Territory, in one of the worst mining disasters in Canadian History.
Xatśūll filed a judicial review with the Supreme Court in April 2025 to stop the raising of the dam, saying an environmental assessment was not conducted. The Minister of Mining and Critical Minerals and the Minister of Environment and Parks said the approval of the dam followed “comprehensive technical reviews by experts, including external engineers, and consulting First Nations.” The Supreme Court dismissed Xatśūll’s review in August.
“The precedent of the August 6th ruling needs to be set right,” said Kukpi7 Rhonda
Phillips, Xatśūll First Nation.
“The Mount Polley Mine needs to be held to 2025 standards
for environmental oversight and Aboriginal rights protection, not to more limited standards
from nearly 40 years ago, which is the effect of the ruling. This is particularly important
given the history of the mine’s impacts on our Territory and Mount Polley’s plans to
expand further.”
The Xatśūll First Nation says “correcting” the Supreme Court’s decision is an important step towards ensuring the Province regulates the Mount Polley Mine Corporation to protect the environment sufficiently, as well as respect Xatśūll’s Aboriginal rights and titles “now and for the future.”
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