The Tribal Chair of the Tsilhqot’in National Government says the provincial government has some explaining to do.
Chief Joe Alphonse is responding to the decision to extend the Environmental Assessment Certificate for Taseko Mine’s New Prosperity Mine.
Alphonse says that is a dead issue as far as they are concerned and he says the honorable thing for the Province to do would have been to deny the extension.
Alphonse says the last permit stated upon Federal approval, something Ottawa didn’t do…
“They need to follow what they had laid out in their permits originally and be consistent with their own decisions.”
“This talks about a government that’s making up its’ own rules as they go and that’s not acceptable. You have to be credible regardless of what the permit is and who are applying; this is our friend here and we’re going to apply, that’s not good governance.”
Alphonse says the issue could end back in court and may even derail their title negotiations with the province.
“We want to work with the province, we want to work with Canada. We’ve entered into a negotiation on a government to government basis.”
“We want to be acknowledged and to benefit from natural resource extraction. We want to have joint management responsibilities and benefits.”
The Ministry of Environment granted Taseko Mines Ltd. a 5-year extension to its environmental assessment certificate for its Prosperity Mine project, located 125 kilometers southwest of Williams Lake, on Wednesday.