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From: my CNW
To: Portfolio E-Mail
Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 8:09 PM
Subject: Elders threaten blockade against coal mine in Sacred Headwaters
my CNW
Tahltan Central Council
Transmitted by CNW Group on : August 15, 2013 23:08
Elders threaten blockade against coal mine in Sacred Headwaters
DEASE LAKE, BC, Aug. 15, 2013 /CNW/ - The Tahltan Central Council acknowledges
the frustrations felt by Tahltan people that lead to more than 30 Tahltan
Elders and community members to serve a "24 hour eviction notice" to Fortune
Minerals on Wednesday night in our territory in northwest B.C.
We are told that after the notice expires at 8pm Thursday, the protesters who
are calling themselves the "Klabona Keepers" may blockade the company's air
travel in and out of the area, and frustrate the company's operations. We are
further told that the RCMP and Fortune Mineral representatives may be attending
to the area.
Fortune Minerals is a junior mining company proposing a massive open pit coal
mine that will impact more than 4,000 hectares of pristine wilderness and
destroy Mount Klappan.
We are sympathetic of the need to find a solution to the concerns being raised.
At our recent AGM, the Tahltan people unanimously passed a resolution calling
for the permanent protection of this area, known to us as the Klappan or
"Sacred Headwaters." The region supports three major salmon-bearing rivers -
the Skeena, Nass and Stikine, and its preservation is fundamental to our
hunting, fishing and cultural practices that have gone on for thousands of
years.
"I am not surprised that our people are taking action against Fortune Minerals,
we have had concerns with a coal mine in the Klappan for many years and our
people want to see the Klappan / Sacred Headwaters permanently protected." said
Annita McPhee, TCC President.
"We have been fighting this development for so long. It is time to start
building long term solutions that will protect our land and culture," said
McPhee.
"Fortune Minerals' project is located in a critically important area that
requires long term management and protection to preserve cultural and
ecological values for the Tahltan people, and all of B.C. We are very
encouraged that the Provincial Government has committed to working with us to
develop a protection vision for the Klappan."
Tahltan Elder-led blockades have gone on for months before. In 2005, the
Tahltan blockaded Fortune Minerals from entering the Klappan. This resulted in
15 arrests, most of which were Elders, and a drawn out legal battle. Likewise,
following years of similar protests, Shell Canada relinquished its contentious
shale gas tenures in the Klappan in 2012.
The TCC is the Tahltan Nation governing body representing the collective
aboriginal title and rights interests of all Tahltan peoples.
Mount Klappan is adjacent to the Spatsizi Wilderness Area - about a 6-hour
drive north of Terrace.
SOURCE Tahltan Central Council
For further information:
Annita McPhee, President, Tahltan Central Council: 604-754-9974
Tahltan Central Council - More on this organization
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