Picture taken by Graduate Research Assistant, Lucas Schmaus, at Ridge lake in September 2023.
Northern Mining Case Study
Northern Canada hosts some of the country’s most sensitive and unique ecosystems. It has served as home to diverse Indigenous peoples for millennia; Indigenous peoples who have cared for the land, thrived on its bounty, and developed rich cultures and knowledges that are deeply tied to the land. It is also a region replete with subterranean resources: oil and gas, uranium, gold, and many other critical minerals. Canada’s Subarctic and Arctic regions now show the signs of decades of environmental, ecological, and social impacts generated by extraction activities, but the impacts of mining are not the only threat to these areas. Melting permafrost, shifts in flora and fauna, and changes in weather patterns all serve as a stark reminder that the North is on the frontlines of climate change. The dual-pronged threats of climate change and resource development culminate in significant, direct impacts on the ecosystems and their human and nonhuman inhabitants, marked by the indelible fingerprints of historical and ongoing colonialism.
Picture taken by Graduate Research Assistant, Lucas Schmaus, at Ridge Lake September 2023.
This confluence of dynamic processes constitutes what is perhaps one of the most complex and challenging terrains in which impact assessment processes take place. It is also a place in which policies governing impact assessment are among the most progressive in the country. In this case study, we are working in relation with the Tłı̨chǫ (pronounced Kli-shon) Nation, a nation which settled it’s land claim in 2005 and have been continuing to build capacity for self-government ever since. A large component of self-governance has involved the management of the legacy, ongoing, and proposed resource development projects within the Tłı̨chǫ region, a process deeply entangled with impact assessment and monitoring.
Our objectives here are several-fold: first, we have been talking with Tłı̨chǫ government and community representatives about their engagement in previous impact assessment processes, and the challenges and capacities that have emerged. Second, in line with the broader objective of our project to elicit new insights into the social impacts of industrial processes like mining, we are also talking with mine workers and their family members about how their employment has affected their lifestyles, and social relations within their families and communities. Third, we are engaging in conversations about locally observed impacts of climate change. This final objective aims to help us better understand the implications, of, and enhance our ability to integrate, climate change into impact assessment.
As with our other case studies, our work on this case was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but we are now in full swing. Graduate Research Assistants Angeline Letourneau and Lucas Schmaus have recently returned from a 5-weeks stay in Yellowknife, during which they began interviews and building relationships with community partners. Case study Lead, Dr. Debra Davidson, joined them for part of this trip. The team will be returning in the new year to continue interviewing and host workshops to seek ongoing feedback from our community partners. Following consultation efforts we wil plan our next steps for the case study.
Aerial photo of a diamond mine located on Tłı̨chǫ territory.
Aerial photo of Rayrock, an abandoned uranium mine in the center of Tłı̨chǫ land.
Angeline and Lucas at a community research event, December 2023