Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yellowknife has a great legacy of mining. The city is here because of mining, particularly gold mines. With the two mines in our city limits now closed, we’ve been gifted with one huge liability at the Giant Mine site, and after the mine’s abandonment by Royal Oak Mines, the federal government took over responsibility for cleanup and remediation of that site. Their proposed remediation plan didn’t really address the problem. Not surprising, when the planners were thousands of miles away and the threat not in their backyard. But it is in our backyard and today I want to thank a Frame Lake constituent, Mr. Kevin O’Reilly, for his tireless efforts to ensure the remediation of the Giant Mine site, including the thousands of tons of arsenic stored underground there. His work is going to be a reflection of what the communities of Yellowknife, Ndilo and Detah and their residents want and need.
Mr. O’Reilly has been in Yellowknife since 1985. His passion and commitment to the principles of accountability, transparency and sustainability are well known and respected. Perhaps the greatest of his commitments has been to the Giant Mine Remediation Project and the environmental assessment of that project by the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Review Board. He’s been at it, one or the other, since 1988.
During the development of the remediation plan for Giant, Kevin was an active participant in workshops and meetings. Along with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, he successfully encouraged the City of Yellowknife to make a mandatory referral of the Giant Mine Remediation Plan for an environmental assessment. During the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board, MVEIRB, assessment hearings, Kevin was ever present, making submissions, asking hard questions of the proponents, supporting other respondents. His work on behalf of Yellowknife and our environment cannot be understated.
The review board made 26 recommendations for changes to the proposed remediation plan, recommendations which addressed many of the area’s residents’ concerns, and those concerns had been expressed at the hearings. With the decision last December by the AANDC Minister, Minister Bernard Valcourt, Kevin’s work paid off. Seventeen of the 26 mandatory measures in the MVEIRB report were accepted outright, with suggestions for minor changes in wording to the remaining nine.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
AANDC has agreed, as well, to change the project time frame from perpetuity to 100 years and to investigate and report on long-term funding options. The acceptance of the AANDC Minister for the recommendations in the MVEIRB report confirm the public wishes and they signified a major change from the proposed remediation plan for Giant. That acceptance was due in no small part to the work of Kevin O’Reilly.
One Yellowknifer has commented, “Kevin really deserves widespread and heartfelt recognition for achieving the deal on Giant. It wouldn’t have happened without his initiative and tireless work.” I cannot do anything but agree, and I ask Members to join me in recognizing this huge contribution of Frame Lake resident Kevin O’Reilly. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
