Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to go back to a critical and important topic I raised earlier in this session: the proposed Mactung Mine in the Yukon. Over the next 16 years, Vancouver-based North American Tungsten wants to build, operate and eventually close the mine within 1,000 metres of Sahtu land on the NWT/Yukon border.
Mr. Speaker, North American Tungsten plans to mill 2,000 tonnes of ore every day. At peak operation, the mine will send 10 trucks each weighing 40 tonnes down the North CANOL Road every day. The mine requires construction of a dam, water reservoir, a tailings facility and several access roads. Water will be piped from the Hess River to service the mining camp and milling operation. The company also wants to store two million litres of fuel for its power generation at the mine site. Approximately 150 people would work at the mine. All of them will be flown into the mine site. If the project goes ahead, there will be a major impact on land, water and wildlife in the entire area. These impacts must stop at the border.
Mr. Speaker, when I was a chief negotiator for the Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim back in the 1990s, the land on the NWT side of the border was set aside for a park. This is land within one kilometre of the proposed mine. Mr. Speaker, the people of the Sahtu have been waiting for 16 years, the estimated lifespan of the Mactung Mine, for an agreement for a park to be implemented. The land for the proposed park still has to be transferred from the federal government. This transfer hasn’t happened yet because of the environmental cleanup that needs to be done in the areas of the last invasion of Southerners on our land, the CANOL oil pipeline.
Mr. Speaker, if government puts as much energy into tuning up the environment as they do allowing it to be destroyed, that cleanup work would be done by now. Mr. Speaker, I understand that ENR staff have been working with the Yukon Environment and Parks Canada through their due process for the Mactung Mine. The deadline for comments on this project is November 23rd. Mr. Speaker, we have less than one month to act on behalf of the Sahtu people and our land. We need to ensure that development that takes place so close to our border will not have a negative impact on the Sahtu people and our land. I’ll have questions for the Minister of ENR at the appropriate time. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
