Canada aboriginal movement poses new threat to miners

[puckstopshere]

TORONTO (Reuters) - An aboriginal protest movement that's often compared with Occupy Wall Street has the potential to disrupt mining projects across Canada, threatening to undermine the country's coveted reputation for low-risk resource development.

Idle No More, a grass-roots movement with little centralized leadership, swept across Canada late last year with the help social media. Protesters blocked roads and rail lines, and staged big rallies in the country's largest cities to press a sweeping human rights and economic development agenda.

Mining companies are also in the movement's sights as aboriginal bands seek to renegotiate old agreements and seize more control over mining developments, whether they are on lands designated as native reserves or not.

"We've existed in this territory for millennia. We don't have a land claim - it's beyond that, actually. Our rights exist throughout all of our territories," Arlen Dumas, chief of the Mathias Colomb Cree Nation, said about the northern Manitoba land where HudBay Minerals Inc, a Toronto-based mid-tier miner, is building its Lalor project.

Protesters cut off access to the gold-copper-zinc mine for several hours in early March, demanding talks with the company on an ownership stake in the C$794 million ($773.84 million) project, which has started limited production.

HudBay, which has mined in northern Manitoba for nearly 85 years, made it clear it prefers not to negotiate directly with the community, which is about 125 km (78 miles) away from Lalor and is one of many First Nations bands in the region.

Instead, the company is participating in an inter-governmental mining committee, which deals with such things as how benefits are split among parties.

"We're kind of in the crossfire of that," said HudBay Chief Executive David Garofalo. "At the end of the day it's important that those governments talk to each other and establish a revenue-sharing model that sustains both governments - both the Canadian governments and the First Nation governments."

MINING COUNTRY

Canada is the world's top potash producer and the No. 2 uranium producer, and boasts large reserves of base and precious metals. A large percentage of the mineral deposits are in remote areas in the north of the country, where living conditions for aboriginal bands are often poor.

The Canadian protests - groups also blockaded a diamond mine in northern Ontario in a push for jobs and cash - are a far cry from actions taken by countries such as Venezuela and Kyrgyzstan to claw back stakes in projects being developed by foreign miners.

Even so, Canada is feeling the heat. For the first time in six years, Canadian provinces failed to top the list of the best mining jurisdictions in the world in a 2012/13 survey. Companies that participated in the survey said they were concerned about land claims.

"I would say one of the big things that is weighing on mining investment in Canada right now is First Nations issues," said Ewan Downie, chief executive of Premier Gold Mines, which owns numerous projects in northern Ontario.

Current rules oblige mining companies to consult with aboriginal communities as part of the permitting process and, in many cases, agree on compensation if a development infringes on native rights. Carrots can include profit-sharing, promises of training and compensation funds designed to improve living standards and create much-needed jobs.

But Idle No More, energized by a corps of young, educated and media-savvy activists, appears much less willing to accommodate the mining industry than native leaders have been in the past.

"This movement was about educating First Nations to say no, that's not what happens when you're an owner of the resources. An owner of the resources gets resource sharing," said Pamela Palmater, a professor of politics and public administration at Ryerson University in Toronto.

First Nation opposition has already slowed or derailed at least a half dozen energy and mining projects in British Columbia, and environmentalists are increasingly partnering with aboriginal people in an effort to halt projects.

"It's the project killer, the investment killer," said Clayton Thomas-Muller, an aboriginal activist with the Indigenous Tar Sands campaign, which wants to stop further expansion of the Alberta oil sands.

WANTED: A BETTER DEAL

It's not just new developments that are at risk as the Idle No More movement gains traction.

With isolated communities increasingly turning to social media to share information with others, even companies that already have agreements with local aboriginals could find themselves facing demands for better deals.

"Not all aboriginal communities have been able to enter into the same quality or types of arrangement," said Blake Langill, Toronto mining leader at global accounting firm Ernst & Young.

"So that sharing of the information will be very powerful," he said. "It will give them some food for thought as they engage in discussion with the mining companies."

The blockade of a northern Ontario diamond mine is an example of just that, as protesters from the Attawapiskat First Nation twice in February barred access to an ice road leading to De Beers' Victor mine, disrupting a winter supply program.

Residents of the reserve, some 90 km (55 miles) east of the mine, were angry over issues ranging from a lack of jobs and training to compensation for the loss of trap lines. They set up the blockade even though an investment deal was signed with De Beers in 2005.

The two sides failed to come to terms on compensation and De Beers, a subsidiary of Anglo American Plc, eventually won an injunction to remove the blockade.

"It's a constant relationship in progress," said De Beers Canada spokesman Tom Ormsby, noting the company has been in talks with the community for months over a litany of issues.

Ormsby said De Beers makes payments to a compensation fund and the community must then determine how that money is distributed to individuals.

Compensation is a sticky issue for many communities, and aboriginal law specialist Pierre-Christian Labeau expects demands for better benefits to lead to the renegotiation of some of the older deals, perhaps to add profit-sharing clauses like those seen in more recent agreements.

"For the mining industry, maybe they should be prepared to renegotiate some elements of these agreements, because the reality shows that what we negotiated 10 years ago or five years ago doesn't work," said Labeau, chair of aboriginal law at Norton Rose in Montreal.

WORKING TOGETHER

But it's not all gloom and doom when miners and First Nations meet. For every project where there is conflict, there are also aboriginal bands that have used mining investment to create economic opportunity for their communities.

At Goldcorp Inc's Musselwhite gold mine in northern Ontario, five First Nation communities have banded together to create a catering company serving the mine, along with a distribution company that delivers goods across the region.

While development of the mine has forever changed the way of life for the remote community, it has also provided jobs and business opportunities for the reserve's young people, said Frank McKay, president of Windigo Ventures General Partner.

"The community is aware that eventually the mine will close," said McKay, a member of the Sachigo Lake First Nation. "If the mine is gone, we still get the revenue from our businesses ... and we have workforce that can be easily moved to other mining operations."

http://news.yahoo.com/canada-aboriginal-movement-poses-threat-miners-191356413--sector.html

[brandeentertainment]

Ya well I mainly say I want to go down south because what you see on t.v. and hear about everywhere is not what I know and see up north not even close..

Some reserve I see on t.v. or hear about sound like places I would love to visit and or Experience their culture the pow wows and the heritage being fresh and alive alot of it just seem like something that would be a great experience but honestly where I live it so sooooooo oppostie of that .. 

The natives off the reserves hard working succesfful but do not practise their way of life nor do they really do anything to do with heritage etc and the ones on the reserve not only do they not practise there way off life or even close to they feel like doing nothing at all but alot of bad stuff that IU feel no point in saying again ..

I remember someone saying a story about going to a reserve and a little girl took them by the hand and went down to the lake and so on ... I am very very interested in seeing some of these reserves that are doing well and always have pow wow and stay true to their roots because I would love to change some of my points of views... I have always wanted to go to  nunivut as I find there way of life VERY interesting ...

I guess I am saying I would love to visit a place where Natives are proud to be native and proud of there roots because most reserves around me are like walking into the ghetto just full of drug and alcohol and spousal abuse and most jobs on the reserve involve either booze or tabacoo  there just not nice places to go and not because of the goverment....

You know maybe that is the problem maybe that is why so many people are on opposite side of the fence maybe the ones that just see all the good stuff need to see some bad and the other way around ...

Either way agree with everything you wrote in the last one except is it possible people in London know that if the Natives economics reach the cities many peole will end up closing down because natives get tax's breaks and how can anyone compete with that ...Just a thought

[my3dotties]

Many annoying contradictions from one paragraph to the next. You make no sense.

Exactly how your govermnent wants you.

W1B-)

[puckstopshere]

Well that's often hard to 'know' based on some comments......so I just try to help.

That's why the shot.  I always feel the need to fire back when I am fired upon. 

[puckstopshere]

With huge amount of immigrants everything cost more Natives are not the only people the goverment has to keep on forking out money too ...

I agree.  Let's cut them all off.

But can;t these agreements be changed if it;s not working for one party ....

My point exactly.  If the natives can renegotiate the deal with the mines, we should be able to renegotiate the treaties if it is not working for one party.

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

I always feel the need to fire back when I am fired upon.

I wasn't talking about you when I said 'some comments'.

If the natives can renegotiate the deal with the mines, we should be able to renegotiate the treaties if it is not working for one party.

If they want to negotiate. Their decision.

[nuvistors]

I always feel the need to fire back when I am fired upon.

I wasn't talking about you when I said 'some comments'.

If the natives can renegotiate the deal with the mines, we should be able to renegotiate the treaties if it is not working for one party.

If they want to negotiate. Their decision.

What if the miners do not want to  renegotiate the contract they have with the indians ?   Their decision !

[my3dotties]

Simple,the indians close the mine and any and or evertthing that gets in its way.

W1B-)

[nuvistors]

Simple,the indians close the mine and any and or evertthing that gets in its way.

W1B-)

No wonder no one takes the indians seriously !

[my3dotties]

No wonder no one takes the indians seriously !

Not now not ever.

The state stole our children,our future.

Hoping to assimilate and wanting us to become a tax puppet like yourself.

Has not worked,its we who are now becoming seriously serious.

W1B-)

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

What if the miners do not want to renegotiate the contract they have with the indians ? Their decision !

From all I have read the Native people have lived up to their part of agreements, it's the big corporations that have not, or they have tried to take more than agreed to. Both sides have to live with what they agreed to, that's only fair. However situations arise where companies like oil corporations have created huge pits of cast off sludge from oil production and that sludge is getting into the streams and the rivers and the ground water. That was never part of any agreement but the corporations went ahead and did it anyhow. This is where the government should step in and stop it and they should have long ago, but the oil business has the Province and Ottawa by the throat. Close them down till the problem is solved and there is loss of jobs and revenue, so the land comes secondary again to $$$$$$.

[nuvistors]

Not now not ever.

The state stole our children,our future.

Hoping to assimilate and wanting us to become a tax puppet like yourself.

Has not worked,its we who are now becoming seriously serious.

W1B-)

Some of your commrents are seriously amusing !

[pierrelebel]

"Both sides have to live with what they agreed to, that's only fair"

I think most fair thinking Canadians will agree to that.

"From all I have read the Native people have lived up to their part of agreements, it's the big corporations that have not, or they have tried to take more than agreed to."

This is where folks start to have different opinions.  Not everyone reads the same thing, from the same sources. You give credibility to "stuff" you have read and your own experiences while others also give credibility to "stuff" they have read and their own experiences - although there may be a huge gap between "stuff" and "experiences".

Who is to say who is right or who is not?

You may think you have the correct information and interpretation.  That is your right.  Others may have reached different conclusions and that is also their right.

If everyone were willing to respect the right of everyone else to have different opinions and interpretations, we would be a long way to solve most problems.

However, respecting other's opinions does not come very easily to most. And that applies to both sides of most differences of opinions.

[my3dotties]

Some of your commrents are seriously amusing !

Whats going to be amusing is this coming long hot summer,when kanada is on the ground flopping like a fish out of water.:^O

W1B-)

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

If everyone were willing to respect the right of everyone else to have different opinions and interpretations, we would be a long way to solve most problems.

That is true. The difference however is many of us have done a lot of research, for years, on this situation; research that is both reading and actually talking to both white and Native people. On the other side of the coin are people who have never done their historical research and have never even read a treaty and very unfortunately many who are racists and bigoted. The other day I was reading a media website and they were talking about a Native tribe thinking about buying land within the outlying boundaries of a city. I was reading the readers comments and continually there were comments like “there goes our city down the tube”, “oh great just what we need properties with abandoned cars and drunks”, “they will destroy business and drive people away from the city”, “hard working people of Canada do not need this”. How can you deal with people like that? I can’t. I’ve seen their type for years and years and years. If it’s not Natives they hate, then it’s Muslims, or Black people, or Asian people……and the racists are 99% of the time……white. So when people speak of “respect’ for the opinions of these people, it not only does not come easily, it’s just not going to happen anymore than I can have respect for someone wearing an armband and celebrating someone's birthday on April 20th. I don't respect ignorant hate.  

[my3dotties]

The old man is living in lalaland. Time he crawl out of the rabbit hole.

W1B-)

[pierrelebel]

"That is true"

???

I am confused.

Take a step back and read what you wrote.

On one hand you agree (That is true) "respect the right of everyone else to have different opinions" ...

...and then you go on to state that only your opinion is valid because of your research...etc... as if everyone else was only "recists" and "ignorant", hense their different opinion is not valid.

Either you respect or you do not other people's opinions. To explain why their opinions must be wrong (because you think you know better) is not a sign of respect.

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

Ok let me clear it up a bit for you Pierre. I 'respect', logical, educated, opinions. How can anyone have respect for racism!? Do you feel people should respect racism? I've heard a LOT of racist views of people from Quebec and you have probably heard them as well. Do you respect those people when they spew racist words and racist myths and misinformation....not just once, but again and again and again?