The chief of Xatśūll First Nation says she’ll be devastated if her Secwépemc community’s children never see a real caribou in their lives.
“We’re going to show them pictures of what caribou look like, which is sad,” she told IndigiNews. “It is scary to think about.”
It’s Kukpi7 Rhonda Phillips’ fears for the already threatened ungulate species in her First Nation’s territories north of Williams Lake — where southern mountain caribou are among the most at-risk in the country — that has her deeply concerned about a massive gold mine moving ahead there.
On Thursday, the provincial government gave its latest in a string of green lights for the Cariboo Gold Mine to proceed. The project passed its final hurdle after the environment ministry issued owner Osisko Development permits under the Environmental Management Act, the company said in a statement.
Just three weeks earlier, the Ministry of Mining and Critical Minerals granted the company a permit to operate under the Mines Act.
The “Montreal”-based firm said its project will create more than 600 jobs during construction — costing nearly $1.1 billion over its 16-year life. It hopes to finish construction by 2027.
A spokesperson for the firm insisted the mine will have an “exceptionally low environmental impact” and be one of the greenest in the country. That’s because it’ll use only previous mining sites — without a tailings pond or open-pit operations.
“This project was designed to minimize environmental and wildlife impacts,” wrote Osisko’s Jill Wilson in a statement to IndigiNews, “through our deliberate choice of using a previously disturbed (and contaminated) site.”
For Phillips, who was elected as Kukpi7 early last year, more than a decade of work at the mine site will surely still impact important species to her First Nation, regardless of the company’s promises.
The government’s string of approvals have her community increasingly questioning the province’s commitments to consult and listen to First Nations on resource projects that impact them, their territories, and the wildlife they rely on, she said.
Caribou populations have catastrophically declined in recent decades, with fewer and fewer viable herds remaining.
According to a 2023 document co-signed by the then-ministers of the environment and mining — outlining their reasons for approving Cariboo Gold’s environmental certificate — the mine “could have potential adverse effects on the Barkerville woodland caribou herd.”
Those potential harms, the ministers acknowledged, include a power transmission line disturbing or fragmenting caribou habitat, more of the species being killed by wolves, and “sensory disturbance” during construction and maintenance.
“We note the precarious status of southern mountain caribou and the low number of caribou in the herd,” the ministers noted, “and that these effects could be significant if not adequately mitigated. Caribou conservation and recovery are particularly important to the participating Indigenous nations.”
However, Osisko convinced the ministers it would “minimize and offset” caribou and other wildlife impacts by reducing traffic, creating a caribou monitoring plan, reducing hunters’ access to its transmission line, and reducing noise.
“I don’t know if there’s anything they could do to mitigate the impact on caribou,” Phillips said in an interview. She said other species of importance to her community could face similar risks from the mine’s above-ground activities, especially when many rely on deer and moose for food.
“As Secwépemc people, we are connected to the land [and] to the water, and it’s important for our people to be able to get out and harvest, hunt, and practice ceremonies out on the land,” she said. “This project is going to affect that.”
Mine benefit agreements with two First Nations
Located at the edge of the small town of “Wells, B.C.,” Osisko predicts its Cariboo Gold Mine could extract more than a million tonnes of ore annually. It’s promised to share some of the spoils of whatever gold it finds with local Indigenous communities.
“We look forward to sharing these benefits with all of our partners, including the Xatśūll First Nation,” spokesperson Wilson said in her statement. “Fostering collaborative partnerships with all Indigenous nations remains a top priority.”
Phillips’s Secwépemc community — with a population of nearly 500 residents — is also known as Soda Creek Indian Band. The First Nation’s leadership say they aren’t opposed to industrial projects on their territories.
“Xatśūll would like to see sustainable resource development in our territory,” the band said in a statement. “But it has to be done properly.”
But two other First Nations have signaled their support for the mine project: the nearly 1,000-member T’exelcemc (Williams Lake First Nation), also part of the Secwépemc Nation; and Lhtako Dené Nation, with a population of about 200 (part of the Dakelh Nation).
“We are quite confident that all of our areas of concern have been addressed and mitigated throughout this process,” said Williams Lake Chief Willie Sellars in a 2023 statement. “This is a significant milestone in advancing sustainable mining practices within our traditional territory.”
Likewise, Lhtako Dené praised the project, saying the firm had worked with the First Nation to engage on concerns from environmental risks to wildlife conservation.
“We are extremely proud of the relationship fostered with Osisko Development on the Cariboo Gold Project over the past several years,” the First Nation said in a statement. “This relationship has been reciprocal from day one, and Lhtako Chief and Council look forward to many more years of partnership and collaboration.”
Phillips doesn’t begrudge her fellow Indigenous leaders who endorsed the project, in exchange for employment, economic benefits, and environmental assurances.
“I raise my hands up to them for being able to get an agreement with both of them,” she said. “It is kind of a sensitive topic; we’re not here to talk about the other nations — but how it has affected Xatśūll.”
She is responsible only to the community that elected her, she explained.
“I respect how the other nations are governing themselves,” Phillips said. “We’re mandated by our members to steward our lands so that our future generations can benefit from them.
“We’re doing our due diligence … making sure we’re there and they’re considering our input.”
‘They did not get free, prior and informed consent’
Seven years ago, even Phillips’s own community signed its own deal with Osisko, albeit not a full endorsement — simply to “commence negotiations.”
That “interim relationship agreement” pledged to maintain “an ongoing relationship with respect to the corporation’s exploration and short term mining activities on its Cariboo Gold Project, located in the Xatśūll stewardship area,” according to a statement at the time in 2017.
The company told IndigiNews it will continue working with Xatśūll First Nation, with spokesperson Wilson vowing Osisko will “consult with Xatśūll First Nation supported by good faith efforts to reach a mutually beneficial agreement.”
And the company is keeping on the table similar incentives to those it promised the two supporting bands — “reasonable offers for financial and other benefits,” Wilson’s statement added.
The company has met extensively with Xatśūll’s technical staff through its successful environmental assessment process, according to the community’s natural resource manager, Emily Sonntag.
But so far, it has not assuaged community concerns raised by the First Nation’s experts, particularly around caribou, water quality monitoring, and what happens when the mine closes.
“Our technical experts had raised specific concerns,” Sonntag told IndigiNews. “We do have some suggested things we want to see that would go a long way to making us more comfortable with this project.
“Addressing those concerns would go a long way to showing action on their words about wanting to have relationships with First Nations.”
For Phillips and Sonntag, it was the province’s approvals of the project — without ever meeting directly with Xatśūll chief and council, they said — that felt like a surprise.
Even as the community hopes Osisko now lives up to its promises “in good faith,” Sonntag said, many are interrogating the government’s commitments under the five-year-old B.C. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA).
“The fact they decided to proceed with the Mines Act decision without talking to chief and council really speaks to the fact they aren’t implementing DRIPA,” Sonntag said.
“We were led to believe that all legislation and policies in B.C. were meant to be interpreted through DRIPA. It makes us question that, since they did not get free, prior and informed consent.”
The province’s Ministry of Mining and Critical Minerals said permits for the Cariboo Gold Mine were only granted after “extensive consultation from experts, First Nations, including the Lhtako Dené, Xatśūll, and Williams Lake First Nations,” according to a Nov. 21 statement.
And announcing this week’s environmental permits, Mining and Critical Minerals Minister Jagrup Brar insisted the project “will provide good, well-paying jobs and open up long-term opportunities for local small businesses, communities, and First Nations.”
‘We just want our input to be taken seriously’
Xatśūll First Nation’s leadership, however, remains mistrustful of mining based on their past experiences.
Ten years ago this year, their waterways were harmed when the massive tailings dam at Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley mine collapsed — releasing 25 billion litres of toxin-laden mining fluids.
On Tuesday, a decade later, “B.C.” authorities announced 15 charges against that company under the federal Fisheries Act.
But Osisko’s spokesperson Wilson emphasized that, unlike at Mount Polley, there will be no tailings pond — no dam or wet tailings at all — at Cariboo Gold.
All waste materials will be filtered “for better reclamation,” she said, boasting the company has plans to “protect critical habitats, wildlife corridors and waterways while minimizing animal interactions.”
That’s little reassurance for Xatśūll, however.
“There are remaining concerns we have that haven’t been addressed,” Sonntag said. “The cumulative impacts are really hampering Xatśūll First Nation’s exercise of rights and title.”
Phillips said she’s prepared to continue talking to Osisko as it proceeds with its now-approved mine project — and is counting on them to listen to her community’s concerns about the caribou and other wildlife, as well as other potential impacts on the Secwépemc way of life.
“This conflict is not something we want to have,” she said, sighing. “We want to work with everybody. We just want our input to be taken seriously.”
