Nunavik Inuit and Raglan Mine: New approaches to closure planning (isulinnisanganut parnasimautiit

Journal of Environmental Management, 2021

Highlights: • Mine closure plans do not clearly explain methods or outcomes of community engagement • Indigenous Knowledge is inconsistently used in closure planning • The socioeconomic impacts of mine closure are not well acknowledged • Few concrete strategies are proposed to mitigate the socioeconomic aspects of closure Abstract: The inevitable closure and remediation phase of a mine's lifecycle routinely causes negative socioeconomic and environmental impacts for nearby communities. While closure planning is meant to ensure post-closure human and environmental safety, it tends to favour short-term technical fixes over longer-term socioeconomic , cultural, and ecological considerations. For mines operating on Indigenous territories, where communities have complex and nuanced connections to land and varying levels of jurisdiction, these issues are further exacerbated by the exclusion of Indigenous voices from planning and decision-making. This research employed a qualitative document analysis of ten mine closure plans for mines in Northern Canada that are still operational to understand how the industry is actively planning for the closure and remediation of their sites. In particular, this work asks whether or not mine companies are incorporating Indigenous Knowledge into their mine closure plans, and how they are addressing the complex socioeconomic aspects of closure. This analysis showed that mine closure plans across Northern Canada inconsistently apply Indigenous Knowledge and expertise, and the methods used for community consultation in mine closure planning are left vague. While differences in policy between Northern territories and regions account for some of these inconsistencies, a company's willingness to work beyond baseline requirements imposed by governments is also an important factor. Additionally, these closure plans further demonstrate that the industry prioritizes technical aspects of mine closure over the social, cultural, economic, and ecological. For mine closure to be successful in a Northern context it must incorporate community expertise, emerge from the values and priorities of the Indigenous peoples whose lands mines are operating on, and account for a wider scope of social, economic, and cultural impacts.

The Northern Review, 2021

Northern Canada has a long history of poorly remediated and outright abandoned mines. These sites have caused long-term environmental hazards, socioeconomic disruptions, and threats to Indigenous communities across the North. Given the potential legacy effects of improper mine closure, best practice guidelines now suggest that mine closures address not only environmental remediation, but also include robust plans for mitigating social and economic impacts, and that companies engage early and consistently with impacted communities. This research seeks to understand how social and economic planning and community engagement for closure are governed in Nunavik, Quebec. Through semi-structured interviews with government and industry actors and an analysis of regional and provincial mining policy, this research demonstrates that mine closure regulations remain vague when describing how companies should involve impacted communities in mine closure planning, and governments largely neglect to regulate the social aspects of mine closure. This article discusses why an overreliance on impact assessment and overconfi dence in closure regulations are creating risks for Nunavimmiut. Without regulatory change, future closures may continue to result in unemployment, social dislocation, costly abandoned sites, and continued distrust in the industry.

2021

The inevitable closure and remediation phase of a mine's lifecycle routinely causes negative socioeconomic and environmental impacts for nearby communities. For mines operating on Indigenous territories, where communities have complex and nuanced connections to land and varying levels of jurisdiction, these issues are further exacerbated by the exclusion of Indigenous voices from planning and decision-making. Using qualitative document analysis and semi-structured interviews, this research sought to understand company approaches to socioeconomic closure planning and community engagement across the North, and then examined Nunavik, Québec, as a case study to explore mine closure governance. The results show that mine companies across the North are inadequately addressing the socioeconomic aspects of closure and inconsistently involving communities in the closure planning process. In Nunavik, government policies do little to regulate these aspects of mine closure, which has allowed for considerable variation in closure planning strategies between the companies operating in the region. These shortcomings in closure policies and industry practices mean governments and companies risk reproducing past closure and remediation failures. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many people whose kindness, patience, and support contributed to my ability to produce this thesis. First, I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Arn Keeling, for providing consistent guidance, patience, and feedback, and for supporting both my academic growth and my well-being as I navigated the challenges of this program. I always felt encouraged to step outside of my comfort zone knowing that I had the full confidence of my supervisor, even when my own confidence wavered. I also owe a great deal of thanks to my supervisory committee, Dr.

In this article, we examine whether the social and economic impacts of mines on Inuit communities have changed over time, based on Inuit experiences. After an overview of the past experiences of Inuit with the mining industry in Inuit Nunangat between 1957 and the early 2000s, we analyze the complex relation between Inuit communities in the vicinity of mines using recent fieldwork conducted in the Inuit communities located near two active mines in Inuit Nunangat: Salluit and Kangiqsujuaq (Nunavik) and the Raglan nickel mine and Qamani’tuaq (Baker Lake, Nunavut) and the Meadowbank gold mine. We argue that much work remains to be done to understand the economic and social impacts of mining development on Inuit communities.

2002

Some forty years ago, Canada's Aboriginal Peoples–First Nations, Inuit and Métis–had no say in decision-making about mining activities on or near their ancestral lands. Today, there has been a proliferation of different mechanisms for including Aboriginal perspectives in decision-making, and a growing body of literature is devoted to examining the issues at the crossroads of mining and Indigenous Peoples in Canada.

2020

Background: the issue The cyclical and volatile nature of resource economies means that particular extraction sites may be subject to sudden closure and abandonment, often leaving behind considerable social and environmental problems. There are an estimated 10,000 or more abandoned mines across Canada, ranging from small workings to large, complex post-industrial sites. Two federal Auditor General’s reports (2002 and 2012) highlighted abandoned mines as being among Canada’s most toxic sites, representing major public liabilities in the billions of dollars. In addition to these legacy sites, the many current and planned mineral developments across Canada’s northern mining belt are forecast to close in the coming two decades. Mine closure regulation and assessment practices vary widely across Canada, particularly surrounding socio-economic impacts. Typically, closure and remediation receive scant attention during the impact assessment phase of major mineral development projects, with ...

2024

Environmental Management

Mine developments in Indigenous territories risk disrupting Indigenous cultures and their economies, including spiraling already high levels of conflict. This is the situation in Canada, Sweden, and Norway, as elsewhere, and is fostered by current state legal framework that reflect historical trajectories, although circumstances are gradually changing. Promising institutional changes have taken place in British Columbia (BC), Canada, with respect to new legislative reforms. Notably, new legislation from 2019 intends to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in the province, by promoting consent-based and collaborative decision-making mechanisms. New environmental assessment legislation is another example; this legislation includes early engagement, collaborative decision-making, and Indigenous-led assessments. The article’s aim is, first, to analyze how Indigenous communities can influence and engage in the mining permitting system of B...

Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Mine Closure, 2012

The past five years has shown a massive increase in exploration for minerals, oil and gas in the onshore and offshore areas of Australia's Northern Territory. Although many Aborigines are now quite familiar with landbased mining, proposals to mine the seafloor or use reservoir stimulation (hydraulic fracturing) for production of oil and gas are relatively new to them. Aboriginal perceptions of mine closure are affected by historical practices that have led to a number of legacy sites and there is consequently a developing concern that further environmental degradation will also result from modern practices and techniques. This paper primarily seeks to discuss the rationale behind Aboriginal concerns and examines standards currently applied to mine closure and well abandonment. The outcomes are placed in the context of Aboriginal cultural and ecological knowledge; and the inclusion of improved standards for closure in Agreements related to mining and oil and gas production in the Northern Territory is discussed.

The Economy of the North – ECONOR 2020, 2021

Mining and settler colonialism in Yukon has brought about tremendous effects and tragedies such as – to name a few – the decline in use of Indigenous languages, inter-generational residential school traumas, discrimination on the job market and disadvantage in the educational system. The mining sector as well as the state authorities are considered to be responsible for taking the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Canada serious and to put forward more effective steps toward de-colonisation. The setup of more equal partnerships and power balances in negotiations and consultations is of utmost importance. The Umbrella Final Agreement and the Land Claims Agreements with their associated legislation are important, but a lot has to be done to prevent political bypassing and biased interpretation of the spirit of these frameworks – a viewpoint that is shared not only by Indigenous rightsholders but also by politicians of the political parties in Yukon. First Nations in the Yukon want to see the realization of sustainable mining as well as new and diversified economic opportunities to achieve social equality and decolonize societal relations. https://oaarchive.arctic-council.org/handle/11374/2611