Statement from the Tŝilhqot’in Nation
Williams Lake, BC – The Tŝilhqot’in Nation is sounding an alarm on the escalating
conflict at Teẑtan Biny (also known as Fish Lake) and Nabas, an area of profound cultural and spiritual importance for the Tŝilhqot’in people. Teẑtan Biny and Nabas are located in traditional Tsilhqot’in territory about 125 kilometres southwest of Williams Lake, B.C.
The area includes about 300,000 hectares of wilderness and wildlife habitat, and
borders a number of existing large parks and protected areas.
In a provocative move, Taseko Mines Limited (TML) has chosen to escalate the conflict by sending in heavy equipment prior to the two-week notice period required by its permits and lease before it can start its drilling program in this sensitive area.
On June 20, 2019, the day before Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada, TML provided
notice that it will mobilize personnel and machinery for the Teẑtan Biny area within days, and plans to commence the drilling program as of July 3, 2019. The company’s notice came on the first day of the 11th Annual Xeni Gwet’in Wagon Trip, and days before the 17th Annual Horse and Bike Ride from Tl’etinqox. This is a special time for the communities, a time to focus on reconnecting youth with traditional values and culture, strengthening relationships and healing. For TML to mobilize its equipment at such a time displays their disrespect for the Tŝilhqot’in communities.
The Tŝilhqot’in Nation opposes this drilling program as an imminent violation of its
human rights under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples, and warns that TML’s efforts to bring heavy machinery and personnel into the Teẑtan Biny and Nabas region will only escalate conflict in an already tense situation.
The outgoing BC Liberal government approved this drilling program in 2017 for the
stated purpose of advancing Taseko’s New Prosperity mine proposal – despite the fact that the Government of Canada, during the tenure of former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, has already twice rejected this mine. It cannot lawfully be built.
The Teẑtan Biny area is “home” for many Tŝilhqot’in people born and raised on these lands, an active cultural school for the Tŝilhqot’in, a resting place for ancestors, a site for spiritual and ceremonial activities and a place of unique and special significance for the Tŝilhqot’in cultural identity and heritage. The Tŝilhqot’in Nation holds proven Aboriginal rights to hunt and trap throughout this region.
Teẑtan Biny, Yanah Biny (Little Fish Lake) and Nabas are part of the caretaker areas of the Tŝilhqot’in communities of Xeni Gwet’in and Yunesit’in. There is no place quite like this in the world. It is home to the last remaining strong salmon run on the Fraser River, a nursery for wild salmon that sustain not just the Tŝilhqot’in people but many First Nations, communities, commercial fishermen and many species downstream and on the coast. Teẑtan Biny is also an amazing trout fishery that was once ranked by the Province as one of the best wild trout fisheries in British Columbia. It is where many youth, both First Nation and non-First Nation, catch their first trout. All of these special qualities are in jeopardy for 30 years of money, as compared to an intact ecosystem that will sustain generations forever.
After exhausting all legal avenues, Tŝilhqot’in elders, youth, leaders and other members are now in a position that no community or peoples should ever have to face: a direct threat to their most spiritual and sacred places, their most fundamental values, and their way of life.
The Tŝilhqot’in Nation is calling for a safe and peaceful resolution of this conflict, in the interests of all parties, before it escalates further. The Nation cautions that TML/BC do not have the consent of the Tŝilhqot’in Nation, and calls on TML to stand down on the drilling program and stop the mobilization of personnel and machinery into the Teẑtan Biny region. The Nation also calls on the Government of British Columbia to step up and take active steps to resolve this conflict and demonstrate its commitment to reconciliation and the rights of Indigenous peoples under the U.N. Declaration. The BC NDP have been standing on the sidelines for two years, despite having the tools available to solve the crisis. Now is the time to act.
