Latest news with #ErnestBetsina
CBC
28-05-2025
- Health
- CBC
New study examines archived letters that show how early feds, mine officials knew of Giant's arsenic problem
One of the chiefs of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation says decades-old communications that show federal and mining officials knew about arsenic pollution from Giant Mine early on reaffirm what elders in his community have been saying. "I'm extremely happy and proud that my members [have] remembered the stories and … the sad history of Giant Mine, with losing some of our children, losing some of our dogs, and the devastation that came with it," said Ernest Betsina, chief of Dettah. A paper published earlier this month in the journal Facets looks at 547 letters and water samples from around Yellowknife between 1949 and 1956 in the early days of gold mining at both Con and Giant mines. Ernest Betsina, chief of Dettah, pictured here in 2020. Betsina says a study examining early correspondence about arsenic contamination reaffirms what elders have been saying all along. (Alex Brockman/CBC) Mike Palmer, an aquatic scientist and manager of the North Slave Research Centre, said he was made aware of the documents by the Giant Mine Oversight Board, which had retrieved them through Library and Archives Canada. "We were really, really impressed with the concerted effort that public health officials put into documenting the distribution of arsenic in and around the environment at that time," he said. Not only was he impressed by the quality of the more-than-75-year-old data, but Palmer said he was also surprised how early mining and federal officials were aware that arsenic was polluting the environment. "The narrative I had heard was that, you know, people were doing the best they could at the time and if they knew there was a problem they would have stopped it," said Palmer. "And that clearly wasn't the case." 'It certainly is disturbing' Giant Mine operated in Yellowknife from 1948 to 2004, and released poisonous dust into the air and water surrounding the mine. In that time, it produced about 198 tonnes of gold and more than 237,000 tonnes of highly toxic arsenic trioxide dust, which is contained underground. Remediation of the site, one of the most contaminated in Canada, began in 2021. A two-year-old boy from N'dilo died of arsenic poisoning in 1951. Letters examined in Palmer's study indicate, however, that the first documented case of arsenic poisoning happened in February 1949. "Roasting commenced on 29th January, 1949, and by mid February the first human case of poisoning reached hospital," reads a letter from Dr. Kingsley Kay, the head of the Industrial Health Laboratory for the Department of National Health and Welfare in a letter to another federal health official on Dec. 6, 1949. Mike Palmer is an aquatic scientist and manager of the North Slave Research Centre. (Liny Lamberink/CBC) It goes on to say two men who had been drinking snow water at a camp near Giant were hospitalized and their urine samples led to a diagnosis of arsenic poisoning. The letter also notes six cows that "unquestionably died from arsenic poisoning" and that "fatal poisoning of wildlife was observed widely" as well. Kay recommended in the same letter that ore roasting stop until environmental mitigation technologies were added to Giant. The report says that the Department of National Health and Welfare also called for ore roasting to stop. But it says the Northwest Territories Council, which is what governed the territory before the Legislative Assembly was formed, did not approve that recommendation. The report says Con Mine installed an environmental control in the summer of 1949 and was able to bring its arsenic emissions down by 95 per cent. Giant Mine installed a type of control in 1951 to reduce emissions as well, but production also ramped up which meant that overall emissions didn't go down. It wasn't until a second control was installed in 1955 and a baghouse for arsenic collection was installed in 1959 that emissions were reduced. "Despite acknowledgement of the public health risks associated with arsenic-bearing emissions in the region, Giant Mine continued to emit more than 2,000 tonnes [of] arsenic trioxide per year to the surrounding landscape," Palmer's study reads. "It certainly is disturbing," said Betsina. The Yellowknives Dene First Nation has long been pushing the federal government for an apology and compensation for the harm Giant mine inflicted. Palmer hopes the report — and the documents it sheds light on — can be used as evidence in that process. "It reassures that we must continue the fight for an apology and compensation because we owe that to my people," said Betsina. "We cannot let this file go on the wayside and [let the] federal government put it on the shelf."
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Yahoo
N.W.T. government investigating the waste of 48 caribou
Wildlife officers say meat wastage along the ice road to the diamond mines has risen sharply this winter with nine cases affecting 48 caribou compared to last winter, where a total of 15 caribou were found wasted. Shannon Graf, a spokesperson for the territory's Department of Environment and Climate Change (ECC), described it as a "significant" increase in wasted meat — and said an investigation is taking place. Community monitors and guardianship programs run by the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, the Tłı̨cho government and the North Slave Métis Alliance support the territory's renewable resource officers along the Tibbitt to Contwoyto winter road to respond to illegal or disrespectful harvesting, said Graf. Ernest Betsina, the chief of Dettah for the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, said he was disappointed to hear of the spike in meat wastage, and that the First Nation would be upping its patrols of the area even earlier next winter road season. Guardians are the "eyes and ears out on the land," said Betsina, but they cannot be everywhere. He said guardianship programs and elders teach hunters to leave only the guts behind. "I'm disappointed that there is so much wastage of meat. I don't know what happened out there, but I'm hoping that the [government of the Northwest Territories] will do a good investigation to actually find out exactly who the hunters are that actually wasted the meat," said Betsina. Yellowknives Dene First Nation Dettah Chief Ernest Betsina said the treatment of caribou this winter season shows disrespect for the animals, and he hopes all hunters will harvest responsibly and take only what they need. (Ernest Betsina/Facebook) Betsina said hunters from all around N.W.T. should make a plan for how many caribou each family will take, and to limit the number of caribou taken per household to two or three animals. He said it's a rule most Yellowknives Dene First Nation hunters follow, even if it is not a formally imposed limit. "Caribou is sacred. The caribou numbers are not that great and we need to respect that," he said. He said taking only prime cuts of meat and wasting the rest of the animal is "really disrespectful." "It shows somebody didn't do the planning or somebody who went trigger-happy and shot too much caribou. It's such a shame to see that," said Betsina. Wastage is 'lazy' and 'unethical', says hunter Devon Allooloo, a hunter from the Yellowknife area, posted a photo on the Facebook group, Inuit Hunting Stories of the Day, of caribou he'd seen wasted along the winter road in the N.W.T. recently. In an interview, he said he's seen animals with only the hind quarters or the backstap removed, and even animals that have been shot and wasted in their entirety. "It's a little sickening to see, and it's tiring to see. I grew up on the barrenlands," he said. "I don't want to call other people out ... but I think it's lazy and it's unethical for people to be wasting that amount of meat." Hunter Devon Allooloo posted images of caribou wastage on Facebook, after seeing wastage at Mackay, Munn, and Margaret lakes along the Tibbitt to Contwoyto winter road. (John Last/CBC) Allooloo said people should be taking the hind and front quarters, backstraps, tenderloin and ribs. Even then, people in town would gladly take the head, tongue, heart, liver and kidney meat, he said. "I think a hunter should take everything. I think the only thing that should be left behind is the stomach, the organs." Allooloo said he worries people are shooting more animals than they need in the N.W.T. "Only harvest what you need and what your family needs," he said. Graf said ECC plans to continue aerial and ground patrols along the winter road and to work with guardians until the season ends. She said the N.W.T. government investigates all reported cases of meat wastage and asks the public to report suspected meat wastage. She said the department recorded 10 caribou wasted in the winter of 2021/22, none in 2022/23 and 15 in 2023/24. "While we cannot comment on the details of ongoing investigations, we continue to urge people to take only what you need, don't leave anything behind, share what you have when you get back to your community and listen and learn from elders," she said.
