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CBC
2 days ago
- Politics
- CBC
Weight of traditional knowledge discussed at public hearing for Diavik's water licence
A handful of Indigenous governments want to see more criteria enshrined in the conditions of Diavik diamond mine's new water licence, to determine that water will be safe for cultural uses. The Wek'èezhìi Land and Water Board (WLWB) is holding a public hearing about the company's application for a 10-year water licence renewal, at the cultural centre in Behchokǫ, N.W.T.,̀ this week. The Tłı̨chǫ government, the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, the Łutsel K'e Dene First Nation and the Deninu Kųę́ First Nation are all participating in the hearing, along with representatives of the federal and territorial governments and an environmental monitoring board. Violet Camsell-Blondin, who presented Wednesday morning on behalf of the Tłı̨chǫ government, told the hearing that both Western science and Indigenous traditional knowledge should be used to assess the water of Lac de Gras, the tundra lake in which Diavik operates, about 300 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife. "Cultural use criteria should not have a lower status or less clout in measuring successful closure and influencing the return of security deposits," she said. The WLWB has already required Diavik to incorporate traditional knowledge and cultural use criteria in its plans – but the Tłı̨chǫ, the Łutsel K'e Dene and the Yellowknives Dene want it to have the same weight as scientific monitoring and for it to be tied to the return of security deposits. What are cultural use criteria? An amendment to Diavik's current water licence required that cultural use criteria be developed for dumping processed kimberlite back into the open pits which will eventually, as part of closure, be filled with water and reconnected to Lac de Gras. A letter from the Tłı̨chǫ government to the board during that amendment process a few years ago describes cultural use criteria as the clarity, temperature, colour, smell and taste of the water, as well as whatever unnatural material might be in it. Diavik held workshops with Indigenous partners to establish that criteria and summarized in a report afterwards that healthy water would look clear, feel cold, smell clean, taste fresh and sound alive. "A lot of times science will say the water is good, you could drink it, but they won't drink it," said Patrick Simon, a Deninu Kųę́ First Nation councillor participating in the hearing, adding that scientists also use numbers that are hard to understand to communicate that water is safe. "If I told you, as an Indigenous person, the water is good, you can drink it, I will not only drink it but I'll show you the freshness of the water and the vibrancy, the clarity and even the feeling …. When we're around bad water it don't feel good. When we're around good healthy water, we feel alive, we feel connected. It's part of us." Simon said cultural use criteria will help Indigenous people decide whether they want to drink the water and harvest the animals in and around Lac de Gras once Diavik has closed. 'Flexibility should be maintained,' Diavik says A decision for the WLWB to make, once the hearing is over, is whether traditional knowledge and more cultural use criteria should be enshrined in the conditions of the licence – or whether those will be discussed further as part of the mine's closure plan. Diavik has expressed preference for the latter, stating in its presentation this week that it "strongly recommends that flexibility should be maintained" by discussing cultural use criteria through the final closure and reclamation plan and not establishing "fixed" licence conditions. Diavik is already in the process of creating a traditional knowledge monitoring program with its Indigenous partners that'll be submitted to the land and water board for approval. "Adding licence conditions might restrict the program that's in development. [The program] that really, at the end of the day, communities are developing for us," said Sean Sinclair, Diavik's manager of closure. "Potentially putting that in a box through licence conditions … we don't think it would necessarily be helpful and that it could be more flexibly managed through the closure plan." In a letter to the board ahead of the hearing, Diavik also said that there's uncertainty about how cultural use criteria would be evaluated for regulatory compliance. Diavik is trying to set itself apart from a history of abandoned mines in the N.W.T by closing responsibly. Its existing water licence expires at the end of the year, and it needs another one to wrap up production in March 2026, carry out closure, and start initial post-closure monitoring up until 2035. The hearing wraps up in Behchokǫ̀ on Wednesday.
CBC
4 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Public hearing starts for Diavik's water licence, leading into mine's upcoming closure
A three-day public hearing is set to begin Tuesday morning in Behchokǫ̀, N.W.T., for a water licence that will see the Diavik mine through the remainder of its active operation and into its upcoming closure. Diavik is expected to stop producing diamonds next year, but its current water licence expires before that. It is applying for another one in order to finish production and begin its closure and post-closure monitoring. The term for the water licence would be 10 years. Several groups are scheduled to present at the hearing and ask questions during the sessions this week, including the Tłı̨chǫ government, Yellowknives Dene First Nation, Łutsel K'e Dene First Nation and Deninu Kųę́ First Nation. Diavik, the territorial and federal environmental departments, and the Environmental Monitoring Advisory Board are also participating. In presentations submitted to the Wek'èezhìi Land and Water Board in advance, the groups laid out their chief areas of interest. For many, that includes bringing more traditional knowledge into Diavik's closure plan and adding criteria for cultural uses of the land and water. The Tłı̨chǫ government has also said its main focus will be protecting Lac de Gras. For its part, Diavik has said it is one of the first N.W.T. mines that will have a traditional knowledge monitoring program that it's developing with Indigenous partners. In its submissions, Diavik pointed to overlap between the water licence renewal and its final closure and reclamation plan — two separate documents. It suggested many of the topics presenters have identified would be better addressed in other ways, like through the closure plan, instead of through the water licence renewal. The hearing is set to run Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at the cultural centre in Behchokǫ̀.
CBC
27-05-2025
- General
- CBC
First Nations voice concerns over Diavik water license
Although the Diavik diamond mine is getting ready to close, the mine cannot clean up or shut down until it gets a new water licence. Some First Nations are now voicing their concerns. Nadeer Hashmi has more.
