The Lhtako Dene Nation has issued a press release clarifying it’s support for the Cariboo Gold Project and that it is in its traditional territory.
Chief Clifford Lebrun says it is one of their core areas.
“We have archaeological proof, strength of claim and the oral history from the elders which is quite amazing once amazing when you add it all up. And it’s quite clear there. I think there was an archaeological team that went in there 3 or 4 years ago and they proved that it is, Dakelh or Southern Carrier artifacts.”
Chief Lebrun says they have also done a lot of work with Wells and in the area.
“Their arena, their skating rink, we shared names with that so it’s the Wells-Lhtako Community Centre rink. We also have a couple of nation’s flags waving in town and up in Barkerville, so we really do have a presence. Plus up at Bowron, we did the second year of fry release and we did that with industry partners. I think it was 50,000 salmon fry that we put in the creek at the headwaters of the Bowron watershed. The whole community was there, elders and the kids, and they got to release some fish into the edge of the lake and it was really exciting.”
Lebrun says they want to bring the salmon back.
“It’s really important to us. You can see it in our band logo and our nation’s flag, so it’s very important to us both in sustenance and it’s a spiritual thing as well that is very strong.”
Lebrun says Lhtako’s core territory ranges from north and south and west of Quesnel and due east to the BC/Alberta border.
He says “they expect companies, governments and our neighbouring Nations to respect protocol and our territory.”
On the new mine, Lebrun says Lhtako has signed an agreement with OSISKO Development and supports the project.
“I don’t know how many owners we’ve been in negotiations with, but we’ve been talking with that mine site through various owners for the last 20 something years or better. Five Chiefs have negotiated with them, whoever happened to own it at the time. We do have a long history of negotiations, and I think it was BGM at first, and then OSISKO took over so just carried on with negotiations. And we reached an agreement. We haven’t received a lot of benefit from it yet because this permit needs to get through and approved by the BC Government.”
Lebrun says they also want to make sure that OSISKO does it right.
“Someone I once knew told me that you get in front of it and get ran over, or you go beside them and make sure they do it right and we’ve been doing that. We had our own environmental engineer team to consult with us and translate some of their language. It’s very technical and if you’re not familiar with it it’s hard to keep up, so we had a separate firm. So we made educated decisions and choices. We went to community and it got voted on which direction we should go and that was guided by the elders as well, so the whole community was involved, not just the Chief and Council.”
Lebrun says they have also been working with the provincial government throughout the process.
Williams Lake First Nation also has an agreement with OSISKO.
The Xatsull First Nation is still negotiating and is calling on the project to be halted until one is in place.
Xatsull is also claiming that the mine is in its territory.
– Files from George Henderson, My Cariboo Now staff
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