Statement by the PEC, Communist Party of BC, Sept. 8, 2025
The Provincial Executive Committee of the Communist Party of BC expresses full support for the Xatśūll First Nation’s challenge to a B.C. Supreme Court decision in favour of allowing the Mount Polley Mining Corp. to raise the level of a tailings pond at the site of a disastrous dam breach eleven years ago.
That environmental catastrophe involved the spill of billions of litres of waste and water, after years of inadequate provincial oversight. Three engineers who worked on the tailings storage facility were charged by their professional association with negligence or unprofessional conduct. But the corporation itself has never been held legally responsible for the damage to fish stocks and water quality resulting from the spill, and the mine was re-opened in 2022.
In our view, this case is yet another example of governments and corporations putting the priority on protecting the ability of private resource companies to extract profits, at the expense of local communities and First Nations. The Mount Polley open pit copper and gold mine is owned by Imperial Metals & Power, which owns several other highly profitable mining operations in British Columbia.
The First Nation argues that provincial government’s approval of the plan to raise the level of the tailing storage facility by four metres was given without first conducting the legally required environmental assessment, and without the meaningful consultation required under the terms of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. UNDRIP calls for “free, prior and informed consent” of First Nations on economic development within their territories. The Xatśūll nation says the tailings pond expansion set a dangerous precedent of ignoring Indigenous rights and jurisdiction and fast-tracking resource projects.
As the Union of BC Indian Chiefs states, “this is exactly what First Nations have been alarmed about with the recent passage of Bill 14 Renewable Energy Projects (Streamlined Permitting) Act and Bill 15 Infrastructure Projects Act”.
The Communist Party of BC, along with the Green Party of BC and a number of environmental and First Nations organizations, opposed Bills 14 and 15 when these were introduced into the Legislature earlier this year.
For further comment, contact Communist Party of BC leader Robert Crooks, 604-254-9836