Mount Polley Blockade: Land Defender injured by Imperial Metals Employee

MT POLLEY BLOCKADE

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BREAKING NEWS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LAND DEFENDER INJURED BY IMPERIAL METALS EMPLOYEE

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Dutch translation by Alice Holemans, at NAIS

On August 4, 2016, the Secwepemc Women’s Warrior Societies and Allies, including Ancestral Pride gathered in front of the Imperial Metals Mount Polley Mine to mark the second year anniversary of British Columbia’s largest catastrophic industrial disaster devastating one of the world’s most fragile ecosystems, home to the world’s second largest sockeye salmon run.

The Allied Land Defenders including youth, Elders and women temporarily blockaded the mine site for the day, allowing workers to leave but not re-enter. In this process, an Imperial Metals employee attempted to violently breach the line of Elders, women and children at the mine entrance with their vehicle. Sacheen of Ancestral Pride, in an attempt to stop the vehicle was herself assaulted and sustained serious injuries and was immediately taken to the hospital for treatment. She has since been released and will be filing a report against the driver of the vehicle and is further seeking legal guidance.

Media Contact: Kanahus Manuel and Sacheen

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

On August 4th 2014, the largest industrial disaster was unleashed into Secwepemc Waters and onto Unceded and Unsurrendered Secwepemc Lands as Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley tailings dam failed after years of unenforced warnings from the Province of British Columbia regarding the integrity and capacity of the dam, spilling 24 million cubic metres of toxic mine waste into the area.

First, it should be clearly stated, the Provincial Government has no legal jurisdiction on unceded and unsurrendered Territory to be issuing any of the permits that they have issued to Imperial Metals Mount Polley Mine. Second, Imperial Metals has refused to clean up the toxic tailings left on the Land and in the Water and has not been held responsible for any of the mass destruction it has caused and continues to cause to and in Unceded and Unsurrendered Secwepemc Territory.

That the Province has continued to issue the Mount Polley Mine permits to re-open and operate at full capacity is not only absolutely unacceptable but criminal. The Province’s active aiding and abetting of Imperial Metals’ large scale industrial destruction on Secwepemc Lands is a continuation of genocide against the Secwepemc People. These actions have not and will not be tolerated.

“The Secwepemc Women’s Warrior Society will not be stopped. Imperial Metals Mount Polley Mine will not be allowed to be re-opened.”

BC: Secwepemc Blockade Mount Polley Mine Site

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Update: Land defender injured by Imperial Metals employee at blockade

http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2016/08/mount-polley-blockade-land-defender.html

Thank you Tori Cress for sharing photos of today!

August 4, 2016: BREAKING: SECWEPEMC BLOCKADE MOUNT POLLEY MINE SITE

Contact: Kanahus Freedom (Manuel)

kanahusmanuel@gmail.com

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Secwepemc land defenders and allies have set up a road blockade at Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley mine on the two year anniversary of the devastating tailings pond spill. Kanahus Freedom (Manuel), a member of the Secwepemc Women's Warrior Society says that the community is exercising its sovereignty and taking direct action, as the government of British Columbia recently issued a new operating permit to the mine.

“The province has no jurisdiction to be issuing permits to companies illegally operating on our Sovereign Territories without the free, prior, informed consent of the Secwepemc Tribal Peoples.”

Imperial Metals and the BC government claim to have the support of the Secwepemc, but in reality rely on select political figures and elected officials that do not represent the interests of the Secwepemc people or constitute their traditional sovereignty. “The DIA chiefs of the Soda Creek and Williams Lake Indian Bands have no jurisdiction or authority to support the re-opening of the Mount Polley mine,” states April Thomas, Secwepemculecw Grassroots Movement, who lobbied and presented to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) this past April regarding human and indigenous rights abuses on Secwepemc territory at the hands of government and industry.

The August 4, 2014, Mount Polley spill has been described as the the largest environmental disaster in British Columbia's history. It occurred when the mine's tailings pond dam gave way and unleashed 10 million cubic metres of contaminated water and 4.5 million cubic metres of metals-laden silt into Hazeltine Creek, Polley Lake and Quesnel Lake on the way to the Fraser River Watershed.

Despite government and industry promises at the time of the spill, very little in the way of site remediation has been done to clean up the toxic spill. A May 2016 report from the BC Auditor General Carol Bellringer found that the "monitoring and inspections of mines were inadequate to ensure mine operators complied with requirements.”

“As long as Imperial Metals and the government that backs them continue to devastate our lands with no accountability, we will take whatever action necessary to defend our lands. There will be an escalation in resistance, solidarity and pressure against their corporate interests. Today’s blockade is just the beginning.”

The Mount Polley blockade is part of a Resistance Gathering, a series of events taking place at the site that are commemorating the anniversary of the spill. The action and gathering has the support of a wide range of organizations and individuals, including non-Indigenous organizations like No One is Illegal and many local residents who have been alarmed by the environmental devastation--in many cases driven from their homes by the spill.

More photos at:

http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2016/08/bc-secwepemc-blockade-mount-polley-mine.html