Survey shows mixed confidence in ultimate success of Giant Mine remediation project

Some Yellowknife, Ndilǫ and Dettah residents are skeptical about the Giant Mine site being successfully remediated. 

That's according to a recent survey from the Giant Mine Oversight Board (GMOB). 

About one-third of respondents said they were either "not very confident" or "not at all confident" that the site would be successfully remediated. 

Another third said they were either "very confident" or "somewhat confident." 

"The survey was meant to be able to capture a moment in time," says Ben Nind, GMOB's executive director. "[It's] only into the second year of remediation, you're into a long period of consultation now and so it's a matter of just building upon that year by year, moment by moment, meeting by meeting, to be able to build confidence and build trust." 

But the survey also showed some community members are confused about who is ultimately responsible for cleaning up the site and building that trust. 

"The principle of 'polluter pays' is not well communicated by regulators and complicated further by the impacts of corporate bankruptcy," reads the results report.

To be clear, two-thirds of respondents said the federal government is in charge of remediation, which is correct. But other answers ranged from the N.W.T. government, to companies that used to own the mine, to GMOB itself. 

Nind says the board's takeaway for this is to be clearer on its mandate and its independence as a watchdog of the remediation project. 

Giant Mine operated from 1948 until 2004. The federal government took responsibility for the mine after its then-owner Royal Oak Mines Inc. went into receivership in 1999. Last November, the Giant Mine Remediation Project updated the estimated cleanup costs from $1 billion to $4.38 billion. Taxpayers will shoulder those costs.

Remediation of the mine involves, among other things, filling pits, taking down buildings, constructing a state-of-the-art water treatment plant, and containing around 237,000 tonnes of highly toxic arsenic trioxide dust deep underground. 

Quality over quantity

Nearly 400 people responded to the survey. That vast majority, about 80 per cent, were from Yellowknife, nine per cent from Dettah, and five per cent from Ndilǫ. 

"Some people may question [if] that a big enough number to make a difference, but what we saw was the quality of the responses," says Nind. 

"Some of them were very detailed and some of them were incredibly specific and well thought out and well written."

The survey was done in two phases between February and December 2022. 

In the first phase, there were "a low number" of responses from Dettah and Ndilo. 
"This was a concern given that these two communities are a key component of the historical impacts and impacts resulting from the [Giant Mine Remediation Project]," reads the report. 

In the second phase, GMOB did in-person interviews to try and get additional responses from the communities. 

"A lot of the community members are much more comfortable with in-person interviews door-to-door," says Nind. 

He added that overall communication with community members "is something that continually has to be worked on and has to be worked on by the board a lot more." 

Finally, the survey identified about a dozen concerns from community members surrounding remediation. 

The top three were: arsenic trioxide contamination, water treatment, and freezing of the arsenic chambers. 

CBC did not receive a response to a request for an interview with the remediation team.