Miners await certainty from Peel watershed land use case

The Yukon Chamber of Mines is watching this week's Peel watershed court case closely.

Samson Hartland, the chamber's executive director, says the mining industry is looking for certainty in the Peel watershed — something that he says wasn't delivered when the Yukon government rejected the land use plan that took an independent commission six years to write. 

“We expressed concerns at the time, and even more so today, that any company lacks a social license to go in there and do much activity,” Hartland says. “At this stage, it’s a no-go zone.”

Since the 1940s, more than $40 million dollars has been spent by mining companies looking for pay dirt in the Peel watershed, according to an estimate by the chamber, and many people and companies hold mineral claims in the region.

“With all that activity, all that exploration, identification and mining that's occurred it's still viewed as a pristine wilderness,” says Samson Hartland, the chamber’s executive director. “And I agree. You know, mining and exploration and the environment can co-exist.”

Jimmy Johnny disagrees. He's an elder from the Nacho N'yak Dun First Nation, one of the parties that launched the lawsuit.

“Flying over that area, sometimes when I go up there and I see all the mining sites, camp sites, roads and cat trails, cut line, everywhere.  It's being disturbed.”   

First Nations and environmental groups have been in court this week demanding the Yukon government implement the land use plan for the Peel watershed — an area the size of Nova Scotia — drafted by the Peel planning commission. 

The plan would have protected up to 80 per cent of the land from development. 

The Yukon government is arguing that it had the right to issue its own land use plan, which would protect only 30 per cent of the area from development. 

The government says it intends to respect existing claims in the Peel region.

Closing arguments in the case are expected to wrap up today.