Yukoners urge more collaboration on response to disaster at Victoria Gold's Eagle mine

About 20 people gathered in front of the Yukon's Legislative Assembly on Monday to protest the government and Victoria Gold's response to a heap leach failure at Eagle gold mine that has caused cyanide to leak into nearby waterways. 

The protest also comes after a technical briefing held last Friday where Yukon government officials said they are seeing more cyanide detected in water near the mine.

Geri-Lee Buyck, a First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun citizen who attended the protest, said she wanted to rally as many people as possible to be outside while the premier met with Yukon First Nation chiefs inside.  

Buyck said she wants to see stronger collaboration between the Yukon government, the mining company and the First Nation on the spill response. 

"I would love to see a stronger collaboration so we can respond better together," she said. 

She also said the last few weeks have been difficult, with the news that cyanide had reached waterways. 

"I thought that I was grieving before this disaster took place with how our land is developed," she said. "But my heart and mind have been grieving quite heavily, even more … knowing that this is going to be heavy and hard and how there's almost no return."

She said she's worried about how long it's taking to respond to the spill. 

"It's a huge delay, we could have been responding in a much better manner if we were all together at the table," she said. 

"We as Yukon First Nations people, but also as Yukoners are very deeply concerned."

Ashley Russell, a Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in First Nation citizen who attended the protest, said she's also worried about whether more cyanide will leak into the water. 

"We are all connected to it," she said. "We share our healing and we share our traumas with the water."

Russell said the "catastrophic trauma" of the spill at Eagle mine will be felt among generations of her people.