Gull Bay First Nation chief concerned about Lac des Iles tailings spill

Superior Morning5:05Wlifred King: Lac des Illes tailings pond spill

The chief of Gull Bay first nation says the Ministry of the Environment let his community down. We hear from Wilfred King about how he thinks the tailings pond leak at the the Lac des Iles Mine should have been handled better.The chief of Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek (Gull Bay First Nation), north of Thunder Bay, Ont., says the province's Ministry of the Environment is failing to protect and inform his community after a tailings spill at the nearby Lac des Iles mine.

The mine, operated by North American Palladium, released untreated water in June when heavy spring rains threatened the stability of the dam at the mine's tailing facility.

 The controlled release was overseen by the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change and ended on June 18, after the dam was deemed safe.

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"The environmental concerns are not being addressed adequately," Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek Chief Wilfred King said. "I'm hoping that there will be no damage to the environment, but we have no idea at this point and that's a concern to me."

A spokesperson for the Ministry said it has remained in regular contact with the First Nation about the situation and continues to provide frequent updates about what's happening at the mine.

But King said his trust in the Ministry is broken.

In a July 1 letter to the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, King wrote that a government technician told King and others in attendance at a meeting that the Ministry has no previous experience monitoring, measuring or remediating the kind of fine particulate matter spilled at Lac des Iles.

More than 200 million gallons of water, heavy with suspended solids, iron and aluminum was released into the environment, King said.

"We were told that they had no idea what the effects of the spill will be and they won't know for another year, before they find out what the long term effects are," King told CBC News.

The First Nation is concerned about the impact of contamination on the local fishery and wildlife, he said. 

"There's beavers, there's aquatic life, there's moose," King said. "I'm not sure whether that water in there is drinkable for the moose. We have no idea."