Yukon board rejects Dawson City miners' attempt to evict homeowners

An attempt by a couple of Dawson City placer miners to access claims under a First Nations subdivision has been rejected by the Yukon Surface Rights Board.

Miners Michel Vincent and Michael Heydorf applied to the board last summer to have about 40 families evicted from their homes. The miners say the homes are on part of eight placer mining claims they own.

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The Yukon Surface Rights Board, however, dismissed the application this week saying the miners had failed to negotiate properly with the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in First Nation.

According to the board, Vincent and Heydorf sent a letter to the First Nation in June saying the homes must be moved to allow access to the claims.

The board says a lawyer for the First Nation responded and "put the ball back in the Applicants' court to address the matter of appropriate security and compensation." 

Vincent and Heydorf took that as an outright "no", and made no further overtures. Instead, they went to the Yukon Surface Rights Board.

'No real effort to engage'

The board decided that wasn't good enough  — and threw out the application.

"The parties' correspondence exchange discloses no real effort to engage and try to work out a resolution to their differences," according to the board's written decision.

The board said the miners could re-submit a new application, "after having carried out adequate negotiations in good faith with the First Nation and with other interested parties."

The board also found other problems with the miners' application, saying those may have been avoided "if the Applicants had obtained even a modest amount of legal advice.

"The Board urges them to consider consulting a lawyer before reapplying," the decision reads.