Lands – Connor Pritty

Lands

Director Report

Connor Pritty

Lands Director As Lands Director for the Tahltan Central Government (TCG), I am pleased to provide an update on the Lands Department’s conservation, management and protection initiatives relating to lands governance and major projects over the past few months. The Lands Department has been extremely busy, and I want to thank the entire team for their work, specifically Shawn Ducharme, Shared Engagement Record (SER) Coordinator, and Norm Maclean, Tahltan Heritage Resources Environmental Assessment Team (THREAT) Senior Advisor.

GOVERNMENT TO GOVERNMENT

Eskay Creek Section 7 Agreement: The Lands Department has consistently liaised with the Province to ensure that the Section 7 Consent-Based DecisionMaking Agreement fulsomely acknowledges Tahltan Nation’s decision-making authority concerning the Eskay Creek Project. Currently, the Lands Department is developing an implementation checklist with the Province to track key milestones under the agreement. The Department is also working with Canada to ensure that the implementation of a tri-lateral Government to Government relationship ensues as we progress through the Eskay Creek Environmental Assessment process. Jade Placer Interim Measures: The Department is finalizing our review of the Placer/Jade Collaborative Working Groups’ third recommendations report with BC, Kaska, and Liard River First Nations. The recommendations are progressing towards completion and include vital features, such as: information-sharing requirements, revenue sharing, reclamation directives, access, areas of activity restriction, compliance, and cleanup of legacy sites.

Red Chris Environmental Assessment Amendment

Negotiations: Under the June 2021 Order in Council (OIC), there was a requirement for the Province of BC to negotiate a consent-based decision-making agreement with the Tahltan Nation for the Red Chris Block Cave Environmental Assessment Amendment. Currently, the Lands Department is proceeding through negotiations of this agreement with support from TCG Legal Counsel representatives.

MAJOR PROJECTS

Eskay Creek: The Lands Department has been working extensively on the Eskay Creek Project over the past two months to finalize the TCG’s Readiness Decision Report and formally decide whether the Project should proceed into an environmental assessment. On October 25, October 26 and October 27, the Lands Department held in-territory community engagement on the Eskay Creek Project to provide further information on the Section 7 Agreement and where the Eskay Creek Project currently resided in the early engagement phase of BC’s Environmental Assessment process. On November 18, the TCG Lands Department formally recommended to the Province of B.C. that the Eskay Creek Project be required to undertake a full environmental assessment. As of November 18, 2022, the Eskay Creek Project has formally proceeded into the Process Planning Phase of the Environmental Assessment process under the 2018 B.C. Environmental Assessment Act. During the Process Planning Phase, extensive work will begin to finalize the Application Information Requirements (AIR), Process Order and Assessment Plan.

Red Chris: THREAT has reviewed multiple regulatory permitting applications over the past month. A pre-production application is pending conclusion, and the Lands Department is re-negotiating the current project bond held by the Province before the pre-production application permit is issued to the proponent. The Lands Department is working with Newcrest to arrange a Tailings Impoundment Facility consultation session in all three communities. The Department will continue to work on scoping the Block Cave Environmental Assessment Amendment with the Province concerning the consent-based decisionmaking agreement.

Brucejack: The Brucejack Project has finalized the eighth Project Environmental Assessment Certificate Amendment and is currently working on the ninth Environmental Assessment Certificate Amendment. We are also working through an amendment to the Permitted Mine Area under the Mines Act M-243 Permit and a Production Increase Application. A site visit was completed by the Lands Director to the Brucejack site in late September to review the current operations and environmental compliance/monitoring program.

Galore Creek: The Lands Department has been working with Galore through a series of workshops on various aspects of the Project, including tailings impoundment designs, regulatory processes, and water quality. The last workshop for the 2022 year is on November 29, 2022, and will focus on reviewing the Project’s current water modelling design results.

Kutcho: The Lands Department continues to participate in monthly project update meetings to review the Project’s intended regulatory plan for re-entering the Provincial Environmental Assessment process under the new BC 2018 Act.