Doug Ashbury & Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 21/00) - News that the federal government had refused a permit that would allow Diavik to prepare for construction has outraged some Northern politicians.

The decision has also led to the formation of an ad-hoc group that is encouraging Yellowknifers to pressure the federal government to let the project go ahead.

"I'm absolutely appalled," said Yellowknife mayor Dave Lovell of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development decision.

During the Wednesday opening of the first session of the legislative assembly, Frame Lake MLA Charles Dent said Yellowknife MLAs were "very disappointed to hear Ottawa ignored this government's advice and denied the interim land use permit.

"This project would have created approximately 400 to 500 direct and 700 indirect jobs," said Dent. "However, those jobs are now lost for at least this year."

Diavik is proposing to build Canada's second diamond mine 280 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife.

"It's devastating to see this happen," Dent later said.

"As the former minister of finance I know how much money that project could bring to the North, in jobs, contracts, spin-off business and secondary industry."

Doug Witty, owner of Force One, was among a group of business, civic, and industry representatives who met Thursday morning to plan a challenge to the DIAND decision.

"The reason we put this committee together is that this project is critical to Yellowknife and the Northwest Territories," said Witty.

"Let's not hold up a company prepared to invest a billion dollars," he added. "Let them get their stuff in there and get going."

He said his telephone has been ringing off the hook with inquiries from people wanting to know what they can do to help.

The lobby group encourages people to contact the local MP and put pressure on the regulatory agencies while Indian Affairs Minister Bob Nault is in Yellowknife.

If they can't get the decision reversed while Nault is here, Witty speculated the group may meet again to plan what their next step would be.

When it received the Dec. 31 application, DIAND asked aboriginal groups for comments on it. The North Slave Metis Alliance urged that the application be denied, saying concerns it had with the project had yet to be addressed.

The Canadian Arctic Resources Committee also asked that the permit not be granted. The environmental organization said the federal government requires that all environmental agreements and regulatory approvals be in place before the project proceeds. Though it has received environmental approval, Diavik has yet to be granted a water licence.

Diavik president Stephen Prest said the work the licence would have allowed is nothing different than what Diavik has been doing for the past five years.

Dent agreed: "They have quarries there now, they have pads there now. What they're talking about is expanding them."

Prest added Diavik applied for the licence at DIAND's suggestion.

"Following the Minister of the Environment's approval ... (DIAND) requested we make the application. So you can imagine I'm quite surprised they refused to grant it."

Lovell accused DIAND of "waffling," saying on the one hand it said there is no environmental problems with the project and on the other they seem determined to delay it.

"We used to have a government that made decisions, but now it seems we have a government that wants to sit on the fence.

"This trying to please everyone all the time is going to backfire," predicted the mayor.