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Kevin O'Reilly, left, spokesperson for Alternatives North, Ed Sangris, chief of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, and Ed Jones, elder of the North Slave Metis Alliance, raise concerns with the current state of the Giant Mine remediation plan and how it was developed. In Sangris' presentation he demanded compensation for the damage Giant Mine has done to his people and the land. - Lyndsay Herman/NNSL photo

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The Yellowknives Dene First Nation want $75 million in compensation for the contamination of water and traditional lands as a result of decades of mining at Giant Mine.

Dettah Chief Ed Sangris said the $75-million figure is in line with other impact benefit agreements offered by mining companies to First Nation groups when constructing mines on traditional lands.

"In keeping with other industry, how they make their agreements, we're missing out on $75 million in compensation," said Sangris during the first day of public hearings Monday into federal government plans for cleaning up the former gold mine, considered to be one of the most contaminated mine sites in Canada.

Sangris' compensation demand prefaced an additional request for an inquiry into the deaths of several Dene children, believed to have died from drinking arsenic-contaminated water from Back Bay, in the early 1950s.

Neither compensation nor the inquiry have ever been seriously discussed before, he said.

"When Giant Mine began producing gold in the late '40s, it started releasing arsenic into the air and into the water," said Sangris.

"In 1951, eight children died and other Dene started getting sick but the government let Giant Mine continue to pollute the land, the air, and the water. There has never been an official inquiry into the causes of those deaths. Our people have never been given answers for the loss that was suffered."

Adrian Paradis, acting manager of the Giant Mine Remediation Project, acknowledged in an e-mail to Yellowknifer, that many groups have "long-standing concerns about the history and legacy of Giant Mine" and are deeply anxious about contamination at the site but insisted his team can't deal with the entire legacy of Giant Mine.

"We believe that the project as a whole will help protect the environment, public health and safety and thereby reduce the level of public concern," Paradis stated.

The Yellowknives were not the only group requesting compensation at the public hearing.

Bill Enge, president of the North Slave Metis Alliance, pointed to the lack of compensation as one of four reasons the North Slave Metis Alliance does not support the current Giant Mine remediation plan.

"We were not consulted when this mine was built, and there were not, in my knowledge, any compensation negotiations going on between the Crown and the affected First Nations," said Enge.

Other reasons for rejecting the plan include a lack of independent oversight, no commitment to developing research on new clean-up options, and insufficient consultation with the North Slave Metis Alliance.

Sangris also took issue with the plan to keep the 237,000 tonnes of arsenic trioxide buried under Giant Mine frozen indefinitely. He said the Yellowknives will remain closely involved with the project to ensure new technologies will be found that may lead to a more permanent solution for the arsenic underground.

"We understand that, using today's technology, it is impossible to stop Giant Mine from continuing to release arsenic into the environment so our understanding leads us to accept new goals," he said.

"We will remain influential players in this remediation to ensure the government lives up to its obligation of looking for new technologies and getting rid of arsenic once and for all."

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