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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board has approved a diamond exploration project at Drybones Bay.

The Encore Renaissance Resources Corp. program on the north shore of Great Slave Lake, and any development at Drybones Bay was opposed by the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, who said the area contains old burial sites, the remains of a traditional Yellowknives Dene village, and is currently used by the Dene people for fishing, moose hunting, teaching youth about traditional knowledge as well as other cultural practices.

"If they take that land, how are we supposed to take the kids out and teach them the things we used to do in the past?" asked Dene elder Alfred Baillargeon at a public hearing held by the review board in September. "What is the Government of Canada thinking when they give permission for exploration of our land when we say no?"

Parties who participated in the consideration proceedings included Encore Renaissance, Akaitcho Treaty 8 Tribal Corp., the Yellowknives Dene, the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, the GNWT, and Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada.

The cultural significance of the area was taken into account by the review board, which attached several measures to the decision.

Final approval for the exploration is now subject to the acceptance of the minister of Aboriginal Affairs.

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