QAMANITTUAQ/BAKER LAKE
A socio-economic impact study released late last month contains anonymous allegations regarding the experience of Inuit women employed at the Agnico-Eagle Meadowbank mine near Baker Lake.

Agnico-Eagle's Meadowbank gold mine, pictured here just before it went into production in 2010, is located north of Baker Lake. Some female Inuit employees have alleged workplace harassment in a recent report. The company is responding with an independent review of its in-place human resource policies. - photo courtesy of Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd.

The 188-page report, The Impact of Resource Extraction on Inuit Women and Families in Qamani'tuaq, Nunavut Territory, was prepared for the Canadian Women's Foundation by Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada organization and the University of British Columbia school of social work.

The broad-ranging survey included allegations of sexual harassment on the mine site. The report includes a section describing the experience of some female employees, including unwanted name-calling or abusive language, and exposure to human indignities during the course of regular employment duties.

Most disturbingly, the report repeats allegations by participants that incidents of sexual assault were happening at the mine.

In the words of the report, "serious concerns were voiced by someone in a position to know ... about serious incidents occurring at the mine." Those serious incidents were described as possibly including rape.

Meadowbank mine is more than 100 km by road from Baker Lake.

Baker Lake RCMP Sgt. Yvonne Niego, the officer in charge of community policing Division B, said they have no reports of sexual misconduct on record as alleged by participants in the study.

"Our detachment liaises with mine security," Niego said.

"For individuals who work at the mine, their first point of contact would be the mine's own security office."

Agnico-Eagle employs four full-time security personnel who operate on rotation, much like mine personnel in general.

"We have four full-time security personnel who are all former RCMP officers," said Agnico-Eagle spokesperson Dale Coffin. "Two are on-site at all times."

Since 2010, the company has had one incident of sexual harassment filed by a female Inuit employee. The incident was non-physical.

"The complaint was investigated and led to the firing of the male employee who was doing the harassment," Coffin stated in an e-mail.

Statistics provided by Agnico-Eagle show that of 736 permanent employees at the Meadowbank operation, 101 are female, 229 are Inuit, and 68 are Inuit female.

Several programs and resources are in place at the mine site to foster a safe workplace environment for Inuit employees, including two permanent Inuktitut-speaking human resource personnel from the Kivalliq region. They hold regular Inuit support group meetings with no management present.

"It's a meeting run by Inuit human resources (personnel)," Coffin said.

"They're able amongst themselves to discuss concerns and raise issues. The HR person can move forward to management or the right people to resolve those issues."

Other programs include regular clergy visits, elder visits, nurse and doctor visits and a whistleblower line.

Agnico-Eagle was not contacted about the study or its findings, and only heard about the report through the media, Coffin said.

"In reviewing the report we've seen some concerns and we want to make sure the programs we have in place are effective," Coffin said.

"We're in the process of identifying a third party group that can come in and take a look at the programs we have (in place) and make recommendations where we need to improve or make changes."

The allegations contained in the report, made by community members to researchers, formed only a small part of the study's findings within the context of the mine's impact, positive and negative, in the communities involved.

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