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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

Mitsubishi Profits from Indian Woes in Canada

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

6/27/96

OVERVIEW & SOURCE by EE

Rainforest Action Network reports in their July Action Alert on yet another

instance of Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan's unrelenting attacks upon the

environment. This time, Mitsubishi has aggressively pursued mining in the

Cheslatta Carrier Nation indigenous ground in Canada, which will destroy

forests and the land. Please take the time to respond to the appeal for

letters.

g.b.

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*RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK--JULY ACTION ALERT*

MITSUBISHI PROFITS FROM INDIAN WOES

In mid-May, Mitsubishi broke ground on a project that will destroy

traditional hunting areas of the Cheslatta Carrier Nation in northern

British Columbia. This is business as usual for Mitsubishi, one of the

world's great environmental pariahs. For the Cheslatta people, it is their

latest stand for survival against industry's assaults on their beleaguered

homeland.

For nearly five decades, large-scale industrial projects have laid waste to

Cheslatta Carrier Nation. Commercial logging is ongoing, leaving the

territory scarred with thousands of clear-cuts. In 1952, Alcan Aluminum

moved onto Cheslatta land, evicting the Indians, burning their villages,

and building a hydro-electric reservoir that constantly

overflows-obliterating the natural course of Cheslatta River.

Now Mitsubishi Materials is developing a massive open-pit copper and gold

mine at Huckleberry Mountain, in partnership with a consortium of Japanese

companies, and with B.C.-based Princeton Mining. The Cheslatta Carrier

Indians would trap and hunt game on Huckleberry Mountain's abundant slopes,

gather medicinal herbs from its forests, and fish the nearby waters-but if

Mitsubishi's plans go unchecked, the mountain will be hauled away by the

truck load until nothing is left.

Already, work crews are carving access roads through Cheslatta Nation, and

are gearing up to clear-cut more than 1,420-acres of forest to accommodate

the mine's superstructure. According to official estimates, nearly one

hundred million tons each of potentially toxic tailings and waste rock will

be dumped onto the landscape once the mine is operational.

Tailings ponds, designed to catch liquid mine wastes, could easily

overflow, spilling poisonous sludge into nearby Tahtsa Lake-or worse, heavy

metals will leach into the water table, and acid rock drainage (ARD) will

contaminate the entire Tahtsa network of waterways. Once the metals have

reached the point of saturation, the soil will continue to release toxins

into the water for thousands of years. The U.S. Bureau of Mines estimates

ARD has poisoned over 12,000 miles of North America's waterways, and

Canada's Federal Government says the cost of cleaning up its current

ARD-polluted rivers could exceed $5 billion.

Hungry for foreign investment, the B.C. Government conducted a cursory

environmental assessment, giving a thumbs-up to the mine. The Cheslatta

rejected the assessment as inadequate, and are taking their case to B.C.'s

Supreme Court with help from Sierra Legal Defense Fund.

Meanwhile, the Mitsubishi-led consortium threatened to withdraw funding

from mining operations across Canada if Huckleberry was held up with

federal environmental assessments. Fearing cancellation of the project,

B.C. Premier Glen Clark and Canada's Ambassador to Japan, Donald Campbell,

urged the Government in Ottawa to approve the project right away.

The message is clear. When foreign underwriting is at stake, quick profits

are more important than the environment-or the basic human rights of the

Cheslatta people.

The Cheslatta only want what is theirs-and they want Mitsubishi and company

off of their land. In the words of elder George Louis, keeper of the

traditional territories at Huckleberry Mountain: "These companies will

destroy the land left to us by our ancestors. They will take away our food

and medicine plants. What do I want them to do? Stop. Just stop."

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Send a letter to Prime Minister Jean Chretien, telling him to reassess

approval of the Huckleberry Mine. His address: House of Commons, Ottawa,

Ontario, KIA 0A6. Postage from the U.S. is 52 cents. Here is a sample

letter:

Dear Prime Minister,

I am horrified to learn that your government is party to the destruction of

Cheslatta Carrier Nation in B.C., and fast-tracked the approval of

Mitsubishi-funded Huckleberry copper mine. The mine will lay waste to

Cheslatta traditional hunting grounds, and may potentially render the

entire region uninhabitable. No adequate environmental assessments have

been carried out.

I see that large foreign investment is tempting, but be aware that

Mitsubishi is one of the world's great environmental pariahs.

You must do everything in your power to stop this dangerous project, and to

uphold the basic rights of the Cheslatta people.

For additional information:

Cheslatta Carrier Nation

P.O. Box 909

Burns Lake, B.C. VOJ 1EO

Telephone: (604) 694-3334

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