WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. — A group of B.C. First Nations says it has created a detailed set of mining rules that will dictate how resource companies and governments operate in its territory.
The Northern Shuswap Tribal Council, representing four aboriginal bands in the central Interior, says its new mining policy will be applied to all existing, proposed and future projects that impact its traditional territory around Williams Lake.
The 54-page document was developed with the help of experts when the Xat'sull (hat-sull) First Nation commissioned the project last year.
Xat'sull Chief Bev Sellars says the document spells out the policy clearly and means the province and industry can no longer claim that they don't know how to work with First Nations.
The policy does not override B.C. laws but the group says it will serve as indigenous law for anyone doing mining business in over five-million hectares of traditional First Nations territory.
Although the nations involved were affected by the Mount Polley mine breach in August, Northern Shuswap mining co-ordinator Jacinda Mack says the policy was in the works long before the tailings pond collapsed.
