“The whole fiasco just shows how impossible it is to get anything built in Canada. A few dozen people shouldn’t be able to add months of delay to an already massively delayed project like this, especially after it’s been given the supposedly safe go-ahead. Canada is getting poorer, and you can blame it on obstructive groups like this — and more importantly, the courts.
“A tiny activist group of about 50 members of Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha, just cost BC $30 billion in potential GDP and $7 billion in provincial tax revenue by tying up the KSM mine in court, despite full benefit agreements with the much larger Nisga’a and Tahltan ‘Nations’, who actually support it.”
https://x.com/Bowenqldaus/status/2065251793341382712
“Earlier this month, a B.C. court decided to cancel the official go-ahead to construct a gold mine in the north of the province because a few dozen ‘Indigenous’ people weren’t, in its view, adequately consulted.
https://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bcsc/doc/2026/2026bcsc1042/2026bcsc1042.html
“It didn’t matter that the project, Seabridge Gold’s Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell (KSM) mine, had already undergone 15 years of planning and consultations.
“It didn’t matter that $1.2 billion had already been spent on building early components of the mine like camps, roads and fish habitat. It didn’t matter that it had the support of two major ‘Indigenous’ {sic} groups, whose members would reap jobs, contracts, training and development support through benefit agreements with the company. It didn’t matter that the mine had been put on the province’s “fast-track” list, or that it was expected to bring billions of dollars in much-needed revenue.
“What actually mattered to B.C. Supreme Court Justice Emily Burke was the right of a tiny group calling itself a ‘First Nation’ to provide even more input on the mine than it already had.
{Pictures of B.C. Supreme Court judges are hidden from public view…}
“The Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha {“Skii Km Lax Ha, also known as Darlene Simpson, also known as Chief Simpson, on behalf of herself and in her capacity as Tsetsaut Skii Km Lax Ha Hereditary Chief”}, comprised of only 58 known members according to the court, had projected an Aboriginal title claim onto the area. The group is not recognized in federal law and thus not technically a real ‘First Nation’;
{“Tsetsaut / Skii km Lax Ha Nation (TSKLH) is not recognized as a Section 35 rights holder and the Government does not have a formal relationship or a negotiation table with them.”
https://search.open.canada.ca/qpnotes/record/aandc-aadnc%2CCIR-2025-QP-2909 }
nevertheless, it argued that the Province hadn’t adequately evaluated this claim, tainting any further approvals of the mine. It had given input on the thing since 2004; in 2014, the company published a traditional knowledge report, and in 2021, the Province came out with an ethno-historical report as well, which had been beset with delay. And in 2023, the Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha began having monthly meetings with the mining company.
https://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bcsc/doc/2026/2026bcsc1042/2026bcsc1042.html
“At the same time, the mine marched forward. The B.C. government had granted Seabridge Gold a positive environmental assessment for the KSM mine in 2014, which was necessary to secure its ability to operate in the years ahead. But the assessment alone couldn’t guarantee investment security: what the company needed was a “substantial start” designation from the government.
“The whole point of a “substantial start” designation is to draw a reasonable balance between developers and whatever environmental and social concerns are out there. Once given, it freezes the results of the environmental assessment for 50 years. The KSM mine got its “substantial start” designation in July 2024. It would have been immensely good news: here was the green light to complete the rest of the mine.
“But it wouldn’t last. In court, the Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha challenged the Province’s decision to grant that “substantial start” designation to the mine. In response, the court withdrew the mine’s “substantially started” status. The environmental assessment that had given the project a 50-year guarantee to operate lost its power. All because the judge {foolishly} felt that the ethnohistorical report about the little ‘Indigenous’ group that had been completed by a B.C. anthropologist late into the process actually strengthened its odds of a successful title claim. This warranted more extensive consultations.
“Over the years, the Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha signed two “capacity funding” agreements with the mining company for “capacity funding” — that is, funds to assist consultations. Nevertheless, the group demanded $500,000 from the province to support “efforts to ensure adequate consultation” and claimed to have suffered prejudice. After meetings with numerous B.C. ministers in 2024, it got $20,000 for consultations, a fraction of their ask. But it made sense: this group is tiny, unofficial and if Canada had any sense, it wouldn’t need deep consultations with what seemed more like a club than a real nation anyway.
“In comparison, the other groups whose land intersects with the project are a lot more substantial. The officially recognized Tahltan have 2,255 members ; the Nisga’a have nearly 5,000, 1,800 of which live on {claimed} ‘traditional lands’. Both have agreements with KSM regarding jobs and contracting opportunities with respect to the project, along with broader financial support for the community {Money which they should now have to repay. They can sue the Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha for damages}. The Gitxsan, whose hereditary chiefs have supported the mine, have nearly 7,500 members, 2,300 of which live on-reserve.
“It’s not as if Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha had been ignored {Like they should have been}. Over the years, it had been heard out and provided extra funds. Now, they’ll be getting even more attention: the court ruled that the province must provide the group “90 days’ notice in which to present written submissions addressing the question of whether the project was substantially started”, after which point the Province will once more have to consider whether to return the designation to the mine.
“The whole fiasco just shows how impossible it is to get anything built in Canada. A few dozen people shouldn’t be able to add months of delay to an already massively delayed project like this, especially after it’s been given the supposedly safe go-ahead.
“Investors are depending on the mine, as are local communities, and for once even the Province is on board. Just about everyone recognizes the benefit of pulling billions of dollars’ worth of ore out of the ground. But the court wants perfection, and it’s prepared to derail what it can to roll out the red carpet for the tiny, unrecognized Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha to make extra sure that the ‘duty to consult’ is fully discharged. Canada is getting poorer, and you can blame it on obstructive groups like this — and more importantly, the courts.”
–‘Yet another major project derailed over Indigenous spat’,
Jamie Sarkonak, National Post, June 19, 2026
See also:
‘Mining Company Screwed by B.C. Government’ (Canadian Gold Ventures Inc./Gitxaala) {June 19, 2026}:
“If this what the government considers ‘Indigenous’ reconciliation, then every investor in B.C. faces grave risk. The Province specifically asked us to step in and rescue this mine – we invested millions, began the necessary work of cleaning up someone else’s environmental mess, and created real economic value for British Columbia. In return, the Province negotiated away our property rights in a backroom deal without involving us or even telling us. That is not how a government should treat investors.”
https://endracebasedlaw.ca/2026/06/19/mining-company-screwed-by-b-c-government/
‘B.C. Indigenizing Mineral Claims’ (Mineral Claims Consultation Framework) {Dec.27, 2025}:
“The new system is poised to increase costs and administrative burden for all parties, including ‘First Nations’, project proponents, government, and taxpayers…and will cripple resource development in British Columbia as investors and project proponents abandon the province in favour of other jurisdictions with less regulatory uncertainty.”
https://endracebasedlaw.ca/2025/12/27/b-c-indigenizing-mineral-claims/
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