Every winter since the tailings pond breach at the Mount Polley mine in 2014, copper-laden sediment from the bottom of Quesnel Lake has been re-suspended in the water column and has flowed into the Quesnel River affecting aquatic life in the watershed, according to a new paper by UNBC researchers Phil Owens and Ellen Petticrew. The tailings facility at the Mount Polley copper and gold mine failed on Aug. 4, 2014, sending 25 million cubic metres of solids and water from the mine site into the local environment and researchers have spent the past eight years monitoring the environment after the breach.
Amnesty uses World Water Day to highlight environmental racism in Canada
“Far too often, governments in Canada have demonstrated that they place little value on the health and well-being of Indigenous peoples and the revitalization of their cultures and traditions,” Tara Scurr, business and human rights campaigner with Amnesty International Canada, said in a statement Thursday.