Trouble HIAAKON SULLIVAN ADVERTISING AND DistrispuTion MANAGER When Northgate Minerals pro- -posed expanding their Kemess mine north to collect up to four mil- lion ounces of gold, they expected to pay two hundred million to dump their mining waste into Duncan (Amazay) Lake in a manner that they said had little environmental effect. However, when the panel reviewed and rejected their plan, this unexpectedly tured into a bit- ter dispute between Northgate Min- erals and the aboriginal peoples of British Columbia. It all started when the Joint Fed- eral-Provincial Review Panel for the Kemess North Project began its public hearings to get input from the aboriginal community and other interested parties. The Tse Keh Nay and Gitxsan bands opposed the expansion of the mine because it would dump waste into Amazay Lake, which they both consider to be sacred. Other aboriginal com- munities in BC did what they could to assist the Tse Keh Nay in their task. With testimonies from govern- ment scientists and aboriginal lead- ers, the panel eventually decided to suggest to the provincial and fed- eral governments that they reject the plan as proposed as it was not in public interest due to negative environmental and social effects. The aboriginal groups were pleased with the news but Northgate Min- erals CEO Ken Stowe was not im- pressed, as the fee for the alternate plan would have a cost approaching one billion dollars. Stowe said at a mining forum in Denver, “There’s things in there that went on the panel like people talk- ing about speaking to bears. So it’s pretty hard to talk science.” Soon after, Northgate investors began making comments such as, “The only good indian is a dead indian,” and “Where is John Wayne when you need him?” Chief David Luggi of the Carrier Sekani said he mostly ignores the kinds of comments that the invest- ors were giving, but he demanded an apology from Stowe for his dis- respectful and racist remarks. The CEO replied that he meant no of- fense and that he was simply stating the facts. This wasn’t the only situation that caused a rift between aboriginal peoples and mining companies. Speaking about the Kemess North project, Northern Miner editor John Cumming wrote an editorial that had this in its contents: “Why exact- ly an environmental panel ... should blithely accept that stone-age-in- ducing, shamanistic values such as “water is sacred’ should automatic- ally trump the values of Western civilization and moder science is unstated. Pity.” Basically, with the tension be- tween the aboriginal peoples and the mining companies getting tight- er, the government may soon have to step in and take sides. A federal MP, Nathan Cullen, says that Gor- don Campbell is going to have to make a tough decision. The mining companies support his Liberal party so he’s getting a lot of pressure from them. On the flip side, Campbell is also trying to build new relations with the aboriginal peoples of BC. The creation of 475 new jobs or the salvation of a lake? Which will he choose if it comes down to a situa- tion where he has make a choice? Wait and see. " Hurricane K rome 29, 2005 | OVER THE EDGE October 24 - November bi 2007 IMAGE COURTESY OF GOOGLE IMAGES. A clip from Al Gore’s movie An Inconvenient Truth. Recently Al Gore was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work as well as a panel of UN Scientists. A Victory for Global Warming Awareness Al Gore Wins the Nobel Prize Mircxu GRant Provo Eviror Friday, October 12th was a great day for environ- mentalists as Al Gore, as well as a panel of UN scien- tists (the IPCC) working on global warming awareness, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Mr. Gore, the ex-Vice President of the United States, was deemed an “also ran” and pushed out of the lime- light when he lost the presidential elections of 2000 to the current President of the United States, George Bush Jr. For years he was portrayed as an extremist by his opponents, but apparently the Norwegian Nobel Com- mittee thinks that is a good thing. Mr. Gore has been working for years on increasing global awareness and prevention of global warming, including releasing a monologue movie version of his slide presentation, An Inconvenient Truth, which has received much critical acclaim, including an Oscar. It has also received negative attention from Gore’s op- ponents in the scientific community who believe he and others are over stressing the importance and effect of global warming. However, this is a small minority of the scientific community. IPCC (International Panel for Climate Change) Pres- ident Rajendra Pachauri was stunned by the award and hoped the award would bring greater awareness to global warming. Many experts, having appeared on multiple media sources, ranging from CTV, BBC, MSNBC and many others, have commented that this is an important land- mark, as Gore and his colleagues have brought global warming out the left wing arena and made it an issue that everyone, including conservatives, can no longer remain ignorant on. For that and their hard work in the face of decades of skepticism they deserve this award. The IPCC and Mr. Gore beat out 180 other nominees, including Oprah Winfrey, Rush Limbaugh, and a 92 year old woman who helped save Jewish children dur- ing the holocaust. The Lead Controversy SimRAN LEHAL CONTRIBUTOR Forget the year of the boar: 2007 has already been dubbed “the year of the recall.” Since January, millions of “made in China” products — from lip gloss, food wrappers, and train sets to Barbie, Elmo, and Batman — have been swiped off North American shelves due to high levels of lead contamination. Lead, a toxic metal, has been linked to a variety of nega- tive health conditions such as dementia, schizophrenia, heart disease, impotence, and sterility. Elevated levels of lead lower IQ scores. One US economist has even linked lead exposure to crime, by claiming that the decreased crime rate in New York over the past decade has been due to the removal of lead paint from homes — not to the actions of police or city council. Although lead’s toxic effects have been widely researched and studied, unsafe levels are still making their way into consumer hands, particularly due to questionable cost-sav- ing practices in China, the world’s largest importer of lead. The use of cheaper lead-based paints over standard coatings, for example, led American retailer JC Penny to recall 90,000 toys earlier this year. A similar problem tainted over a million packages of “Thomas and Friends” train sets. The makers of the Thomas train sets then sent bonus gifts to North American consumers who complied with the recall. Much to the outrage of these consumers, the bonus gifts were also lead-tainted. Another toy-tycoon, Mattel, was forced to recall 21 million China-made items sold between May and August of this year. This recall, one of the largest so far, sent shock waves through- out the world when Zhang Shuhong, the head of a major sup- plier to Mattel, commited suicide after having been implicated in the scandal. Blame has also been fingered at Chinese of- ficials for lax oversight, and at Mattel for failing to enforce safety standards and inspections. Pressure from international authorities has led to a tentative agreement aimed at prevent- ing any more lead-contaminated toys from being exported to the US. Canada has yet to negotiate such an agreement. China’s industrial Jead-handling practices have also led to health concerns within its own borders. For example, con- taminants from smelting plants, which negatively affects the health of villagers and employees, are often not acknowledged by officials. In one instance, after local hospitals in the indus- trial province of Gansu refused to acknowledge villager claims of lead poisoning, over 2000 villagers were forced to travel to an adjacent province for diagnosis and treatment, where it was found that almost all of the villagers had elevated levels of lead concentration. ’ Despite the recent controversies, Chinese trade officials as- sert that the majority of exports meet quality and safety stan- dards. There have been no confirmed North Ameriéan cases of disease caused by exposure to Chinese lead-contaminated products yet — rather, the number one cause of North American lead poisonings still remains as exposure to lead-based paints coating older homes. Nevertheless, China, the factory of the world, is taking its damaged reputation seriously: one Chinese journalist, for instance, was sentenced to a year in prison after falsely reporting on contaminated Chinese meat products.