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In the first few weeks of 2026, B.C. approved two mines and signed a significant critical minerals agreement with other provinces and territories. At the same time, Premier David Eby is doubling down on his desire to change the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), after a court ruling in December agreed with two First Nations’ claim that B.C.’s mineral claim staking regime did not fulfill the government’s obligations to consult with First Nations.
The premier is not being shy about what he wants.
“We will be the economic engine of the new economy that we are building here as Canadians,” Eby said in Prince George, B.C., on Jan. 21.
The push to fast-track critical mineral mines in the province has some residents of the northwest asking questions. B.C. is unable to process critical minerals, apart from aluminum, so anything mined will need to be sent to China or Japan or elsewhere to be processed, Nikki Skuce told The Narwhal in an interview.
Skuce directs Northern Confluence, based out of Smithers, B.C., which focuses on protecting watersheds for salmon and reforming mining practices to be more sustainable and aligned with Indigenous Rights.
“The term critical mineral itself holds really well because it creates a sense of urgency,” she said, adding B.C. does not track where mined resources from the province go, or what they are used for when they reach their final destinations — though they are sometimes used to make military weapons.
“I think if people understood that the mined materials in their territory and backyard were going to make bombs dropped on Gaza, or F35s for military defence that are sourced from the United States, they might give pause and go another direction,” she said.
Other questions remain about the possible effects of amending the Declaration Act on the mining industry in B.C. — and the economic benefits promised.
B.C.’s mining push and the critical minerals agenda
The Western Canadian Critical Minerals Strategy was signed on Jan. 25 by B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut stating that signatories are looking to strengthen Western and Northern Canada by becoming “a preferred global supplier of responsibly sourced critical minerals.”
These seven provinces and territories are rich in critical minerals, with B.C. housing 16 of the 34 minerals and metals identified by the Canadian government.
On the Government of Canada website, it says critical minerals “are used in a wide range of essential products ranging from mobile phones and solar panels to electric vehicle batteries, medical devices and defence applications.”
The push to mine these critical minerals has been heightened by tariffs threats from the United States, with Prime Minister Mark Carney using “shovels in the ground” language since being elected to office in April. The B.C. mine on Carney’s list of projects to fast-track is the expansion of the Red Chris mine in the province’s northwest.
Meanwhile, Eby has a list of his own which includes Red Chris and 17 other projects, two of which were approved in January.
Mount Milligan, a gold-copper mine in northeastern B.C., is extending operations until 2035, Eby announced in Prince George on Jan. 21. The fast-tracked permits received the go-ahead from B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Office — a process that some Indigenous people are warning others about.
Surrounding Mount Milligan are 18 reserves that make up the Nak’azdli Whut’en First Nation led by Chief Colleen Erickson. In a news release on the nation’s website, it says the environmental assessment process in B.C. has been undermined because the province “retroactively approved unpermitted water discharges” by releasing sulphur into neighbouring lakes.
The release states discharge permits were not part of the original certificate and members of the nation are concerned about local fish populations and health because high levels of sulphur are toxic to aquatic organisms.
Meanwhile, in Tahltan territory in northwestern B.C., the former Eskay Creek mine is in the process of reopening to produce gold and silver. The B.C. government released the news on Jan. 25 — four days after the Mount Milligan announcement.
Eskay Creek became the first consent-based agreement for a mining project, under Section 7 of the Declaration Act, after the nation voted in favour of the project last December.
Merle Alexander, a First Nations lawyer in B.C. who helped develop DRIPA, told The Narwhal in an interview that even when Indigenous people “co-develop the rules, if [the government] doesn’t like it, they just change it,” regarding recent conversations about revising the act this spring.
He congratulated the Tahltan on their Section 7 agreement with B.C., noting that DRIPA works for the government when it comes to obtaining critical minerals.
“They lean into DRIPA when it works in their favour and then reject it when they have judicial losses,” he said, noting that most mines in B.C. are approved without consent-based agreements with First Nations, and that most B.C. mines face First Nation opposition despite getting approved, using the Highland Valley Copper mine expansion near Kamloops as an example.
How fast can we go here?
When it comes to speeding up industry and legislation timelines in B.C., Skuce said the way the province approaches rare earth elements, through the Mineral Tenure Act, needed reform long before the Declaration Act came into effect.
“The Mineral Tenure Act is a colonial hangover. Since 1859 it has allowed prospectors priority use of the land and free entry into everywhere,” she said.
Skuce finds it “really disappointing” that B.C. seems to be focused on amending DRIPA instead of updating the Mineral Tenure Act.
Though economic prosperity is the most cited reason for fast-tracking major infrastructure projects in B.C. and Canada, studies are still looking into the validity of those claims.
According to an October 2025 report out of the University of British Columbia, mines in B.C. overpromise and under-deliver on economic benefits and project timelines — with little means to hold the industry accountable to their forecasted targets.
Although gaps in the data limited a comprehensive audit, the report found mines in B.C. underperformed compared to expectations, based on the available information. Forty per cent of mines in the dataset closed temporarily at least once.
Regulatory issues are often cited in delayed or failing mining projects, but the report found the most commonly cited reason for mines closing or being delayed in B.C. is economic constraints — not regulations.
As the Eby government prepares to release its budget Tuesday, the premier’s recent comments about appealing the Gitxaała decision and amending DRIPA are top of mind for many.
Updated on Feb. 17, 2025, at 12:33 p.m. PT: This story has been updated to clarify that critical minerals mined in B.C. are sent to China, Japan and elsewhere to be processed. It has also been updated to state that critical minerals are sometimes used to create military weapons, not often as previously reported.
