Premier John Horgan said this week he’s anxiously awaiting a court decision on charges against Mount Polley mining corporation brought in a private prosecution by former Xat’sull chief Bev Sellars for violations of B.C.’s environmental laws — but B.C.’s role in that case is still unclear.

B.C.’s crown prosecution service is responsible for the final decision on whether and how B.C. will proceed with the case regarding the 2014 tailings pond collapse that released 24 million cubic metres of mining waste into Hazeltine Creek and Quesnel Lake, a source of drinking water.*

Sellars filed the case on August 4th, 2017 — the last day a case under provincial law could be brought against the company due to a three-year statute of limitations — as a means of holding open the legal door for government, which had only recently come under NDP power.

The courts are expected to make a decision on the fate of the private prosecution by the end of January.

“By filing a private prosecution on August 4th, I preserved the right to prosecute Mount Polley Mining Corporation for destroying the environment on which we all depend,” Sellars told DeSmog Canada in an e-mailed statement.

“I did so to uphold Canadian law, traditional law of the Xat’sull people, and for the sake of the next seven generations to come. I hope the province will do their part.”

At a press briefing on Tuesday, Horgan told DeSmog Canada the province is awaiting the court’s decision.

“I think all British Columbians were mortified that three years would pass with no consequences to the most horrific mine disaster in B.C. history,” the premier said. “I remain concerned and I am anxious to hear what the courts say,” he said, adding there is still time to press charges under federal laws.

The province still has the capacity to pursue charges under the Fisheries Act, which “have far greater penalties for non-compliance,” he said.

“What the province can and should do is fortify the regulatory framework which this industry is working within.” https://t.co/HsA8mRuRWx

— DeSmog Canada (@DeSmogCanada) January 17, 2018

“So this isn’t the end of justice or consequences for the failure,” he said.

Patrick Canning, counsel for Sellars, said the provincial Crown could still choose to take over the case or have the charges amended, adding the province’s ability to pursue provincial charges is still practically as open now as it was before the deadline of August 4, 2017.

The B.C. Conservation Officer Service is participating in an ongoing joint provincial-federal investigation into the Mount Polley disaster alongside the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Environment Canada.

Canning said the B.C. Ministry of Environment could direct the findings of that investigation to the provincial Crown.

In an e-mailed statement to DeSmog Canada, B.C. Ministry of Environment spokesperson David Karn said, “While the statute of limitations for the Environmental Management Act may have passed, the investigation continues.”

“Be assured that both levels of government are committed to a thorough investigation within the timeframe of the federal statute of limitations.”

Karn suggested a “choice of charges would have to be made in any event,” suggesting government must select between provincial or federal laws.

Yet Canning said there is no legal basis for such a choice.

Sellars said as a grandmother her duty is to protect the environment for future generations.

“Indigenous people’s law stresses that you have to take care of the land for seven generations ahead,” she said.

“It’s not too late for the province to see that justice is done.”

Sonia Furstenau, environment critic for the BC Green party, told DeSmog Canada regardless of how the province chooses to treat violations of provincial or federal rules, government should take steps to rebuild public trust in B.C.’s regulatory regime.

“What the province can and should do is fortify the regulatory framework which this industry is working within.”

While one can acknowledge that mining plays an important role in B.C.,  given what we’ve seen with the Mount Polley mine, the situation in Shawnigan Lake and a similar issue now unfolding in Campbell River, it’s important to acknowledge a loss of public trust in industry and the government’s ability to regulate, Furstenau said.

“What I’d like to see from the premier is assurance that this industry can operate in a way we can trust, to demonstrate the environmental impacts won’t outweigh the benefits of the jobs and materials that are being produced in these mines.”

* This story has been updated to clarify that the decision on how to proceed with the Mount Polley case lies with B.C.’s Crown prosecution service.

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The federal government is seeking to stay a private lawsuit brought against Mount Polley Mining Corporation and the B.C. government in October 2016, nearly 30 months after the collapse of the Mount Polley tailings pond spilled 25-million cubic metres of contaminated mining waste into Quesnel Lake, a source of drinking water for residents of Likely, B.C.

Now the federal government is seeking a withdrawal of the criminal charges before MiningWatch Canada — the organization that first brought the charges, which claim the company and the province violated the federal Fisheries Act — has been given the opportunity to present evidence.

“We were stunned that the federal Crown does not even want us to show the court that there was enough evidence to justify proceeding with a prosecution against both the B.C. government and [the Mount Polley Mining Corporation] for the worst mining spill in Canadian history,” Ugo Lapointe, Canada Program Coordinator for MiningWatch, said.

“To add insult to injury, the Federal Crown did not even provide an explanation for why it is doing this now, with such short notice before the Court date which was set for the last two month,” Lapointe told DeSmog Canada.

Lapointe said under normal circumstances a process hearing would take place during which evidence would be presented and after which the court would emit a summons and set a trial date. Or, if the court decided to stay the proceedings, it would do so with an explanation based on the evidence and provided to the court and thus the public.

The B.C. court will take up to several weeks to decide if the Crown is warranted in entering a stay of charges.

Cancelling the proceedings without strong justification sends a dangerous signal to the mining industry in Canada, Lapointe said, adding it could further erode public confidence in Canada’s regulatory system.

“We initiated this private prosecution out of concern that it has now been over two and a half years since the Mount Polly disaster happened and yet, despite clear evidence of violations of Canadian laws, no charges have been brought forward by any level of government,” he said.

No charges and no fines have been laid against Mount Polley, owned and operated by Vancouver-based Imperial Metals. The collapse of the tailings pond released mining waste containing copper, lead, iron, arsenic and selenium into fish-bearing waters.

Quesnel Lake, where the vast majority of the spilled waste still resides, is home to one of the province’s most abundant sockeye salmon runs.

A 2015 investigation by Chief Inspector of Mines Al Hoffman, did not result in charges against Mount Polley. Hoffman’s report found the company engaged in poor practices but he stopped short of citing Mount Polley for non-compliance.

A subsequent report released by B.C. Auditor General Carol Bellringer found B.C. suffered from inadequate monitoring and inspection of mines and as a result was unable to ensure mine operators were following provincial rules.

An investigation into the incident by B.C.’s Conservation Officer Service is ongoing.

Imperial Metals is owner and operator of the Red Chris mine in northern B.C. and is exploring options for two more mines on Vancouver Island.

The MiningWatch lawsuit was filed under a citizen’s provision of the Criminal Code that allows for private prosecution of offenses, such as a violation of the Fisheries Act.

According to the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, private charges like those brought by MiningWatch are a “valuable constitutional safeguard against inertia or partiality on the part of authorities.”

Lilina Lysenka, lawyer for MiningWatch, said the court should be cautious about dismissing a case without reviewing the evidence.

“Staying the charges prior to having the opportunity to determine whether or not there is enough evidence to proceed could undermine this constitutional safeguard if it is done without good reason,” Lysenka said.

Bev Sellars, chair of First Nations Women Advocating for Responsible Mining which supports the MiningWatch prosecution, said the impacts of the Mount Polley mine spill are far from over.

“The disaster that was the Mount Polley tailings pond collapse is not over for those of us who live and depend on the lands and waters and particularly on the salmon that have always sustained us,” she said at the time of the proceeding’s launch.

“Nor is it over for those living in the shadows of other existing and planned mines across B.C. who are acutely aware of the government’s own panel of experts who reported we can expect to see two more such failures every decade,” she said.

MiningWatch hopes the case will be cleared for trial and will be eventually taken up by the Federal Crown.

Although supported by an impressive coalition of environmental, social justice and First Nations organizations that includes West Coast Environmental Law, Amnesty International Canada, Sierra Club BC, the Wilderness Committee, Concerned Citizens of Quesnel Lake and many others, MiningWatch recognizes “the cost and expense associated with prosecuting a case against a mining corporation and the Provincial government can be immense.”

“If Canada’s unique environmental values and waters are to be fully protected, it can only occur if the government stands against violations of its own laws and uses all the means and resources it has at its disposal to do so,” the group states.

Image: Screenshot of the August 4th tailings pond collapse at the Mount Polley mine. Credit: Cariboo Regional District via Youtube

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