Taseko Mines Timeline

A timeline from birth to death of Taseko’s embattled New Prosperity mine in B.C.

The Supreme Court of Canada rejected an appeal by a mining company that has, for decades, been fighting to construct a gold and copper mine in an area considered sacred to the Tsilhqot'in First Nation

The Taseko Mines saga to construct the New Prosperity gold and copper mine has likely, finally, come to an end with a Supreme Court of Canada decision Thursday to reject a company appeal.

The 12-year effort to construct an open-pit mine began with a proposal that involved turning Fish Lake — a place sacred to the Tsilhqot’in Nation — into a tailings pond. That proposal was rejected by a federal review panel, but approved by the province of B.C. The company then made revisions to the project design to avoid draining Fish Lake, dubbing it the ‘New’ Prosperity Mine, in 2011.

The project has been declared dead and then alive again several times over but the Supreme Court decision may signal the final nail in the mine’s coffin.

Here’s a timeline of events leading up to Thursday’s legal ruling.

It was a chilly winter day...
when news broke that photojournalist Amber Bracken had been arrested by the RCMP while reporting for The Narwhal from Wet’suwet’en territory in northwestern B.C.

“Soon they would put me in handcuffs and take my cameras from me,” Amber said. “After that they would take my rights.”

As a small, non-profit news organization, we didn’t want to take one of the most powerful organizations in our country to court. Ultimately, we realized we had no other choice — because an absence of journalism leaves us all in the dark.

We wouldn’t be able to take this stand for press freedom — or send journalists like Amber to cover critically important environmental stories — without the ongoing support of thousands of members like you who make The Narwhal possible.
It was a chilly winter day...
when news broke that photojournalist Amber Bracken had been arrested by the RCMP while reporting for The Narwhal from Wet’suwet’en territory in northwestern B.C.

“Soon they would put me in handcuffs and take my cameras from me,” Amber said. “After that they would take my rights.”

As a small, non-profit news organization, we didn’t want to take one of the most powerful organizations in our country to court. Ultimately, we realized we had no other choice — because an absence of journalism leaves us all in the dark.

We wouldn’t be able to take this stand for press freedom — or send journalists like Amber to cover critically important environmental stories — without the ongoing support of thousands of members like you who make The Narwhal possible.

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Stand up for press freedom
Journalism is not a crime. The Narwhal and photojournalist Amber Bracken are suing the RCMP to fight for the right to report freely. Walk with us by signing up for our weekly newsletter today.