contentious.<\/a><\/p>\nStill, the issue appears to go far beyond any single project. To many, it seems this is more a reckoning with the city\u2019s relationship with mining, how it will court the industry into the future.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the city continues work on its proposed mineral framework, which pitches a tiered system that would place checks and balances on mining activities. That includes setting time limits, remediation standards and inspections. <\/p>\n
Dylan Harris, a senior city planner, said during a council meeting Monday night public feedback is as vast as it is complex.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe volume of public input received regarding this application is amongst the highest in recent memory,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The report based on that input states 64 per cent of respondents support the proposed amendment. Some argue the project would be an economic boon and provide 22 direct jobs. Others say the proposed project is small-scale and temporary, with minimal impacts to the environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cMining and exploration have been and continue to be the largest sector in the Yukon outside of Government,\u201d writes Stuart Murray.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout exploration, there is no future.\u201d<\/p>\n
The affected First Nations \u2014 Kwanlin D\u00fcn and Ta’an Kw\u00e4ch\u2019\u00e4n Council \u2014 have both come out in favour of the company\u2019s plan.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a letter from Kwanlin D\u00fcn, Chief Sean Smith states mineral exploration in the First Nation\u2019s traditional territory is “important.”<\/p>\n
\u201cIt helps improve of our understanding of the land and its mineral potential, supporting informed decisions about the future of our Traditional Territory while creating opportunities for our citizens and the Yukon economy,\u201d the letter states.<\/p>\n
Not everyone’s view is so rosy.<\/p>\n
The report states about a third of respondents are either opposed or have outstanding concerns.<\/p>\n
They include environmental impacts that will far outweigh whatever profits are made. Some couch this argument in the long shadow cast by mine failures \u2014 like the one that happened roughly two years ago at Victoria Gold\u2019s Eagle Gold mine. Compounding the problem, they say, are ghastly low royalties. Other concerns include disruptions to wildlife habitat, cumulative impacts on nearby ecosystems like those in Chas\u00e0n Ch\u00f9a Territorial Park and tainted drinking water.<\/p>\n
Some worry a company will one day open a full fledged mine, which would only accelerate impacts. That includes Misa Svoboda, who also wrote to the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the mayor continues to create elementary school-level excuses about why this is a good idea, it makes me so infuriated that, at 20 years old, I have to speak up,\u201d she writes.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want to scare away the loyal people and residents of Whitehorse so you can have a mine within city limits, polluting the environment just for it to eventually close operations, and then spend all your money and the territorial government’s money to clean it up for 100+ years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quality of data centre of focus among councillors, staff<\/p>\n
All that input. But where do those writers live anyway?<\/p>\n
That was a central question among councillors at the meeting.<\/p>\n
First raised by Coun. Paolo Gallina, he said it\u2019s crucial to understand whether participants are Whitehorse residents. Or not.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to know that information,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Coun. Dan Boyd suggested opening this up mid-way through an already complex process is a bad idea.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re always doing a ton of surveys, and often it becomes quite evident that a lot of the survey respondents weren\u2019t even in Canada, so they have been able to influence it, somewhat,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe difficulty that we face, though, is trying to draw a line and how we weigh that.\u201d<\/p>\n
M\u00e9lodie Simard, acting director of development services, said under the Municipal Act, all submissions are accepted.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome folks may have interest in land within Whitehorse, but not be a resident,\u201d she said. \u201cFor example, someone who\u2019s a landlord.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Most survey respondents are game for allowing more mineral exploration in Whitehorse. The feedback relates to Gladiator Metals’…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":923791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-923790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/923790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=923790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/923790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/923791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=923790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=923790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=923790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}