RAVEN (Respecting Aboriginal Values & Environmental Needs)


RAVEN Respecting Aboriginal Values & Environmental Needs is a charitable organization that provides financial resources to assist Aboriginal nations within Canada in lawfully forcing industrial development to be reconciled with their traditional ways of life, and in a manner that addresses global warming or other ecological sustainability challenges.

Mission

RAVEN's mission is to assist Aboriginal peoples in Canada in protecting or restoring their traditional lands and resources and addressing critical environmental challenges such as global warming by strategically enforcing their Constitutional rights through the courts in response to unsustainable settlement or industrial exploitation supported by the State.

Tax-exempt status

RAVEN is a registered Canadian non-profit organization with charitable tax status. RAVEN's registration number is 85484 0147 RR0001. The organization also has applied for and received approval of U.S. 501 status and is in the final stages of formalizing that.

Activities and structure

RAVEN currently campaigns for the Beaver Lake Cree Nation in support of its legal fight to stop the destruction of their traditional hunting, trapping and fishing lands from exploitation by Alberta tar sands industries. RAVEN's position is that assisting the Beaver Lake Cree Nation in its efforts to stop the bitumen oil sands development is a chance to reverse a trend toward destroying the natural systems of the planet. The destruction of the boreal forest and the wasteful use of energy for the extraction of oil combine to make expansion of the bitumen oil sands one of the greatest threats to the future of our planet.
RAVEN also supports the and in their legal action against Taseko Mines' Prosperity Project which proposes to turn a pristine lake that is part of the Fraser River watershed into a dump site for mine waste. RAVEN claims that assisting the Tsilhqot’in Nation is a chance to prevent ecological disaster before it takes place. Teztan Biny is being reviewed to become an industrial dump site for the Taseko Mines Prosperity Project.
RAVEN works in close alliance with the growing movement of eNGOs. The Tsilhqot'in fight to preserve Teztan Biny is now a national issue also on the agenda of NGOs such as MiningWatch Canada and the Council of Canadians. The practice of turning fresh water lakes into toxic waste dump is a matter that concerns everyone. The Canadian federal government is not only allowing for this practice through the recent amendment to Schedule 2 of the Metal, Mining and Effluent Regulations, but also there are 20 more lakes across Canada facing the same fate as Teztan Biny.
RAVEN's board of directors includes David Williams of Friends of the Nemaiah Valley, Lynn Hunter and Linda Stanton.

Campaigns

Beaver Lake Cree Nation vs. the tar sands

The Beaver Lake Cree, a small, impoverished band of 900 people in eastern Alberta, are suing the Canadian federal and Alberta provincial governments to protect the land. They claim that Alberta's tar sands developments are obliterating their traditional hunting and fishing lands in Alberta. The animals, fish, plants and medicine that sustain the Beaver Lake Cree are being destroyed.
In Canada, the rights of Indigenous people are constitutionally protected. Led by Chief Al Lameman, the Beaver Lake Cree Nation is asserting a treaty right to hunt and fish throughout lands where tar sands activity is destroying the forest. This court action seeks an injunction against new developments. The cites more than 17,000 infringements on their treaty rights and in the course of doing so names every major oil company in the world.
Investment in the bituminous sands in northern Alberta – the world's last great oil field – totals approximately $200 billion. No assessment of the cumulative environmental or cultural damage has been done. It has been argued that this project – unhindered – will destroy a large part of the great boreal forest of North America, will escalate global warming, and will destroy an indigenous way of life. The Alberta government continues to approve projects, such that production of dirty oil will increase from the current to by 2015.
Already vast expanses of the boreal forest have been cut down – causing significant damage to the environment and to the earth's well-being. The forest is home to a long list of animals, from black bears and caribou to marten and moose. Chief Al Lameman says they can no longer find caribou herds where caribou were abundant just 12 years ago. Moose are also being displaced in large numbers and simply cannot be found. There is evidence the herds are also not self-sustaining – there is not a new calf population to replace the older population of moose.
As the forest is eroded to make way for open mines and in-situ mines, the ‘great lung’ of North America with its rich carbon-storing peat and soil, is disappearing. In its place, rapid growth of carbon emissions threatens to increase the earth's temperature. Meanwhile, oil sands extraction pollutes the earth with its tailings ponds, pollutes the air with its emissions, and pollutes the water using two to four barrels of water to produce just one barrel of bitumen and creating vast lakes of chemicals that leach into local watersheds.

Beaver Lake Cree history

The Beaver Lake Cree is a small Indian community located in eastern Alberta, north-east of Edmonton and just outside Lac La Biche. It currently has approximately 900 members. In the early 19th century, the Hudson's Bay Company built a trading post at Lac La Biche, and the locals hunted, fished and trapped fur to sell to the HBC agents. In the 1870s the Canadian government was involved in a gradual process of treaty making aimed at addressing Aboriginal title and opening up the lands for settlement. By the middle of the decade, food supplies for the plains Cree were running low with a rapid decline in buffalo, and geographical survey crews were running into tensions with the local inhabitants. In July 1875, Cree warriors stopped a telegraph crew at the fork of the Saskatchewan River. In response the Canadian government sent Treaty Commissioner Alexander Morris to meet with Cree, Chipewyan and Salteaux leaders beginning on August 15, 1876.
Discussions lasted for several days and included many pipe ceremonies. The pipe ceremonies were viewed by the Cree people as a mark of the solemnity of the occasion. In the presence of the pipe only the truth could be told and it was understood that promises made as part of such ceremonies would be kept. For their part, the Commissioners invoked the name of the Queen, and made the treaty promises in her name. Beaver Lake's immediate ancestors met with Commissioner Morris at Fort Pitt in September, 1876. There Morris gave this speech:
… I see the Queen's Councillors taking the Indian by the hand saying we are brothers, we will lift you up, we will teach you, if you will learn, the cunning of the white man. All along the road I see Indians gathering, I see gardens growing and houses building; I see them receiving money from the Queen's Commissioners to purchase clothing for their children, at the same time I see them enjoying their hunting and fishing as before, I see them retaining their old mode of living with the Queen's gift in addition.

Chief Pay-ay-sis signed Treaty 6. He and the other chiefs surrendered approximately 195,000 square kilometres of land. In return for their land, they were promised that they would be able to hunt and fish to make a living from the land as they had always done, and they were promised that each band member would be paid $5.00 per year.
The promise to pay $5.00 per year to each Cree person has been faithfully kept every year.
The important text of Treaty 6 is:
The Plain and Wood Cree Tribes of Indians, and all other the Indians inhabiting the district hereinafter described and defined, do hereby cede, release, surrender and yield up to the Government of the Dominion of Canada, for Her Majesty the Queen and Her successors forever, all their rights, titles and privileges, whatsoever, to the lands included within the following limits…
Her Majesty further agrees with Her said Indians that they, the said Indians, shall have right to pursue their avocations of hunting and fishing throughout the tract surrendered as hereinbefore described, subject to such regulations as may from time to time be made by Her Government of Her Dominion of Canada, and saving and excepting such tracts as may from time to time be required or taken up for settlement, mining, lumbering or other purposes by Her said Government of the Dominion of Canada, or by any of the subjects thereof duly authorized therefor by the said Government.

There is a tension built into the treaty between the Crown's right to take up land, and the enduring right of the Indians to hunt and fish. In the 19th century the amount of unspoiled land available for hunting and fishing was so huge that no amount of settlement seemed to affect the wildlife populations. For over one hundred years under the treaty there was always a meaningful opportunity to hunt and fish, so conflict between the Crown's rights and the Indian's rights did not arise.
But in the last two decades, the tar sands developments have encroached on such huge amounts of land that there is now a conflict between the viability of the treaty rights and the Crown's right to continue to alienate land.
The law in this situation has recently been expressed by the Supreme Court of Canada. The Crown cannot take up so much land as to compromise the meaningful right to hunt. If game becomes so scarce that the Indians would have to travel too far, and expend too much effort to make the hunting worthwhile, then the treaty right is no longer meaningful. If that decrease in the abundance of fish and wildlife is caused by Crown actions, then the Crown actions can be declared unconstitutional.

The tar sands and potential impact on the Beaver Lake Cree

The Athabasca oil sands deposit represents the second largest known deposit of oil in the world - after Saudi Arabia. There are estimated to be more than a trillion barrels of oil embedded in the sands, with an estimated considered to be recoverable. Production of synthetic crude oil from the tar sands is well under way – Alberta is producing about of dirty oil per day. That amount is expected to double or triple in the next few years, based on recent massive private investment in these projects.
The environmental liabilities that result from the various steps in oil sands extraction and refining process include:
i. Destruction of the boreal forest eco-system
ii. Damage to the Athabasca watershed
iii. Heavy consumption of natural gas
iv. Creation of toxic tailings ponds
v. Increased release of greenhouse gases
i. Destruction of the boreal forest eco-system
All of the oil sands leases slated for development are located in the boreal forest. The boreal forest is particularly valuable for its ability to store large amounts of carbon in its bogs, peat, soil, and trees. The destruction of boreal forest reduces the earth's capacity to store carbon and releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere as it is destroyed. The currently proposed oil sands projects, if all were to be activated, would directly remove an area of boreal forest eco-system twice the size of Ireland. Destruction of the forest eliminates the habitat for birds, fish, and mammals, including caribou, bear, deer, moose, wolves, coyotes, lynx, wolverine, beaver, fisher, marten, muskrat, and squirrels. Reclamation is not a credible solution.
ii. Damage to the Athabasca water shed
Two to four and a half barrels of water are required to produce a barrel of oil from the tar sands. Water is used to create the slurry of bitumen and oil that is heated and processed. Water is also disposed of through Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage method of extraction where steam is pumped into the ground to cause bitumen to flow into a lower pipe for removal. For every barrel of oil produced approximately one barrel of water is contaminated in the process and deposited into a tailings pond.
At present, large water allocations from the Athabasca River are assigned to industrial use. A recent Alberta government report concluded that: “Over the long term, the Athabasca River may not have sufficient flows to meet the needs of all the planned mining operations and maintain adequate instream flows.” This is one of Canada's largest rivers.
Water impacts threaten fish, wildlife, downstream communities, and transportation in the McKenzie delta. The toxicity of the tailings ponds also represent threats to local aquifers and to the quality of water in the Athabasca River due to the danger of seepage or a sudden and large catastrophic failure of a pond's enclosure. Already there have been reports of unusually high incidence of certain kinds of cancer in the populations living downstream.
iii. Heavy consumption of natural gas
Natural gas is burned to heat the bitumen in the tar sands in order to extract the liquid oil. The energy equivalent of one barrel of oil in natural gas is needed to produce three barrels of synthetic crude. Producing a barrel of oil from the oil sands requires approximately one thousand cubic feet of natural gas.
Natural gas is a fossil fuel, and when it burns to create heat it adds carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. But the additional concern is that natural gas releases less carbon dioxide per unit of energy produced than oil does - especially heavy oil, or synthetic crude. So, a relatively clean non-renewable fossil fuel is being burned to create a very dirty fossil fuel.
iv. Creation of toxic tailings ponds
The “tailings” from the bitumen retrieval and refining processes include sand, silt and clay mixed with leftover hydrocarbons and other toxic substances. Tailings are being created at a rate of 2,000 or so litres per barrel of bitumen, resulting in about 1.8 billion litres of tailings every day. In May 2008, tailings ponds covered approximately 130 km2 of Alberta.
Tailings ponds include substances of concern for the water quality that discharge to surface waters:
• salts
• elevated sodium, chloride, sulphate
• elevated total dissolved solids, pH, conductivity and alkalinity
• lower calcium and magnesium
• variable levels of trace metals, including boron, arsenic and strontium
• elevated ammonia
• naphthenic acids, phenols, hydrocarbons
• and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
• other acute and chronic toxicants
In many cases, huge ponds sit with very short berms separating them from the Athabasca River. The Athabasca is the source river of the McKenzie watershed – downstream are communities that depend on the river for their water and livelihood. It is the principal source of food fish for Aboriginal communities.
In April 2008, considerable press coverage arose when 500 ducks landed on the Syncrude tailings pond and died. Syncrude did not report the incident and it only became public because of an anonymous tip. Provincial regulations require the use of scarecrows and soundmakers to attempt to divert the birds from the ponds, but these were not functioning at the time. A member of the Sierra Club of Alberta, Jeh Custer, started a private prosecution against Syncrude in 2008. A private prosecution for an environmental office is a legal proceeding where an individual attempts to enforce an environmental statute, in circumstances where the Crown prosecutors fail to do so. Such private prosecutions almost always fail. But they serve to embarrass governments who are not doing their job. On February 10 both Canada and Alberta commenced formal court proceedings against Syncrude for the same offences. If convicted, Syncrude could face a maximum $300,000 fine.
v. The release of greenhouse gases
There are three main sources of greenhouse gas increases resulting from tar sands extractions:
1. Release of carbon from the living boreal forest as it is destroyed.
2. Burning of natural gas, itself a fossil fuel, in the refining process
3. The carbon released from the bitumen itself.
Because of the huge amount of greenhouse gas release in the process of creating synthetic crude oil, Alberta produces three times more greenhouse gas emissions per capita than the Canadian average and six times the West European average.
The earth's atmosphere currently contains about 459 ppm CO2 equivalent greenhouse gases. At that elevated level we are now into the danger zone. It is well understood that as the concentrations of CO2 approach 550 ppm there is near certainty that the earth will warm 2 degrees, and will probably warm 3 degrees, an amount of warming that would be fully catastrophic. Over the next 30 years as the tar sands are exploited under current plans, this one source alone will add about 65 ppm of carbon dioxide to earth's atmosphere. Even if nobody else on earth created carbon dioxide over the next 30 years, exploitation of the tar sands will push the level of CO2 in our atmosphere to 525 ppm. This one source will single-handedly cancel out all worldwide efforts to control climate change. All the good effects of conservation, conversion to solar, wind, tidal, geothermal and other expensive unconventional energy sources will be for nothing, because this one industrial project will continue pushing up the atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and equivalent greenhouse gases. All the planning and sacrifice by the rest of the world will be cancelled out by this one industry.
And, in the course of exploiting the tar sands and destroying the boreal forest, the treaty rights of the Beaver Lake Cree Nation will be rendered meaningless.

Co-operative Bank supports BLCN with its Toxic Fuels Campaign

In February 2009, The Co-operative Financial Services announced it was backing the Beaver Lake Cree legal action. In the bank's press release, Paul Monaghan, Head of Social Goals and Sustainability at CFS said: “We already know that commercialisation of tar sands risks massive environmental damage. If the Beaver Lake Cree Nation are successful in their ground-breaking legal challenge and other indigenous groups follow, oil companies could also be looking at massive investment damages.” CFS launched its Toxic Fuels campaign, designed to "combat the shocking global trend of extracting oil from unconventional sources, such as tar sands and shale oil. Such exploitation threatens global efforts to avoid dangerous levels of climate change and risks local ecological disaster." The has a direct link to RAVEN in order to provide financial support for the lengthy and costly legal action. CFS has donated more than £100,000 towards the Beaver Lake Cree's lawsuit.
----

The Tsilhqot'in fight to save Teztan Biny

Taseko Mines Ltd. is proposing to develop the Prosperity Mine, a massive open pit gold and copper mine, deep within the traditional territory of the Tsilhqot'in Nation. The proposed Prosperity Mine is located in south central British Columbia, approximately 125 km southwest of Williams Lake, on an alpine plateau in the Chilcotin, beneath the rugged glaciated peaks of the Coast Range. The Prosperity Mine, if developed, would be situated in a site of exceptional natural splendor, close to the Nemaiah Valley, Ts'yl-os Provincial Park, and the ?Elegesi Qayus Wild Horse Preserve.
A statement prepared by the Tsilhqot'in National Government and placed on the says:
the proposed mine’s two kilometer-wide open pit, tailings pond, waste rock piles, roads, and transmission lines would destroy an entire sub-alpine ecosystem, and most importantly Teztan Biny, a lake sacred to the Tsilhqot'in Nation, and known to others as Fish Lake. Teztan Biny is a beautiful mountain lake which our ancestors have used and managed since time immemorial. Teztan Biny supports a vibrant population of genetically unique Rainbow Trout that provide a critical food source for the Tsilhqot'in people and local wildlife; including blue-listed species of concern such as Grizzly Bears.

For generations the Tsilhqot'in have gone to Teztan Biny to fish, to set fish traps and nets, hunt and trap, gather medicines, engage in spiritual practices, reconnect with the land, honor their elders, share stories, and foster unity. It is more than a lake to the Tsilhqot'in – it is an integral part of Tsilhqot'in culture, and vital to their cultural continuity and survival. Many non-Aboriginal local residents and tourists also enjoy Teztan Biny for a wide variety of recreational activities. The Tsilhqot'in Nation is neither against development nor against the responsible use of natural resources. In fact, as the traditional keepers of the land for thousands of years, we have successfully balanced the need for sustainable harvesting with long-term preservation. To the Tsilhqot'in people, the destruction of Teztan Biny is an unacceptable use of land and water, incompatible with modern principles of sustainability, and an ill-conceived and shortsighted attempt to inject an industrial project into the heart of our pristine watershed.
For generations the Tsilhqot’in people have gone to Teztan Biny, and the streams and wetlands surrounding it, nourish Fish Creek and the Taseko River, critical habitat areas for Chinook and sockeye salmon. It is here that wild salmon begin their long journey to the Pacific Ocean via the Chilko, the Chilcotin and ultimately, the Fraser River. Teztan Biny is a vital part of the watershed that supports one of the largest and most productive salmon fisheries in North America. We have deep concerns that any toxic effluents that seep from the mine tailings and waste rock facilities at the proposed mine could negatively impact BC's already threatened Fraser salmon fishery.
Chief Marilyn Baptiste, following in the long tradition of strong Tsilhqot'in leaders, has again taken the Tsilhqot’in claims to court by filing another case seeking a specific declaration of an Aboriginal right to fish in Teztan Biny. She is acting on behalf of our elders, our leaders and future generations. Currently, the Tsilhqot'in Nation Government is participating in the environmental assessment process conducted by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency to ensure that our voice is heard. The financial, social and time pressures placed on our government and our people by this process are immense. An independent review panel has been named, and public hearings will take place this summer. The review panel is scheduled to make a recommendation by the fall of 2009. Taseko Mines Ltd. is strongly advocating for an expedited process to ensure construction begins in winter 2010.

Issues of concern

Significant environmental and social impacts can be summarized as:
1- Reclassification of Fish Lake as a Tailings Pond - The proposed mine requires the conversion of a fish bearing lake - Fish Lake also named Tetzan Biny - to a permanent waste rock disposal area, and its upstream watershed as a permanent storage facility for mine tailings and effluent. The destruction of this lake requires federal Cabinet approval in the form of a regulatory amendment to the Metal Mining Effluent Regulations, Schedule 2 because it would otherwise contravene a critical provision of the Fisheries Act that protects fish habitat. MMER Schedule 2 amendments are highly controversial in Canada, and Canada is one of the few countries in the world that allows such an industrial practice. More than a dozen lakes and water bodies are currently being considered for this kind of industrial application in Canada. Teztan Biny, which requires to be “Scheduled” under this proposal is considered to be one of the most productive rainbow trout lakes in BC. The proponent suggests that they cannot access the ore body without destroying Fish Lake and proposes creating a replacement lake as a means of compensating for the loss of Fish Lake and upstream and downstream spawning habitat.iv
2- Aboriginal Rights and Title –The Tsilhqot’in Nation, which comprises six member communities, has lived in the area of the proposed mine since before contact with European settlers, and maintains claims to Aboriginal rights and title throughout the area. In particular, the Tsilhqot’in Nation has already proven its Aboriginal right to hunt and trap in the area of the proposed mine, and is seeking a further court declaration of a specific Aboriginal right to fish at Teztan Biny. The Tsilhqot’in people fish, hunt, trap and gather berries and traditional medicines throughout the area. There is, in effect, no way to build the mine without precluding Tsilhqot’in land use in the affected area. The proposed construction of the mine, irrespective of other issues, pits the economic priority of industrial development against proven and asserted Aboriginal rights and title, and seriously undermines efforts at the reconciliation of the Crown's assertion of sovereignty with the prior occupation of Aboriginal people on this land.
3- Metal Leaching and Acid Rock Drainage - Modern industrial scale mining of copper based ore bodies can release heavy metals and Acid Rock Drainage, into surface and groundwater. The naturally occurring sulphuric content of rock reacts with exposure to water and air to produce sulphuric acid. Both of these processes are accelerated by the crushing and refining of the ore body through the process of mining. Open pit mining, in particular, requires the processing of tremendous quantities of waste rock and overburden to access the comparatively small grades of ore contained in the deposit. Lastly, the presence of sulphuric acid accelerates the leaching of toxic metals. The entire process is called ML/ARD, and is presently the single greatest adverse environmental effect of mining in accordance with modern industrial standards. The effects of ML/ARD are difficult to predict, and tend to arise decades after the commencement of a mines operation, and can produce lasting, chronic, and sometimes irremediable environmental damage. Often, the corporate entity that developed the mine has ceased to exist by the time problems arise, and the bonding and securities required of the proponent by government are insufficient to remedy or mitigate the damages. The costs are borne by tax payers and local residents and future generations. The Kemess North Joint Review Panel final analysis concluded : “The Panel believes that the creation of a long-term legacy of substantial mine site management and maintenance obligations,lasting for thousands of years, represents a major imposition on future generations.”, On March 7, 2008, the Government of Canada and the Province of British Columbia announced that they will accept the recommendation of an independent environmental assessment panel that the proposed Kemess North copper-gold mine should not proceed in its present form.,
4-Potential Impacts to the Fraser Basin watershed – Fish Lake is at approximately 1400m above sea level, and sits atop a bench between two low mountain tops. The lake, and the site of the proposed mine, waste rock area, and tailings impoundments area, are perched above the Taseko River, which connects downstream with the highly productive salmon-bearing Chilko and Chilcotin Rivers before entering the Fraser River below Williams Lake. Some 240 m tonnes of potentially acid generating waste rock will need to be stored permanently underwater behind a massive dam to be built across the Fish Lake watershed. This structure will need to be maintained in perpetuity, for if the water capping the waste rock was to drain, acid generation in the exposed wasterock would present a serious environmental risk to downstream fisheries. Any inadvertent, accidental or even naturally caused effluent discharge from the tailings dam will inevitably end up in these river systems with potentially catastrophic results to one of BC's most valuable fish runs. The massive dam and stored effluent and waste rock on the Fish Lake watershed would also pose serious threats for groundwater contamination by mine effluents draining from beneath the impoundment into the rocks and groundwater systems feeding the Taseko River. Any heavy metals stored in dissolved or solid form in the tailings will pose a risk to Taseko River water quality. All of these risks last not only for the mine life but forever, requiring a significant continual investment of inspection and maintenance effort by future generations.
5- Free Entry – The conflict over land use priorities in the Chilcotin-Cariboo region was generated by a provision in the BC Mineral Tenure Act which permits prospectors, prospective prospectors, and anyone else with a credit card, to stake mineral claims to an area over the internet, and for a few dollars acquire a legally enforceable property interest in the minerals contained within that claim. Upon further application, the mineral claim can be converted to a long term lease with significant proprietary surface rights which are critical to mine development. These “Free Entry” provisions of the Mineral Tenure Act effectively trump the rights of surface rights holders, and in particular the Act does not recognize any other interest in the land, for example the interests of First Nations. While the provisions of the Mineral Tenure Act have generated hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenues for the province and markedly encouraged mineral prospecting and mine development in the short-term, the free entry system precipitates the inevitable conflicts that result where the rights of established land users are trumped by other interests, often pitting local and foreign interests against one another. While land use planning in BC continues to integrate the values and priorities of local interests and stakeholders, the provisions of the Mineral Tenure Act, undermine the devolution.