This letter is in response to an article in the Interior News Paper dated March 9, 2022, entitled “Telkwa Coal submits Environmental Assessment Certificate Application.
The article left me with a bit of a bad taste. It almost seemed like Mark Grey and Tenas Coal were using our (Wet’suwet’en and Office of the Wet’suwet’en) participation in the process as support for the project and using it as leverage to gain support from the broader public.
The public should know, and it must be clear, that although there is participation in a process, this does not in any form indicate or suggest support or consent.
The ‘Project Assessment Agreement’ is merely an agreement to participate in the process to get to a place where the Nation (in this case Liksilyu Clan Kwin Begh Yikh, House Beside the Fire) feels they have the right information to make an informed decision.
The reason I can write about this proposed coal mine is this. I am a member of the Liksilyu Clan, and my house is Kwin Begh Yikh (KBY), House Beside the Fire.
Our Territory will be impacted because of the proposed rail line and road that is situated where the planned load out area is as described on a map.
Because this is our House Territory, I can also say, our House may be in the process of ‘consultation,’ but we are far from being consulted and hope that our decision, whatever it might be, will be honoured in the end.
Thank you,
Charlotte Euverman, for KBY