OPINION: Canada is endangering our traditional way of life — and Sen. Murkowski made sure the president knows

The transboundary T’aakū (Taku), Shtax’héen (Stikine) and Joonáx (Unuk) rivers have provided for Indigenous peoples for thousands of years. These rivers are economic powerhouses for Southeast Alaska’s coastal communities. Today, however, the headwaters of these sacred rivers are the site of a modern-day gold rush with investors aiming to develop poorly regulated gold mines and failure-prone toxic mine waste dams in British Columbia (B.C.). On the heels of the semi-annual meetings between the U.S. and Canada, it is imperative that I elevate this issue on behalf of our communities and the salmon rivers that have sustained our people since time immemorial.

In September, Sen. Lisa Murkowski sent a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden expressing deep concern the U.S. could be harming our region’s largest salmon and hooligan-producing rivers by funding Canadian mining. Her letter came after President Biden announced the U.S. plans to fund Canadian “critical minerals” mines in pursuit of energy independence from China and supply chain resilience.

One of my mentors, the late former Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott, used to say, “If you look at the map of B.C. mining claims in the headwaters of our shared rivers, it looks like that map has measles.” At least 30 exploratory, developing, operating or abandoned Canadian gold mines currently contaminate or threaten to contaminate our shared waters and salmon. Can Alaskans fathom a dozen proposed Pebble mines in the Bristol Bay watershed? That is what we are up against in our region.

What I have learned from technical experts is that no company in the world will insure a toxic mine waste dam. While we are seeing natural disasters wreak havoc across our planet, especially in places like our traditional homelands that experience daily shifts in extreme weather, B.C. continues to permit mining companies to build tailings dams that rival the height of the Seattle Space Needle. We have been forced to adapt and change many of our traditional ways because of climate change, and it is time that government and industry shareholders acknowledge that business as usual simply cannot continue. We cannot mine our way out of a climate crisis — and governments cannot continue to place these burdens on Indigenous peoples. We hear the fodder between the U.S. and Canada regarding their “critical minerals” — what about us, their first peoples?

The conservation and restoration of traditional Indigenous lands and waters is crucial to maintaining our way of life and is an expression of our sovereignty. Our shared ancestral lands and waters span the international border and provide incredible opportunities for Indigenous-led large-scale, collaborative stewardship projects that can connect and restore the lands, waters, and wildlife that are the foundation of our cultural existence and economic welfare. Because of this, we stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who are also defending their waters and ways of life.

In recent months, Tlingit & Haida, along with 10 other Indigenous Nations, sent a letter to the Canadian and B.C. governments condemning them for allowing the B.C. mining industry to lay waste to Indigenous territory and demanding they honor their “legal and ethical obligation to protect transboundary waters and the communities they sustain.”

We stand united in the call for enforcement of the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 and a permanent ban on tailings dams upstream from communities and sensitive habitats to ensure these shared rivers are permanently protected for generations to come. We cannot do this alone and need everyone to stand with us in our calls for the Biden and Trudeau administrations to uphold their commitments to Indigenous peoples.

Richard Chalyee Éesh Peterson is the president of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, the largest sovereign tribe in Alaska, representing more than 37,000 Tlingit and Haida citizens worldwide.

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