Mining for support in Kamloops
Are donations to politicians — and the community — going to buy Ajax Mine’s way into Kamloops?
Guest writer Gina Morris is from Kamloops Moms for Clean Air
KGHM Ajax could be described as the proverbial “house guest” in Kamloops — with a “thanks for having us” gift in the form of donations, rather than the standard box of chocolates or bottle of wine.
Of course, Kamloops isn’t the only community where an outside corporation has attempted to buy, for lack of a better word, the residents’ affection and loyalty. All around the globe, mining companies have been known to use donations as a tactic — and let’s be clear, it is a tactic — to ingratiate themselves to a nearby community.
Why so generous? KGHM is pushing for a massive open pit copper/gold mine right next to Kamloops — and doing everything in its power to get it approved.
With a pit as deep as the Empire State Building is tall and a wet-tailings facility five times the size of the one that failed at Mount Polley, the Ajax mine would sit two kilometres from an elementary school, and uphill and upwind from a community of 90,000 people.
Donations for politicians
Surprisingly, the federal and provincial environmental assessment offices released a joint report that seems to favour KGHM and its proposal. There’s no precautionary principle, or Health Impact Assessment for the people of Kamloops. There’s just a report that repeatedly says “mitigation measures” will be needed, as well as monitoring for the success rate of “predictions” about possible impacts. With wording that alludes so heavily to an experiment, the community is left wondering if the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office (BCEAO) was swayed by political interference.
More than $56,000 worth of corporate donations were handed from KGHM to the BC Liberals in the lead up to the last election.
On November 20, 2015, when the BCEAO confirmed that the Environmental Impact Assessment application met the requirements of its guidelines, KGHM’s spokesperson said, “This is a very exciting day. We’re very pleased with the outcome and look forward to the future.”
That same day, the mining company made a $20,000 donation to Christy Clark’s party.
Though the joint report acknowledges (on page 5 of the Executive Summary) that the Ajax project “is likely to cause significant adverse effects to heritage and to the current use of lands and resources for traditional purposes by Aboriginal persons” and “is likely to cause significant cumulative effects” for these same Aboriginal land uses, it also says the project “is not likely to cause significant adverse effects” on anything else (italics added).
Given the winds that frequently blow over the proposed mine, which would bring an uncertain amount of toxic particles straight into the town below, the people of Kamloops have a right to wonder how the BCEAO would decide air quality, among other things, would not be subject to significant adverse effects.
With independent consultants, Medical Health Officers from the Interior Health Authority, and scientists from the Ministry of the Environment all showing the same concern and coming to similar conclusions about air effects due to possible pollution from the mine, it makes it even more difficult to understand what could inspire support for this project.
The final public comment period for Kamloops to share its thoughts with the BC EAO and the federal environmental agency is now closed. As a result, there are almost 800 submissions that could be reviewed and used to shape what the new ministers will learn about KGHM. Here’s hoping public feedback is taken seriously.
Ingratiating themselves to the community
KGHM has taken every measure to win the favour of the people who live next to their proposed mine. For example, the company hired a local retired police chief (a member of society who evokes feelings of trust and respect) for their External Affairs Management position.
With ads saying that “mining is in our DNA,” Ajax has paid for expensive wall space in the Kamloops airport as well as radio, TV and newspaper advertorials that often posed as news stories rather than the paid advertisements they were. They even climbed right into the abbreviation of our city’s name by calling themselves “KAM” (KGHM Ajax Mine).
However, it is the money the company has injected into the community that has really made things ugly in Kamloops, as only money can.
Through the tactic of “divide and conquer,” over time KGHM’s donations have caused an increase in bad feelings within the community, hinging on the idea that various organizations and events were being “bought” by the company — with a loyalty “price tag” attached.
Colleagues, friends, neighbours, and sometimes even family members, became victims of broken lines of communication and broken relationships, as we, the wider public, stopped being patrons of, and participants in, community events, initiatives, performances in the arts, and the sporting events and games we love.
There is an undeniable price that comes when it is perceived that the money is the company’s attempt to “buy” our loyalty. As soon as it was known that money from the company would fund various swim teams and dance schools, community theatre organizations, soccer and hockey teams, film festivals and musical ensembles, to name only a few, boycotts began to drive people apart. The worst part of this cleaving of friends and neighbours was how it caused people to fall silent with one another, where the tension sat in not knowing who you might offend if you shared your true thoughts or feelings about the proposed project.
As organizations and businesses lost regular patrons, they became further dependent on funding from Ajax, and more loyal to the project.
Luckily, in Kamloops, one very wise young woman (in business for herself in a medical health field) was able to add a reasoned voice to the social media frenzy of outrage that was growing stronger with every new donation. Her message was that we should not turn away from our fellow community people, but instead, continue our involvements and patronage as usual. She suggested we should not boycott, as this would be a way for the company to be successful if their tactic was to “divide and conquer”. By continuing to support one another, we might be able to avoid the outcome of increased economic dependence on the company.
We need to support each other
In Kamloops we are dealing with more than just the potential impacts on health and safety — with very real threats facing our children, our water and the Indigenous Nations to whom we are neighbours — we are dealing with a company that is coming in and disrupting our community at its core. KGHM may be considered welcome by those who see short term job opportunities as more important than the long term sustainability of this region, but it is upsetting to think the previous government could have been favouring their own campaign bank accounts over the social fabric of our community, our environment and our families.
If the joint environmental report — which admits to countless uncertainties and pollution exceedances, yet is still oddly favourable to this open pit mine — was in any way linked to political interference, Kamloops residents have a right to know. KGHM must be evaluated for what it is, and the people of Kamloops need assurances that those evaluations are free from bias and perceived favour resulting from corporate donations.
This is a precedent-setting project, where the B.C. government’s response will flavour how decisions are made on future proposed projects of a similar nature. This isn’t just a Kamloops issue, this is a B.C. issue. This is why I support Dogwood’s call for a Corruption Inquiry. I am confident Kamloops residents, and the rest of B.C., will stand up together.
Please support our call for a Corruption Inquiry into the KGHM Ajax Mine donations
“A copper mine is a hole in the ground with a liar on the top”…Vivian Lewis
The quote was originally from Mark Twain
Well written article Gina – thanks for all your hard work. I support and agree with all that you say.
These elites and their souless corporations have been forcing themselves on all peoples throughout the globe taking what they want….the gold more than the copper, and they don’t care how they do it…the divide and conquer has worked well in the past and is still working as so many people in Kamloops are completely uneducated in geo-politics and all they can think of is the few jobs that might happen, which probably won’t…they are notorious for hiring temp workers and pay them less. God help us with this one as I see my beautiful city that I have grown up in, in the crosshairs of once more “elites destruction of an area for their own gain”. They have gone into so many countries and just taken what they want. They will do it here and destroy this city and never look back, so we must unite as a force to stop this and demand our governments stand behind us. We will soon find out just what power our governments have if any in how they govern themselves now with this evil elite corporation with its one and only motive “GREED”.
This is a good example of how evil works. It is sickening to see how our provincial government seems to have accepted this very obvious attempt to buy their way into the community and spread their poisons. If anyone believes that some good can come from this mine, they are fooling themselves.
Yes, it’s so sad and terrible, and seems to be so prevalent everywhere now. It’s like the dark ages where robbers, bandits, and highwaymen could roll into a town and take it over and raze it to the ground, taking citizens or killing them. Not much different really. And the law doesn’t help the people anymore.
Thank you Gina;
On Tuesday, October 3, 2017, our new Governor General Julie Payette asked us to “use our land INTELLIGENTLY”.
On Thursday, October 26, our Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in reference to $30 million paid to three innocent but tortured Canadians said, “When we don’t stand up for people’s rights, it ends up costing all of us.”
Last year, on March 1, 2016 in reference to the Energy East Pipeline, he had also said, “While governments grant permits for resource development, only communities can grant permission.”
It’s too bad very few are listening…
Kamloops citizens have not given consent to allow this experiment with our health. Mining in the last 30 years now creates ten times the waste rock and tailings than when old Afton was mined. Free to fly from the tailings beaches, the toxic airborne ingredients may contain; copper, cadmium, lead, chromium, aluminum, arsenic and mercury contacting any soil or lungs they meet. Mentioned in “Four Moms and a Mine” https://vimeo.com/82688838 near 7:40 is a warning, from government publications in Australia, New Zealand and Nova Scotia to their people, to “not eat vegetables and fruit from their yards”.
We would like to “use our land INTELLIGENTLY”.
Look east at the tar sands mess and take heed….