Golden Shovel Issue#17 - June, 2024 - Legislative Assembly - Jade And The Moratorium That Broke A Fever

By Leighton Woolsey. ​On April 25, 2024 Tom Shypitka reads a letter from a Jade miner into the record. This miner has been mining jade in Northern BC for over 35 years. He claims to have worked to establish good relations with everyone around him while creating a successful business mining jade. The precious Jem stone known as BC’s official mineral emblem was for sale on the world market.
Onsite their operations were in good standing with an excellent safety and environmental record. They were fully permitted and paying their required taxes.
On July 4, 2019 they receive an eviction notice from the President of the Tahltan Central Government. Without being accompanied by the mines inspector or having permission to enter the mine, the President of the Tahltan Government disregards the law and arrives by helicopter to their site.
The jade miner was devastated to be treated like this after such long standing history. He mentions second hand information describing the Tahltan people as having concerns stemming from the TV show Jade Fever.
The eviction notice had no legal standing. It was a publicity stunt and the NDP responded with their own publicity stunt by imposing a two-year moratorium on issuing new permits for jade mining. It was extended an additional 22 months. While the moratorium didn’t affect permits already in place, it did set everyone up to fail. A permit has a maximum span of five years before expiring. This means that if you had to renew your permit at the time the moratorium was imposed means you were shut down those 44 months.
The jade miner describes losing everything he had worked for. He lost his business and customers on the world market. He states he was never given a specific reason why they were forced to stop work and references two independent reports at the request of the BC government. Both these reports gave good reviews of their work practices and reclamation.
This jade mine employed up to 30 people and they describe the moratorium as creating hardship on the industry.
The jade miner declares they are filing a lawsuit. They are fully in support of reconciliation with indigenous peoples but believe it cannot be achieved by expropriation of people’s livelihoods and life’s work. The letter sharing their story ends with the motive of hope that others will share their story too. They note in their last lines that others who are afraid to speak, need to because “if this can happen to me, it can happen anyone.”
Tom Shypitka states he has heard similar stories and offers the minister to comment. The Honorable Josie Osborne, Minister of Mines references the TV show Jade Fever as highlighting concerns people have about the industry.
Obviously, she was not a fan of the show, but most disturbing is referencing what was dressed up for a Hollywood audience as some kind of fact. What is worse is she deflects these concerns as coming from the Taltan people.
Tom Shypitka offered a stark reality to the minister that her answers didn’t support the people concerned and she is only stating the obvious that this is “ongoing”. He made it clear that mining projects have a shelf life and this jade miner is not alone. There are many others who are suffering from this moratorium and a definite timeline is necessary.
The Minister states that claims made by the Tāłtān and Kaska Dena Council about jade mining are
“significant land alteration, pollution in streams and rivers and a large-scale disruption of wildlife habitat.”
She goes on to claim these mining operations had received regular inspections and are backed up with satellite imagery. It is difficult to understand how regular inspections could fail to keep these mines in compliance with their permits
She was then asked by Tom Shypitka what did she receive that showed her there was non-compliance to support a moratorium.
She responds with a laundry list of documentation. Some related to non-compliance and lack of progressive reclamation. Others indicate sediment and erosion control. Another suggests outstanding administrative monetary penalties.
All the information is to be posted online but after five years nothing of substance has been posted or at least fitting the support for a moratorium. She claims these inspection reports have to be “requested”. However, ....Jade And The Moratorium That Broke a Fever.... each entry on the Natural Resource Compliance and Enforcement Database https://nrced.gov.bc.ca/ contains a summary of each inspection. Most of which show “record does not have documents”. The moratorium at this time encompasses at least half the province!
Tom Shypitka presented an argument that you don’t shut down an entire industry over a couple perceived bad actors. He also referenced Mount Polley and the spill there a decade ago as a bad accident, but that accident didn’t support the shut down of the entire industry because of it.
The Minister countered his argument with jade being a “relatively small aspect of BC’s mining industry as a whole”. Which is also saying Jade mining is a small enough industry that it can be stamped out without much protest to serve a political interest.
Minister Osborne goes on to state that in the past five years there have been 60 compliance reviews and inspections. They have also needed the time to undertake aerial surveys. She claims those reviews show unpermitted workings in riparian areas.
While Shypitka concurred with the Minister over illegal workings, he double downed on his argument adding that both Mount Polley and Teck Resources are both facing their own environmental challenges, but they are also making progress in their efforts to mitigate their footprint. He made the point that we did not shut down the gold and copper mining industry because of the mount Polley disaster, nor was Teck Resources coal mine shut down because of Selenium leeching into the water.
The minister responds again referring to the jade industry as a very small industry. It is .001% of the 660 million generated in mineral and coal taxes. While she emphasized the importance of the Jade industry to those it affected, the statement still came with the word “but the industry is extremely small in comparison.”
While the Minister claims the moratorium didn’t affect existing permit holders, they did not take into account the measure of good faith that was taken away and replaced with uncertainty. She states its about pausing new tenures and new permits. She confirms none have been approved since the deferral came into effect.
Shypitka wanted confirmation that the government did not support an eviction notice and the decision to impose a moratorium wasn’t based on the Tāłtān decision.
The minister reiterated the concerns from the Tāłtān and Kaska Dena Council and the governments response to those concerns was a moratorium.
At one point Tom Shypitka finally asks if its the ministry’s intention to starve out the jade miners. Minister Osborne responded to the question without answering it. Shypitka continued to press his point by asking what she is expecting when the Moratorium ends on May 11.
What are the environmental concerns to warrant the shut down of an entire industry that is so small it represents .001% of the provinces taxes? Copper and Gold mining are a large amount of revenue to the province, but they also have an impact on the land
The province of BC is nearly a million square kilometers, and the moratorium covers at least half that. The jade industry only has a handful of miners. They are a minority in the mining industry so it is difficult to understand what environmental impact could warrant a moratorium.
Weeks later jade mining was banned in northwestern BC. What about the jade miners who are compliant? The ones who have been in business for 35 years, fully permitted and in compliance with their permit? They have been given a five-year wind down plan with enhanced reclamation requirements. They have invested decades of their lives creating security for themselves only to have it taken away.
An article covering the Tāłtān celebrating the jade mining ban makes it clear their concern is more about money and politics than it will ever be about the environment. By going through with this, the NDP are saying that anyone is a target but the smaller the better and their message to the world is BC cannot be trusted to do business with.
Cassiar Jade Contracting Inc. and Glenpark Enterprises Ltd have both filed lawsuits against the BC government. Both are seeking financial compensation for damages caused by the bans.
CBC quotes the province response in court as stating the companies “could never have had a reasonable expectation of unconditional rights in relation to their mining claims”
​Their rights are guaranteed under the constitution and their claim to the jade is spelled out in the oldest act in BC. The Mines Act. 

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