The Coalition Québec meilleure mine, which has been defending the environment, the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities against the impacts of mining on Québec's territories since 2008, recognizes that:
- Québec's mining regime is based on the dispossession of Indigenous peoples and the denial of their ancestral rights;
- The provincial and federal governments are placing the mining and military industries at the heart of their economic vision;
- The transition, digitization, electrification, and militarization of the economy are based on the consumption of minerals;
- The low circularity of the Québec economy is failing to reduce the extraction of new mineral deposits in a context of growing demand for minerals;
- The population of Québec is demanding greater protection of the environment and their health;
- The population of Québec has a desire to increase and redistribute mining royalties without sacrificing the resources of future generations.
The Québec meilleure mine Coalition therefore declares that:
- Mining laws must respect the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities, and ensure the effective protection of the environment and public health;
- The federal government's agenda of militarizing the economy must be rejected;
- A national conversation about the diversion of materials needed for the energy transition for military purposes must take place in Québec and in Canada;
- Fresh water, clean air, and biodiversity are critical and of national interest;
- The fight against mineral overconsumption must become a national priority;
- Mining must focus on meeting the real needs of humanity;
- The import and export of necessary minerals cannot be done at the expense of human dignity;
- Mining activities must not exacerbate the climate crisis and the collapse of biodiversity;
- The diversification of regional economies must be prioritized over the primary exploitation of resources;
- The local processing of necessary minerals must be encouraged;
- The precedence of mining activities over other uses of the territory and the self-regulation of the mining industry must be abolished;
- Indigenous peoples and local populations must obtain justice.
Accordingly, we will continue our actions until our governments regulate the mining sector in this manner.
Source: Coalition Québec meilleure mine
For information, contact:
- Rodrigue Turgeon, Coalition Québec meilleure mine, 819-444-9226, rodrigue@miningwatch.ca