MiningWatch held its Annual General Meeting and spring Board of Directors meeting in Vancouver, BC, on March 1-3, 2002. In addition to the regular business meetings, workshops were held on the legal and technical issues at the abandoned Britannia copper mine, remediation of abandoned mines, and the pros and cons of map staking vs. claim staking for mineral claims in different jurisdictions.
A March 1 field trip to the abandoned Britannia copper mine 50 km north of Vancouver (formerly Anaconda and ARCO property) allowed the MiningWatch Board and staff to see the magnitude of the problems at the site, listed by Environment Canada as the largest single point source of metal contamination in North America. Hundreds of tonnes of copper, zinc and cadmium flow untreated into Howe Sound every day, and the legal complexities around ownership, liability and clean-up are staggering.
As part of the visit, MiningWatch representatives got to meet with long-time community activists Ralph and Ron Fulber and tour the community.
Two members retired from the Board. The Board expressed thanks to Yves Rochon (Hull, Québec) and Ken Traynor (Toronto, Ontario) for their work and generous sharing of their time and expertise as founding members of MiningWatch Canada.
The current Board of Directors comprises:
- Alan Young (Victoria, British Columbia)
- Brennain Lloyd (North Bay, Ontario)
- Sue Moodie (Whitehorse, Yukon)
- Kevin O'Reilly (Yellowknife, NWT)
- Will David (Akwesasne Mohawk Territory)
- Richard Nuna (Sheshatshiu, Labrador)
- Ken Luckhardt (Toronto, Ontario)
- Jean Symes (Ottawa, Ontario)
- Sarah Johnnie (Ross River, Yukon)
- Serge Ashini Goupil (Sept-Iles, Québec)
- Evelyn Baxter Robinson (Thunder Bay, Ontario)
- Lorraine Michael (St. John's, Newfoundland)
- Yasmin Jiwani (Montréal, Quebec)
The 2001 Annual Report is also available on request from the MiningWatch office or for download on our web site as a PDF file.