Xatśūll First Nation members and leadership are at the B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver Tuesday, June 24 as the hearing for a judicial review requested by the nation gets underway.
The review was submitted by Xatśūll in April, challenging a provincial decision to allow Mount Polley Mining Corporation to raise the height of its tailings dam by four metres.
A 2014 tailings storage facility breach at the mine devastated the nation's territory, wrote the nation in a Tuesday, June 24 news release, for which 15 charges were approved against the mine in December 2024.
Mount Polley reopened in 2016, just two years after the spill, but was shut again in 2019 due to failing copper prices. It has been back in full operation since 2023, and in March was given approval by the provincial minister for Environment and Parks and for Mining and Critical Minerals to raise the height of its tailings dam.
"Xatśūll will continue withholding consent for the Mount Polley Mine expansion until Xatśūll’s serious concerns are adequately addressed and the lawfully required environmental assessment process is followed," noted the media release. It also reminded the province of its responsibility under the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) to consult in good faith with First Nations and obtain free, prior and informed consent on such decisions.
"The Nation is looking forward to learning the outcome of the injunction and judicial review," reads the release.
Xatśūll expects to hear the court's decision on an injunction shortly after the hearing concludes.
With files from Austin Kelly and Monica Lamb-Yorski.
