Sherridon? Where is Sherridon? I poured over maps struggling to find this unknown northern locale. I finally located the tiny dot, hidden away 815km from Winnipeg in northwest Manitoba. My first visit to this community was not with the Wilderness Committee.

(IMAGE: Spectacular sunset on Kississing Lake, MB)

I was heading north for two weeks with a truck and trailer packed with mini-boats to bring sailing lessons to the north as a coach with Manitoba Sailing’s Mobile Sailing School. The same forest fire that stressed the NAOSAP woodland caribou herd’s range hindered our departure. The remote gravel road to our first stop (Sherridon) was closed! We arranged a pass and embarked on a nerve-racking journey over the windy, smoke-laden road. Our nerves were on edge because the gate officer claimed the fire to be one kilometer off the road and in the event of a wind shift, the thick smoke would render visibility to zero.

Where the fire jumped the road on way to Sherridon

Happily, we did manage to get to Sherridon without incident. One evening, after a day of sailing lessons with the kids, we were out fishing on world-class Kississing Lake when our hosts mentioned frustration with the cleanup of an orphaned mine site. My ears immediately perked up. I learned that the community was very concerned about how this rehabilitation effort was panning out. Their concerns weren’t being heard and they were worried about contamination of their natural environment, which in turn risked public health and their successful ecotourism business. The passion and drive for community justice that I heard that evening was truly inspiring.

I mentioned that I might be of some help, as I also work with the Wilderness Committee, a citizens group skilled at making a lot of noise! The following afternoon, it was sneakily arranged for me to get a tour of the mining site from a Hazco employee, under the guise of me being a university student interested in mining reclamation projects.

Oxidized tailings at the reclamation site

This was my first taste of what environmental horrors the mining industry is capable of. While riding around in Hazco’s enormous truck, I notice the interior was stained orange just like the landscape, and soon, to my concern, were my shoes. I thought to myself, “if Mars had boreal forests, I’m pretty certain this is what they would look like.” Rolling down the bumpy orange road, I peered out the windows in shock at what used to be a lake. I tried to hide my dropped jaw from the kind Hazco employee, as I was staring at islands of oxidized, orange and red oozy tailings and orange waters lapping at a brilliant orange beach. Several times I hopped out to take pictures, noting the distinct metallic scent carried in the breeze.

Beaver swimming in the acidic, toxic waters of Camp Lake

 

Camp Lake lapping at a beach of tailings

7 million tonnes of tailings

 

I returned to Winnipeg overwhelmed with new and alarming information, and unease because most Manitobans weren’t even aware of this problem. Armed with a CD of photos, community letters, and water sample results, I delved into research about acid drainage mine sites sporadically over the next two months, and tried to learn as much as I could about this project from the limited information available.

Mining has been on the radar, so to speak, in the Manitoba WC office for a while now, but we've had reservations about starting a campaign. The problem with investigating the mining industry can be summed up very simply. The mining industry is huge. There are thousands of projects that don't have proper oversight. And we're just one little office in Winnipeg. Where is WC going to get the resources to watchdog the mining industry? We decided to keep an eye on the Sherridon reclamation, and lend help where we could.

I kept in contact with a Sherridon community council member who was on fervent quest for answers and acting as a project watchdog. In mid-August I was honored to be invited back to Sherridon to attend a meeting with community council and the Minister of Innovation, Energy and Mines regarding the cleanup activities. Eric, our Campaign Director, had stopped in to investigate the problems in Sherridon, too, while he was on a woodland caribou expedition in August just days after the invite.

There was a lot of debate in the WC office about whether or not to make another trip North so soon. It’s a long drive, money and time need to be conserved, and a mining campaign was still just a possibility for us. Later that week, though, I embarked on a journey to Sherridon for the second time that summer.

- Paloma Corrin