NEWS RELEASE -- August 12, 2005

Campaign Escalates Nation-Wide to Save the Taku Wilderness

Vancouver, BC -- Wilderness Committee Calls on the Federal Liberal Government to Reject an Environmentally Destructive Mine and Road Project in the Taku watershed

Today, the Wilderness Committee launched a nation-wide campaign to build support to save the Taku Wilderness in northwestern British Columbia from the devastating Tulsequah Chief mine and 160 km road proposal. A major petition drive is being launched to raise awareness and gather thousands signatures across the country to protect the Taku watershed. Protests are also being planned in several Canadian cities in the coming months.

Last week, upon pressure by the mining lobby, the federal Liberal government through the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) gave the Tulsequah Chief mine and road project its environmental assessment approval for the Taku watershed. The proposed road for mining company Redfern Resources Ltd. would damage fish habitat in BC’s third largest salmon spawning river, open up the region’s wildlife including the endangered mountain caribou to greatly increased hunting pressure, and open the largest unroaded watershed on the Pacific Coast of North America to logging and mining operations.

"In a slap to the face of democracy, the Paul Martin Liberal government has ignored the results of its own public input process held earlier this year, where 99% of 4200 public submissions to the DFO opposed the proposal. Why did the government hold a public input process if all they were simply going to ignore the result if it didn’t come out in their favour?" asks Ken Wu, Wilderness Committee campaign director in Victoria. "The Martin government can still do the right thing and not issue any of the almost 200 permits for building roads, bridges, and other structures that Redfern still needs ­ or better yet, just scrap the whole project."

Not only has the Martin government ignored the overwhelming opposition during the public input process, it has also ignored the warnings of its own scientists in the Canadian Wildlife Service, fisheries biologists, and the Independent Science Panel.

"This is not just a provincial issue for British Columbia, it’s a national issue of concern for all Canadians. The Taku is the very largest unroaded watershed on the Pacific coast of North America ­ it is of international significance," states Louise Askjaer Pedersen, campaign assistant with the Wilderness Committee. "It is astounding how our federal government has ignored the warnings from its own scientists and experts again and again and instead, under pressure from the mining lobby, now alleges that the proposal is unlikely to result in any significant adverse environmental effects."

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For more information:
In Victoria: Ken Wu at 250-514-9910 (cell) or 250-388-9292 (office)
In Vancouver: Louise Askjaer Pedersen at 604-683-8220 (office)