Newly amended Metal Mining Effluent Regulations (MMER) are killing Canada's freshwater lakes.
In a precedent-setting move, Environment Canada amended the MMER, under the Fisheries Act, to allow mining companies to dump toxic waste from their operations into fish-bearing freshwater lakes. The move was accomplished by adding Schedule 2 to the MMERs and naming bodies of water on that schedule that could be used as tailings impoundment areas (TIAs). In essence, they would no longer be classified as lakes or rivers so the Fisheries Act prohibitions against dumping deleterious substances into fish bearing water would no longer apply.
This legalized destruction of fish-bearing lakes opens the door to the destruction of other fish-bearing water bodies all across Canada. Mining companies have only to ask the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and Environment Canada for permission.
Environment Canada confirms that at least nine mine projects in British Columbia, Nunavut, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories will be seeking amendments so they can use lakes as waste dump sites for their mines. More often than not the companies seeking to dump their tailings and waste into water bodies are trying to avoid long-term, expensive treatment options for their effluent and stand to profit at the expense of the environment.
Question for candidates: Does your political party support the legalized destruction of fish-bearing lakes for mining operations?