Taseko should not be granted approval to build a mine around Fish Lake for three main reasons. Firstly, Taseko is a mining group that wants to start their development around Fish Lake but environmentalists and indigenous group, Tsilhoqot’in, claim that Taseko will cause irreparable damage to the water supply. I argue that Fish Lake is a common resource which means that the land has to be protected to ensure consumers does not over use it. Second, Fish Lake is a sacred land for the indigenous group Tsilhoqot’in. Lastly, Taseko would be contributing to the inequality that Aboriginal people have to deal with when the government wants to build on their territory.
Fish Lake is a common resource because it offers clean air and water, fishing, and …show more content…
Taseko see’s Fish Lake as an empty piece of land. Tsilhoqot’in see’s it as their home. Despite Taseko’s proposal that the project would “generate 550 direct jobs and $340 million in gross domestic product annually,” they are neglecting to consider the spirituality and meaning that territory has to Tsilhoqot’in (Taseko New Prosperity Mine). Considering the book, “This is Not a Peace Pipe: Towards a Critical Indigenous Philosophy” that’s in regards to the paper, White Paper, Taseko fails to acknowledge the struggle and poverty Aboriginal people have to face while being residents of Canada. Dale Turner makes the point that, “First Nations have a stronger right to autonomy than other minority cultures because they never sought to assimilate into Canadian culture” (This is Not a Peace Pipe, p. 10). Speaker Mark Podlasly expands Turner’s point by claiming 5% of indigenous people make up British Columbia’s population, and 51% of Aboriginal people are forced to live in urban cities throughout Canada due to the problem that 90% of them are unemployed. Turner shows that Aboriginal people have a right and priority to their land and Podlasly shows what has happened when they are not given it. Since aboriginal people rely on their territory for supplies such as fishing, hunting, and gathering, they are forced into poverty when the government builds on their land because they have nowhere
Fish Lake is a common resource because it offers clean air and water, fishing, and …show more content…
Taseko see’s Fish Lake as an empty piece of land. Tsilhoqot’in see’s it as their home. Despite Taseko’s proposal that the project would “generate 550 direct jobs and $340 million in gross domestic product annually,” they are neglecting to consider the spirituality and meaning that territory has to Tsilhoqot’in (Taseko New Prosperity Mine). Considering the book, “This is Not a Peace Pipe: Towards a Critical Indigenous Philosophy” that’s in regards to the paper, White Paper, Taseko fails to acknowledge the struggle and poverty Aboriginal people have to face while being residents of Canada. Dale Turner makes the point that, “First Nations have a stronger right to autonomy than other minority cultures because they never sought to assimilate into Canadian culture” (This is Not a Peace Pipe, p. 10). Speaker Mark Podlasly expands Turner’s point by claiming 5% of indigenous people make up British Columbia’s population, and 51% of Aboriginal people are forced to live in urban cities throughout Canada due to the problem that 90% of them are unemployed. Turner shows that Aboriginal people have a right and priority to their land and Podlasly shows what has happened when they are not given it. Since aboriginal people rely on their territory for supplies such as fishing, hunting, and gathering, they are forced into poverty when the government builds on their land because they have nowhere