ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Below we document how the BC placer mining regime is inconsistent with several fundamental rights defined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including: The Need for a Moratorium on Placer Mining Claims and Leases Page 4 of 56 • the right to enjoy subsistence and engage freely in traditional activities; • the right to participate in decision making that affects I. [...] Therefore, we request a moratorium on the issuance of placer mining leases and claims until the Mineral Tenure Act has been modernized: • in accord with the Province’s commitment in the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act Action Plan, and • pursuant to a Crown-First Nations process that aligns with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. [...] We therefore urge you to place a moratorium on new placer mining claims and leases because of the damage placer mining does to fish and human health, and the deleterious effects on Indigenous lands and waters. [...] 7 of the Environment and Land Use Act authorized the establishment of a broad deferral of the issuance of placer jade mining permits in 2020. [...] In sum, the quality and integrity of streams depends on the critically important ‘ribbon of life’ found in the riparian zone.14 Yet placer mining clears riparian vegetation, disturbs soils and bankside integrity, guts wetlands15, and often damages the fundamental nature of the stream itself.