To Be a Water Protector: The Rise of the Wiindigoo Slayers

Salmon Disaster
The
exactly a year before, in August 2014, in northern British Columbia,
Almost
Farmington, a major Navajo city, before the orange ood moved
reached
the San Juan River. As of August 11, acidic water continued to spill at a
into
of 500–700 US gal/min (1.9–2.6 m 3 /min) while remediation e orts were
rate 35 Reporters noted, “ e heavy metals appeared to be settling to
underway.
bottom of the river because largely, they are insoluble unless the entire
the
becomes very acidic.” 36
river
e Navajo Nation attempted to sue the
to the tune of $130 million,
but in 2017 the
declared that it was legally protected from damages
caused by the spill and asked that the claims be dismissed. 37
is, despite the
that a Freedom of Information Act request found that government
fact
cials “knew of ‘blowout’ risk for tainted water at mine” for at least a
o
38 Perhaps one of the most tragic sidebars of this story is that the Gold
year.
Mine itself was abandoned in 1923. And, prior to the spill, the Upper
King
water basin was already devoid of sh due to previous acid mine
Animas 39 drainage.
Mount Polley Mine disaster spilled an estimated 1.2 billion gallons of
the
waste from the Imperial Metals mine into the pristine forests and
mine
waterways of the remote region. 40 “
e dam’s failure was catastrophic,
nearly the entire contents of the mine’s tailings pond — an area the
allowing
of New York’s Central Park holding years worth of mining waste — to
size
out into Hazeltine Creek, Polley Lake and Quesnel lake.” 41
ow
Lake is one of the deepest ord lakes in the world, and home to
Quesnel
of BC’s salmon population. 42 e Secwepemc First Nation, on whose
25%
lands the spill happened, were on the nearby Fraser River
traditional
the largest sockeye salmon return in recent history. Instead they
awaiting
a river overrun with toxins from the largest mine waste spill in
found
history. In the days following the disaster, Secwepemc Elder Jean
Canadian
said, “ e loss of the salmon for us as Secwepemc people is a
Williams
of life or death for our culture. Can our salmon survive this
matter 43 Indeed, a study commissioned by the First Nations Health
devastation?”
found that there were signi cant economic and social impacts on
Authority
surrounding communities:
the
Emotional stress and trauma as a result of the spill was shared across