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by Mike Caswell

When Taseko Mines Ltd. faces the Tsilhqotin First Nation in the Supreme Court of British Columbia on Monday, one of the issues the judge will have to decide is a petition that the Indians have filed in Victoria seeking to quash the company's work permits. According to the petition, the government failed to perform any meaningful consultation with the Tsilhqotin before granting approval for the work, which includes 59 test pits and 23.5 kilometres of trails. The band claims that the work will interfere with its "ceremonial or spiritual activities."

The petition complains that the area the company plans to work in is a "special part" of Tsilhqotin territory. The proposed exploration will disturb wildlife and increase access and hunting by non-Indians. This will interfere with the Tsilhqotin's use of the area as a "grocery store for country foods," according to the petition.

The work that Taseko is seeking to perform is part of its second attempt to have the Prosperity mine approved by the federal government. The project, which could create 71,000 jobs and run for 23 years, stalled last year after the federal Ministry of Environment refused to approve the mine even after its provincial counterpart in B.C. had given the project the go-ahead. The company has since revised its proposal, hoping to address the most contentious part of the plan. Instead of draining a small water body adjacent to the mine called Fish Lake for use as a tailings pond, the company will now spend $300-million to create a separate pond.

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