May 16, 2011 – Republic of Mining

Mining companies raise stakes in Whitehorse – by Paul Watson (Toronto Star – May 15, 2011)

May 16, 2011

Paul Watson is a columnist for the Toronto Star, which has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on Canada’s federal and provincial politics as well as shaping public opinion. This article was originally published May 15, 2011.

WHITEHORSE—Park officers are normally on the lookout for rowdy campers, untended picnic baskets, guests that won’t go away and the odd ornery bear that lumbers into Wolf Creek Campground on this city’s edge.

Now they have to add voracious mining companies to the list of threats to fend off from the popular retreat in an old growth spruce forest overlooking the Yukon River.

Arcturus Ventures Inc., a Vancouver-based, penny-stock mineral exploration company, has staked its claim on the park, in a zone the city of Whitehorse has designated environmentally sensitive.

It’s a landmark where, every summer, some 60 campgrounds fill up with tourists who travel the Alaska Highway to the park to enjoy its hiking trails and spectacular wilderness vistas on the capital’s southern outskirts.

A life of hope and hopelessness [for Aboriginal communities] – (Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal Editorial – May 13, 2011)

May 16, 2011

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario. This editorial was originally published on May 13, 2011.

BLARING headlines suggested then confirmed what many people in this city and this region had feared — that 15-year-old Jordan Wabasse had indeed died under the water of the Kam River.

Body Recovered, read the bold headline Wednesday, accompanied by a grim photo of the scene at shore. Body ID’d, read Thursday’s headline, an abbreviation for an abbreviated life.
News is harsh as often as it is good, and it is our responsibility to convey all of it to our readers. But in pressing to present details, we can be seen to override the sanctity that a moment like this deserves. Not intentionally, but by striving to write all of the chapters of an important story.

The tale of the disappearance of this aboriginal boy has been covered here extensively because it needed telling in all its tragic detail. Jordan came to Thunder Bay from remote Webequie, one in a parade of aboriginal youth seeking education, opportunity and adventure in the big city far away. Webequie is one of scores of dots on the northern map connected to the rest of Canada by planes, winter roads and TV and computer screens that beckon curious minds.

POV: Northern Ontario speaks up clearly with one united voice – by Wayne Snider (Daily Press – May 13, 2011)

May 16, 2011

Wayne Snider is the city editor for The Daily Press, the city of Timmins newspaper. Contact the writer at news@thedailypress.ca.

During the past 20 years, the North has seen its influence on Queen’s Park diminish.
It’s now at the point where municipalities feel powerless and ignored. … Like residents,
Northern leaders have had enough of being treated like insignificant pests. … The upper
tiers try to milk as much wealth from the region as possible, while giving back as little as
possible. It has become a savage, sadistic economic ballet. (Wayne Snider – May, 2011)

The annual conference for the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities wraps up at the McIntyre Community Centre Friday. With cabinet ministers and various other politicos in town, usually the North anxiously awaits the message delivered by the big, bad province.

This year, however, the tables are turned. With an important provincial election looming, political parties should listen to what Northern leaders have to say.

During the past 20 years, the North has seen its influence on Queen’s Park diminish. It’s now at the point where municipalities feel powerless and ignored. Hence the start of the “speaking with one voice” campaign, where Northern leaders approach the government with a united front on key issues.

Once again, dreams of gold spark a rush to the Yukon – by Paul Watson (Toronto Star – May 14, 2011)

May 16, 2011

DAWSON CITY, YUKON—Not since the days when prospectors led pack trains upriver, hunting for the motherlode with picks and pans, has there been such a rush to stake claims in the Klondike.

In the new Gold Rush, stakers are more likely to leap into the bush from a hovering helicopter than ride the long, treacherous slog on horseback.

And most are working for a few large corporations racing to stake out vast tracts of the Yukon more than a century after armies of prospectors headed north in the late 19th century Klondike Gold Rush, along with prostitutes and other service providers.

In some provinces, you need a license to trudge around scouring for minerals. In a few, chasing your El Dorado is a simple as going online, clicking a mouse and putting down virtual stakes with some keystrokes.