Image Credit: Contributed by Teck Highland Valley Copper

A First Nations land dispute with an expansion at BC's biggest copper mine is still active despite the province's attempts to speed up permitting.

Faced with the threat of a U.S. trade war, the provincial government announced more than a dozen mineral and energy projects facing environmental assessments would be fast-tracked, one including Highland Valley Copper near Logan Lake.

The expansion would extend the mine's lifespan from 2028 to 2040 if approved, but Stk'emlupsemc Te Secwepemc Nation intervened to claim rights to the land, initiating the province's first under a new dispute resolution process that came into effect last summer.

In a written statement, an environment ministry spokesperson said the consultation process will still go through before the fast-tracked permit for Teck's Highland Valley Copper might be approved.

READ MORE: Highland Valley mine expansion caught in conflicting First Nations title claims

Stk'emlupsemc Te Secwepemc Nation, a combined governance between Tk'emlups te Secwepemc and Skeetchestn Indian Band, filed the dispute late last year and the province contracted facilitator Aaron Bruce by December.

He's expected to file a report by mid-March so the province can decide whether to approve the project. Aside from the dispute, the government is in its "final stages" of assessing Teck's plan, according to an environment ministry spokesperson.

The Secwepemc nations have asserted historic use of the Highland Valley area, but the province has long "preferred" Nlaka’pamux First Nations as having sole claim to the area, according to its own assessment.

Several Nlaka’pamux First Nations echo the province's assertion and the assessment has so far pointed to those communities as the only ones directly affected by the mine's planned expansion.

READ MORE: Fast-track approval no guarantee of success for B.C. mines, researcher suggests

The Citxw Nlaka'pamux Assembly, which represents eight First Nations including Ashcroft and Boston Bar, told the province it wouldn't file a dispute over the expansion, but it expects to be involved in the process. It went on to call Secwepemc land claims "erroneous misrepresentations."

Ten First Nations have given their consent for the expansion, often with certain conditions attached. The two Secwepemc nations are the only ones who haven't consented, while the rest have not yet come to a conclusion, according to a ministry spokesperson.

"Consensus-seeking during the assessment process is key to our commitment to implementing the UN Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples," a written statement from the Environmental Assessment Office reads.

Tk'emlups Kukpi7 (Chief) Rosanne Casimir refused to comment on the fast-tracked project and the ongoing dispute, though she did say there were meetings ongoing. Skeetchestn Kukpi7 (Chief) Eddy Jules did not respond to a request for comment.

— With files from The Canadian Press.

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