In time of crisis, the Tsihqotin People need your help now, more than ever.

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In time of crisis, the Tsihqot’in People need your help now, more than ever. r1 ... Tsilhqot’in forced to begin legal challenge while fighting wildfires r33
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Dear PAOV,

Imagine fires are raging in your community. There’s an evacuation order, and wildfires are surrounding you on the south, west and east.

As you leave your possessions behind, worrying about your family’s future, you get word that a mining company that you’ve been fighting for years has been given permits to drill and build roads on your land.

This is the outrageous situation facing the Tsilhqot’in. In the dying hours of the Liberal’s hold on power, they gave Taseko Mines permission to further destroy Tsilhqot’in lands despite the mine having been rejected — TWICE — by the federal government.

With their territory aflame, the Tsilhqot’in must now go to court — again — to stop Taseko.

“We are in shock,” says Chief Russell Myers Ross. “ It defies compassion that while our people are fighting for our homes and lives, BC issues permits that will destroy more of our land beyond repair. As a Nation, we have wasted enough time and energy in conflict. The project has been rejected twice federally. It is time to move on.”

In the middle of fighting wildfires, the Tsilhqot’in Nation is now challenging the B.C. permits in court. The permits authorize 76 km of new or modified trails, 122 drill holes, 367 test pits dug by an excavator, and 20 km of seismic lines near Teztan Biny and Nabas – an area of profound cultural and spiritual importance that the Tsilhqot’in successfully fought to protect against two mine proposals. Both times, the rationale for the rejection was similar, highlighting the devastating impacts of this mine on the environment and Tsilhqot’in culture and rights.

“We thought that we were in a new era, a post-Tsilhqot’in decision era. These permits call into question BC’s commitment to Indigenous peoples. It is an insult to the Tsilhqot’in people and to this new era of truth and reconciliation.”
— Chief Roger William, Chief of the Xeni Gwet’in First Nation and Vice-Chair of the Tsilhqot’in National Government

The Tsilhqot'in people need your help now. While four of six Tsilhqot’in communities have been evacuated due to raging wildfires, and the communities are bravely fighting for their very survival, Taseko Mines Ltd. is proposing to conduct a massive drilling operation in the area for a project that remains rejected.

The Tsilhqot’in Nation is outraged, and so should we all be. Please donate now to support the strength of their case.



Thank you for taking a stand for what is right,





Susan Smitten, Executive Director
RAVEN Trust

P.s. The Tsilhqot’in’s legal team is working at significantly discounted rates, in order to maximize the value of the generous personal donations that are making this litigation possible. Your contributions go directly to legal costs of a Petition alleging breach by the Crown of the duty to consult and accommodate. A second proceeding will be a Civil Claim, alleging unjustified infringement of the Tsilhqot’in’s established Aboriginal rights (hunting, trapping and fishing rights). The Tsilhqot’in are also pursuing a separate interlocutory injunction application for each proceeding. The purpose of these injunction applications is to prevent Taseko from pursuing the drilling program and damaging the land before the Tsilhqot’in’s legal claims are heard and decided. The injunction applications are scheduled to be heard in Victoria starting July 31.

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