Meeting Minutes - May 27/13

Meeting Minutes - May 27/13

Location: Central Cariboo Arts & Culture Society (Old Fire Hall next to the City of Williams Lake). There is a required code for the door (please enter 398# - include the # sign).

In attendance (from sign-in sheet): Christy Smith, Kattherine Gizikoff, Colleen Onofrechuk, Danica Hughes, Kourtney Chingee, Diana French, Bruce Mack, Krista Niquidet, Carla Bullinger, Loretta Williams, Deb Radolla, Trina Setah, Shannon Thom, Monica Johnson, Melissa Newberry, Loren Sherlock, Mike Shields, Sharon Taylor, Leah Selk, Carol Thiessen, Ashlee Turatus, John Dressler and Jessica Knodel.

Accept Mins & Agenda  11:30 am

During lunch we:

·         Reviewed meeting minutes from Apr 22, 2013 – Action - Remove from Sharon Taylor’s roundtable update c) They are also working on starting some courses at TRU in the Fall.

·         Review the agenda for May 27, 2013 meeting

Taseko Mines presents 11:45 am

Succession & Retention subcommittee hosted meeting - Taseko Mines’s Katherine Gizikoff (Director, Environment & Governmental Affairs) and Christy Smith (Manager, Community and Aboriginal Affairs) made a presentation to the Social Planning Council audience, followed by Q&A (see next section below).

Presentation:

In Sept 2012 Taseko submitted a new environmental impact submission. There will then be more panel sessions (general and technical), and then a final report submitted to the Minister to decide. This usually takes a few months. The earliest opening date for Prosperity would be in 2015. In 2009 Taseko presented to the SPC and at that time too questions arising were population increases, demands on services and housing.

Population booms are dependent on lots of factors. Examples from other communities have found that closures tend to impact communities near the end of projects, rather than at the start of them. There is a lack of available research on the impacts of new mines coming into communities.

In regards to education and training, Taseko is committed to linking people with opportunities. Examples of this are with Gibralter’s Coop program which brings in students for 4-8 month periods to train them and them learn about the mining industry. With TRU and SD#27, Taseko is introducing them to what types of jobs are available in the mining sector (very broad in scope – e.g. construction positions to electricians).

Taseko is committed to hiring locally but first they need to know who is here, who would be interested, and who fits into their mining industry.

Taseko then asked the group to direct questions to them for Q&A (see below).

Q&A with Taseko Mines

Q -To revisit the proposed SPC question from last month’s meeting, What planning has Taseko already done to mitigate potential effects such as those presented by Dr. Glen Schmidt? One example would be housing concerns for marginalized people who live in our community?

A – Planning depends on what the community needs at the time. In regards to housing, interestingly the Pine Beetle epidemic caused many people to leave the area, therefore the Prosperity mine project may help offset this population loss. As jobs in the Foresty industry are dropping in numbers, the Prosperity Mine project would not be overlapping.

Gibralter went from having 200 employees to 375 and now over 650 of which 98% live in Williams Lake. For the Prosperity Mines construction stage there will be an on-site camp that will bus local employees to and from their shifts which would ensure WL does not get overloaded with people.

For the construction phase they anticipate needing 300 employees, and while open 500 employees. The shift schedule has not yet been decided – longer shifts means more employees will live out of town and will attract people from other places.

It was also noted that strategic planning for too far ahead is not possible as there are other factors that can affect the Mine – e.g. if copper & gold prices go down, the mine may not be able to stay open. Having a two year lead time to plan seems sufficient. Tasko cannot dictate the needs of the community, only support the needs once asked.

It is reasonable to conclude from other communities that often a large increase in annual income  (from 90 – 120K/year) crime and drug use can increase. Drugs and alcohol will be not be permitted on site, and they will be testing for compliance.

Q –  What is your policy on Temporary Foreign Workers? And will foreign credentials apply?

A – No foreign workers will be recruited (unlike the media stories focusing on these issues from an unrelated project in northern BC right now). Taseko is committed to hiring and training locally. They also hire on a ratio of one skilled resume, and one “green” resume. The exception is during the construction phase in which specialized firms will be required.

Accepting foreign credentials has proven to be a nightmare with a lot of “red tape”.

Q - Does Taseko have a list of employees that will be needed? As well as a list of positions required for the construction phases. This is very important for the residents of Williams Lake. A list of positions required for all stages (including construction) would allow residents who want employment at the mine get the training required. A list (such as the one from the display in 100 Mile house) should be made public – even advertised in the local papers.

A – Employment and contracting are two different areas. Check Taseko online for requirements and the training needed for positions.

Shannon from Williams Lake Employment Services (a Service Canada certified organization) can help fill these positions. Clients first have an intake assessment, and if more training is identified as a need they can help people get the training. In response – Taseko mentioned that according to the “Workplace essential skills” scale from 1 – 5 (which is a general knowledge government assessment) at Gibralter they require a 3 for employment (meaning that people don’t always need the education, just proven essential skills).

Q – How are things changing for community organizations?

A – Nice little packages of data with baseline measures is not possible to answer this question (hidden factors are just that… hidden). The issue is that more pre-emptive planning is needed at this time. Band-aid fixes after the fact is the typical reaction, but planning ahead can mitigate these effects before they happen encouraging a healthy community. Rather than just thinking about issues, making decisions is what needs to be done. The most prevalent decision that can be made at this time to start planning is – what type of shift schedule is Prosperity going to have?

Q – Why did Taseko withdraw from the discussion session that was planned by TNG, the Cariboo Chilcotin Conservation Society and the Council of Canadians? This discussion would have been a very useful for all parties concerned.

A – Taseko did not withdraw, they were simply unable to attend that particular meeting. Please contact either Katherine or Christy with your questions as they would be happy to answer them.

Q – Can you answer all the questions the last mentioned meeting was going to ask?

A – Yes, but Taseko is unable to answer environmental questions at this meeting today.

Q – Pre-certificate status is concerning. The second environmental assessment has been submitted and a question is what does it look like?

A – Taseko cannot answer this question at the moment. Maybe within a week or two more information will be made public (dependant on the Govt at this time).

Q – So this means that there will be no more current drilling?

A – If given a choice between using old well data from 1994, or drill for new information – drilling for new info made the most sense.

Q- Statements have been made (including by Battison) that the integrity of Fish Lake cannot be assured. Can Taseko comment on this?

A – this question was not answered.

Q– of the 98% you mentioned, do you know how many people moved to Williams Lake versus who already lived in Williams Lake?

A – This information was not calculated by Taseko. This would require them to review all the resumes which in theory could be done. They do know that 98% currently live in WL, 1% are from Quesnel, and 1% live in 100 Mile House.

Q – Taseko mentioned that major changes in a community occur mostly when a mine project ends?

A – Yes, and support mechanisms will be put into place when planning to leave. There is a 20 year timeline placed on the Mine, not longer so transferrable skills is important for employees.

The SPC then thanked Taseko for speaking with the group. At the next meeting the question of: Where do we go from here? will be discussed. Even phase out planning needs to start soon as our community could be faced with the closure of three mines close to the same time. We want to take up Taseko’s offer of working with them.

Roundtable Updates*

Updates that are sent out in weekly community updates are not included below.

Carla Bullinger (CTC) – Year-end is just around the corner and Positive Action is now in 22 schools. To get involved please contact Carla.

Deb Radolla (City of Williams Lake Recreation Services) – in addition to roundtables sent via community updates, Deb also mentioned that this year they had the largest pool of applications and was able to fund them all.

Shannon Thom (Williams Lake Employment Services/Horton Ventures) – seasonal job postings are now posted online at www.hortonventures.com

Melissa Newberry – sent via weekly updates.

Mike Shields – As a member of the United Way’s Community Impact Council which provides funding to the SPC, this was his first meeting. Mike was impressed with the meeting and noted how needed the SPC is in Williams Lake.

Sharon Taylor (IMSS – Williams Lake) – a) Welcome Fair is being planned for the end of September (more info to follow shortly), b) new projects underway include Indo-Canadian history project, Multiculturalism Community Food event, developing workshops in partnership with Tolko, Workshops, Canada Day community art project, CMHA’s walk for harmony in the fall, WorldHost project with SD#27 & Tourism Association.

Leah Selk (CCACS) – sent via community updates. Also made available was the ArtRoute 2013 brochures for distribution.

Claudine Kadonaga (Salvation Army) – Community Kitchen is now up and running and the position filled. They currently have six garden plots at the Cariboo Lodge site and clients are being encouraged to help plant and get a garden site of their own. Addictions Daycare program – all who have completed the eight week program to the very end have remained clean.

John Dressler (Council of Canadians) – Currently a focus is the Williams Lake Timber supply issue with decisions to be made soon. The Cariboo-Chilcotin land use plan is currently a serious issue for our area.

Danica Hughes (City Councillor) – a) The Truth and Reconciliation Project was the 1^st on in Canada and was well attended and received by the community, b) It is the 85^th Birthday of the Museum in Williams Lake next year.

Kourtney Chingee (UNBC) – Kourtney is new to Williams Lake, and is a UNBC student who is working on the project - On the Move - The Transient Community: Labour Mobility and Community Capacity in Northern BC.

The purpose of this research is to provide an integrative lens through which to view issues related to labour mobility for our work in northern BC. The research will examine community/regional differences and similarities in preparation for and management of mobile workers at mines in two communities/regions: Williams Lake (Mt. Polley and Gibraltar); and Mackenzie (Mt. Milligan).

The research will involve two components.  The first is the tracking of available data on Canadian temporary and permanent workforces, and various other community economic and social development topics.  The second is the use of qualitative interviews with people involved in a range of roles in the mining sector and in community development.  For more information please contact Kourtney.

*All other updates were sent via community updates.

 
Site Visit (CCACS) - After roundtables, the group was offered a tour of the CCACS facilities with Leah Selk.