I think this is what developers and mining companies do. They know there is economic depression in a lot of the communities, whether they're remote or not—like my community. They manipulate indigenous people using the economic and job arguments. For indigenous people from that community—please excuse the expression—it's just going to be pushing wheelbarrows. We don't have the high-end jobs and we're shooting ourselves in the foot because, when the mining company is gone and they're through, they've contaminated our water and polluted our lands. What do future generations have? They have nothing but living in a polluted environment.
This is what I constantly hear.
There's a company called Niocan that wants to open up the old uranium mine. They're going to be using over two million gallons of water a day. We use aquifers. I have water from a well and that's in jeopardy, but the mining companies have more rights than we do. They have more rights than a hospital.
There is something extremely wrong with this picture. That's why I'm calling for an independent investigation into the colonial laws that allow this kind of corrupt activity that decimates the environment. Sure, we want jobs. We want to be able to buy nice things for our family, but, at the end of the day, we are jeopardizing the health and prosperity of future generations.