This summer, Elders from six local Aboriginal communities in Canada’s Northwest Territories will come together with representatives from De Beers to take part in a unique annual event: a fish tasting gathering on the shores of Snap Lake.
This summer, Elders from six local Aboriginal communities in Canada’s Northwest Territories will come together with representatives from De Beers to take part in a unique annual event: a fish tasting gathering on the shores of Snap Lake.
Community Elders and representatives from The De Beers Group of Companies gather at the 2014 fish tasting ceremony.
Located 220 kilometres northeast of the city of Yellowknife and next to the remote lake from which it takes its name, De Beers’ Snap Lake Mine is Canada’s first completely underground diamond mine. The fish tasting is one of the ways the De Beers team works to strengthen traditional knowledge-based environmental programs as part of its partnership with local Aboriginal communities.
Part of De Beers’ commitment to community investment and sustainable development – underpinned through an environmental agreement and four Impact Benefit Agreements (IBAs) held with local communities – is the environmental stewardship of Snap Lake, as De Beers Corporate Affairs Manager Tom Ormsby explains:
“We carry out regular water quality sampling, and regular scientific fish monitoring programs, to confirm our operations are not impacting aquatic habitats. Through stringent environmental monitoring and adaptive management, we strive to protect these habitats so local communities will be able to continue to harvest fish from the lake after the mine closes.”
Local cultural knowledge and insight also play a vital part in these environmental monitoring programs, which is why each year the community Elders are invited to Snap Lake Mine to taste freshly-caught fish from the lake.
“Elders, accompanied by environment department staff, go out on the lake and catch a small number of fish,” says Ormsby. “Then, community Elders examine the fish, assessing their overall appearance and the quality. Then they clean and boil the fish on the shore of the lake without any seasoning and taste them, alongside our environmental staff and managers on site. By incorporating traditional knowledge and modern science, our program is much more comprehensive and effective.”
Working together in this way provides continued opportunities to strengthen ties with key community partners.