{"id":102672,"date":"2026-03-11T08:22:39","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T12:22:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=102672"},"modified":"2026-03-11T08:22:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T12:22:39","slug":"the-future-of-mining-projects-must-overcome-the-past-before-gaining-first-nations-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/11\/the-future-of-mining-projects-must-overcome-the-past-before-gaining-first-nations-support\/","title":{"rendered":"The future of mining projects must overcome the past before gaining First Nations support"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0By Sam Laskaris, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com More than two decades have passed since Giant Mine, a gold mine located just a few kilometres north of Yellowknife, ceased operations, but for the nearby Yellowknives Dene First Nation its memory is fresh. The mine, which operated from 1948 to 2004, had a dark and destructive history that left lasting social, cultural and environmental impacts in the region, said Matthew Spence, CEO of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation. He spoke at the recent Prospectors &amp; Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference held in Toronto. The session was titled \u201cBuilding social license: A role in community-led mining education.\u201d Spence said some Yellowknives Dene remain distrustful of future mining operations in the area, and this lack of trust makes it challenging for new&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F03%2F11%2Fthe-future-of-mining-projects-must-overcome-the-past-before-gaining-first-nations-support%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0By Sam Laskaris, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com More than two decades have passed since Giant Mine, a gold mine located just a few kilometres north of Yellowknife, ceased operations, but for the nearby Yellowknives Dene First Nation its memory is fresh. The mine, which operated from 1948 to 2004, had a dark and destructive history that left lasting social, cultural and environmental impacts in the region, said Matthew Spence, CEO of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation. He spoke at the recent Prospectors &amp; Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference held in Toronto. The session was titled \u201cBuilding social license: A role in community-led mining education.\u201d Spence said some Yellowknives Dene remain distrustful of future mining operations in the area, and this lack of trust makes it challenging for new... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F03%2F11%2Fthe-future-of-mining-projects-must-overcome-the-past-before-gaining-first-nations-support%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The future of mining projects must overcome the past before gaining First Nations support - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/11\/the-future-of-mining-projects-must-overcome-the-past-before-gaining-first-nations-support\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The future of mining projects must overcome the past before gaining First Nations support - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0By Sam Laskaris, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com More than two decades have passed since Giant Mine, a gold mine located just a few kilometres north of Yellowknife, ceased operations, but for the nearby Yellowknives Dene First Nation its memory is fresh. The mine, which operated from 1948 to 2004, had a dark and destructive history that left lasting social, cultural and environmental impacts in the region, said Matthew Spence, CEO of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation. He spoke at the recent Prospectors &amp; Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference held in Toronto. The session was titled \u201cBuilding social license: A role in community-led mining education.\u201d Spence said some Yellowknives Dene remain distrustful of future mining operations in the area, and this lack of trust makes it challenging for new\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/11\/the-future-of-mining-projects-must-overcome-the-past-before-gaining-first-nations-support\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-11T12:22:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/11\\\/the-future-of-mining-projects-must-overcome-the-past-before-gaining-first-nations-support\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/11\\\/the-future-of-mining-projects-must-overcome-the-past-before-gaining-first-nations-support\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"The future of mining projects must overcome the past before gaining First Nations support\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-11T12:22:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/11\\\/the-future-of-mining-projects-must-overcome-the-past-before-gaining-first-nations-support\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1194,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/11\\\/the-future-of-mining-projects-must-overcome-the-past-before-gaining-first-nations-support\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/11\\\/the-future-of-mining-projects-must-overcome-the-past-before-gaining-first-nations-support\\\/\",\"name\":\"The future of mining projects must overcome the past before gaining First Nations support - 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The mine, which operated from 1948 to 2004, had a dark and destructive history that left lasting social, cultural and environmental impacts in the region, said Matthew Spence, CEO of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation. He spoke at the recent Prospectors &amp; Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference held in Toronto. 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