Beyond remediation: Containing, confronting and caring for the Giant Mine Monster
Mine remediation entails long-term risks associated with the containment and monitoring of dangerous materials. To date, research on mine remediation in Canada has focused primarily on technical fixes; little is known about the socio-political and colonial aspects of remediation. Using the Giant Min...
Published in: | Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space |
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crsagepubl:10.1177/2514848620954361 2023-05-15T16:17:00+02:00 Beyond remediation: Containing, confronting and caring for the Giant Mine Monster Beckett, Caitlynn Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2514848620954361 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2514848620954361 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/2514848620954361 en eng SAGE Publications http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space volume 4, issue 4, page 1389-1412 ISSN 2514-8486 2514-8494 General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science journal-article 2020 crsagepubl https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848620954361 2022-05-26T08:13:48Z Mine remediation entails long-term risks associated with the containment and monitoring of dangerous materials. To date, research on mine remediation in Canada has focused primarily on technical fixes; little is known about the socio-political and colonial aspects of remediation. Using the Giant Mine in Yellowknife (Northwest Territories, Canada) as a case study, this research investigates the story of the Giant Mine ‘Monster’, how it was defined, how it has changed and how nearby communities will care for the mine in the future. Using a mixed-methods approach, this research combines literature reviews, archival analysis, key informant interviews and participant observation in analyzing the multiple experiences, practices and stories of the Giant Mine Remediation Project. Directed by the frameworks of ecological restoration, Indigenous environmental justice and science and technology studies theories of care, this research reveals that, by focusing on the technical containment of arsenic trioxide pollution, the Giant Mine Remediation Project sidelined community objectives for compensation, independent oversight and a perpetual care plan. However, through the ongoing activism of the Yellowknives Dene First Nations and community allies, the Giant Mine Monster is being creatively reframed as something to care for and live with for generations to come – a responsibility for mining wastes that settlers across Canada have yet to meaningfully reckon with. I argue that the Giant Mine case points to a critical reconceptualization of environmental remediation as an anti-colonial mechanism to (re)structure, or (re)mediate, relationships with both land and people. Without a community objectives based approach to remediation, such projects risk continuing systems of colonization, marginalization and environmental injustice. Article in Journal/Newspaper First Nations Northwest Territories Yellowknife SAGE Publications (via Crossref) Northwest Territories Yellowknife Canada Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space 251484862095436 |
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SAGE Publications (via Crossref) |
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English |
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General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science |
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General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science Beckett, Caitlynn Beyond remediation: Containing, confronting and caring for the Giant Mine Monster |
topic_facet |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science |
description |
Mine remediation entails long-term risks associated with the containment and monitoring of dangerous materials. To date, research on mine remediation in Canada has focused primarily on technical fixes; little is known about the socio-political and colonial aspects of remediation. Using the Giant Mine in Yellowknife (Northwest Territories, Canada) as a case study, this research investigates the story of the Giant Mine ‘Monster’, how it was defined, how it has changed and how nearby communities will care for the mine in the future. Using a mixed-methods approach, this research combines literature reviews, archival analysis, key informant interviews and participant observation in analyzing the multiple experiences, practices and stories of the Giant Mine Remediation Project. Directed by the frameworks of ecological restoration, Indigenous environmental justice and science and technology studies theories of care, this research reveals that, by focusing on the technical containment of arsenic trioxide pollution, the Giant Mine Remediation Project sidelined community objectives for compensation, independent oversight and a perpetual care plan. However, through the ongoing activism of the Yellowknives Dene First Nations and community allies, the Giant Mine Monster is being creatively reframed as something to care for and live with for generations to come – a responsibility for mining wastes that settlers across Canada have yet to meaningfully reckon with. I argue that the Giant Mine case points to a critical reconceptualization of environmental remediation as an anti-colonial mechanism to (re)structure, or (re)mediate, relationships with both land and people. Without a community objectives based approach to remediation, such projects risk continuing systems of colonization, marginalization and environmental injustice. |
author2 |
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Beckett, Caitlynn |
author_facet |
Beckett, Caitlynn |
author_sort |
Beckett, Caitlynn |
title |
Beyond remediation: Containing, confronting and caring for the Giant Mine Monster |
title_short |
Beyond remediation: Containing, confronting and caring for the Giant Mine Monster |
title_full |
Beyond remediation: Containing, confronting and caring for the Giant Mine Monster |
title_fullStr |
Beyond remediation: Containing, confronting and caring for the Giant Mine Monster |
title_full_unstemmed |
Beyond remediation: Containing, confronting and caring for the Giant Mine Monster |
title_sort |
beyond remediation: containing, confronting and caring for the giant mine monster |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2514848620954361 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2514848620954361 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/2514848620954361 |
geographic |
Northwest Territories Yellowknife Canada |
geographic_facet |
Northwest Territories Yellowknife Canada |
genre |
First Nations Northwest Territories Yellowknife |
genre_facet |
First Nations Northwest Territories Yellowknife |
op_source |
Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space volume 4, issue 4, page 1389-1412 ISSN 2514-8486 2514-8494 |
op_rights |
http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848620954361 |
container_title |
Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space |
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251484862095436 |
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1766002845175250944 |