From critical minerals to critical reclamation: Implementing an anticolonial ethics of reclamation for the Faro Mine, in Tsē Zūl, Dena Kēyeh (unceded Kaska Lands, Yukon, Canada)

Beckett, Caitlynn (2025) From critical minerals to critical reclamation: Implementing an anticolonial ethics of reclamation for the Faro Mine, in Tsē Zūl, Dena Kēyeh (unceded Kaska Lands, Yukon, Canada). Doctoral (PhD) thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

As the Canadian government renews promotions for so-called ‘critical minerals’ extraction across Northern Canada, local communities are grappling with both the legacies of abandoned sites and new articulations (or co-optations) of sustainability in the context of green energy. With this drive for increased mining, the need for nuanced discussions about reclamation are critical. The Faro Mine, a lead-zinc mine that operated from 1969-1999, is one of the largest reclamation sites in Canada. Located in Tsē Zūl, on unceded Tū Łídlīni (Ross River) Kaska Dena Land, the mine inflicted countless harms on the community and Dena Kēyeh (Dena Land). For decades Tū Łídlīni Dena have been demanding that both mining and reclamation be done differently, in a way that respects Kaska stewardship and governance. Through participatory action and placebased research, in partnership with Ross River Dena Council (RRDC), this PhD aims to re-think reclamation and unearth possibilities for ethical, community-driven approaches to repairing contaminated landscapes. Grounded in the direction and priorities of Tū Łídlīni Dena Elders, this research focuses first on analyzing the ‘infrastructures of theft’ at Faro, including the mineral permitting, welfare state policies, and water licensing that facilitated the theft of unceded Kaska Land and Water. I then trace how these historic mechanisms of theft have morphed into the contemporary impact assessment and regulatory processes guiding reclamation work at Faro. A second key priority for this community-based research was to build reclamation alternatives based in Kaska knowledge, drawing on the long history of Tū Łídlīni Dena resistance to the Faro Mine. Therefore, part of my work included supporting and documenting the implementation of a community-based revegetation program, centered in healing. While pointing to the root causes of violence and contamination at Faro, this research simultaneously celebrates all the relationships that have persisted, that are hard fought for in the face of pervasive racism, colonialism, and extractivism. This resistance is exemplified in the stories, experiences, community planning, and alternatives that have been articulated by Tū Łídlīni Dena for decades. These alternatives are what form the very basis of anti-colonial reclamation, and the imagining of future human-environment relationships based in Indigenous lands, community, and governance.

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