The Environmental Assessment Certificate

The Environmental Assessment Certificate for Jumbo Glacier Resort has expired. In June, British Columbia’s environment minister Mary Polak said developers of the billion-dollar ski resort on top of a mountain in the East Kootenay region—challenged in court by the Ktunaxa Nation—will have to “start from scratch.” In 2010, the Ktunaxa Nation delivered the Qat’muk Declaration to the legislature in Victoria protesting construction on Jumbo. It is home of the grizzly bear spirit. The declaration outlines the spiritual significance of Qat’muk and Ktunaxa sovereignty over the territory. The first environmental certificate for Jumbo Resort was given in 2004, then extended in 2009 with an expiry date of Oct. 12, 2014, with a proviso that the project must be “substantially started” by that time. “In making my decision, I had focused on the physical activities that had taken place at the project site,” said Polak. “While it is clear that some construction has started, I was not convinced that the physical activity undertaken as of Oct. 12, 2014, meets the threshold of a substantially started project.”