Yukon Court Orders Further Consultation On Proposed Mine

The Supreme Court of Yukon recently set aside a decision under the  Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act (YESAA) that allowed an open-pit and underground mining project to proceed to the regulatory permitting stage, subject to certain terms and conditions (the Decision). In Ross River Dena Council v. Yukon (Government of), 2024 YKSC 1, the court found that the decision-makers within the Yukon and federal governments did not adequately consult the Kaska Nation¹  (Kaska) on their final submission during the YESAA process and ordered further consultation with prescribed timelines. This case raises numerous notable issues, including the court's approach to assessing the meaningfulness of consultation, the timelines ordered within the remedy, how the court dealt with cumulative effect concerns, and how the court dealt with arguments that it could not rely on the proponent's engagement efforts in assessing the adequacy of consultation.