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BCBUSINESS.CA FEBRUARY 2020 BCBUSINESS 39 are small operators, but they can do a lot of damage," says the UVic law graduate. "And they don't bring any economic advantage to the province or to our people. They'll leave, and someone else will have to go and clean it up." That doesn't mean Day and the Tahltan oppose mining, though. Far from it. Active in the B.C. industry, Day sits on the board of the Association for Mineral Explo- ration. In frequent op-eds for business and specialty publica- tions, he makes the case for First Nations and mining companies working together. Before contact with Europe- ans, the Tahltan grew wealthy from the sale of obsidian, a lava- based volcanic rock that can easily be fashioned into weapons. Now they find themselves in the middle of what's known as the Golden Triangle, their lands being staked and claimed not just by jade hunters but also by gold miners large and small. The upside is an unemployment rate close to zero— "anyone who wants a well-paying job can get one," says Day, who is serving his third term as president after first being elected in 2014. Like many B.C. First Nations, the Tahltan have never formally ratified a treaty with the provincial government. Fiercely protective of its vast unceded ter- ritory, comprising 11 percent of the prov- ince, the nation is governed by rules and principles from the 1910 Declaration of the Tahltan Tribe, which gives it the right to negotiate nation-to-nation with Victoria and the feds. The Tahltan, 1,000 of whose roughly 3,000 members live in and around their traditional lands, have influenced how some mining companies operate. After the 2014 tailings pond disaster at the Mount Polley copper and gold mine in the Cariboo, Day and his technical min- ing advisers met with Vancouver-based Imperial Metals Corp., owner of Mount Polley and Red Chris, a copper-gold mine in Tahltan territory. "We were able to make the environmental legislation more robust," Day says. W it h a l mo s t f u l l e mploy me nt and its members holding lucrative Time is Money Let us do the work for you. divinematchmaking.com 604.488.0866 matchmaking of the highest order DivineIntervention-1/3sq.indd 1 2019-12-10 3:40 PM