July 23, 2025
Yellowknife’s Giant Mine: Canada downplayed arsenic exposure as an Indigenous community was poisoned Giant Mine, just north of Yellowknife, N.W.T., in September 2011. The gold mine officially opened in 1948 and was operational for over 50 years before it was closed in 2004. (John Sandlos) Arn Keeling, Memorial University of Newfoundland and John Sandlos, Memorial University… Read MoreJuly 16, 2025
Our forthcoming book on the history of Giant Mine, The Price of Gold, is now available for pre-order. For more on the book, including updates, reviews, and more, see the project main page.April 22, 2022
Giant Mine has been getting a lot of attention in national media recently! First, there was this podcast from Canadaland Commons, as part of their mining series. Host Arshy Mann did a great job exploring the history and contemporary legacies of arsenic contamination at the mine, and we were pleased to speak with him. More… Read MoreDecember 2, 2020
Today, Yellowknives Dene First Nation launched its formal call to the Canadian government for an apology and compensation for the damage and long-lasting impact to their lands and people caused by Giant Mine. This demand is backed by extensive historical documentation, local knowledge, and community voices, some of which are documented on the website “Giant… Read MoreJune 15, 2020
Big congratulations to the final Toxic Legacies graduate student, Amanda Degray, on the successful examination of her MA thesis in April! Her thesis, completed with Yellowknives Dene Elders and knowledge-holders, explores “Indigenous Risk Perceptions and Land Use in Yellowknife.” Through a series of powerful maps and interviews, Amanda’s study provides comprehensive documentation of how historic… Read MoreJune 5, 2017
Guardians of Eternity will be featured this week at the International Congress of Arctic Social Sciences (ICASS) meeting at Umeå University in Sweden. ICASS is the main gathering of the International Arctic Social Sciences Association, held every three years. We presented a poster about the Toxic Legacies project at the last ICASS, held in Prince… Read MoreFebruary 23, 2017
The Toxic Legacies project is pleased to announce that Guardians of Eternity, the documentary about the history and future of Giant Mine, is now freely available to stream online. Directed by Yellowknife filmmaker France Benoit and produced by ShebaFilms, Guardians of Eternity tells the disturbing story the Yellowknives Dene First Nation’s experience of contamination and… Read MoreNovember 30, 2016
One of the most important aspects of Giant Mine’s history is the long struggle against pollution (particularly arsenic) by Yellowknives Dene and other Yellowknifers. The Toxic Legacies project’s John Sandlos and Arn Keeling explore this history in a new article in RCC Perspectives: Transformations in Environment and Society, a popular journal on environmental issues. It’s… Read MoreOctober 27, 2016
Guardians of Eternity will be screened at Queen’s University in Kingston on Thursday, Nov. 10, at 7:30 p.m. The film will be co-presented by project partner Mary Rose Sundberg and researcher Arn Keeling. The follow day, they will also be presenting a public talk about the project. Here are the details: Thursday, November 10th –… Read MoreOctober 27, 2016
The work of the Toxic Legacies project was featured in a recent CBC Interactive feature on Giant Mine. The story traces the history and legacies of arsenic contamination around Yellowknife, and explores local reactions to this history. It also profiles recent scientific studies from the NWT Cumulative Effects Monitoring Program that, along with research by… Read More