The Harvard Law School Human Rights Clinic, with the help of two HLS students, recently published a report on the legal ramifications of mining claims on the Takla Lake First Nation people of British Columbia. Susanna Knox ’10 and Lauren Pappone ’11 accompanied HLS lecturer Bonnie Docherty on a fact finding trip to Canada in September of 2009. The trio conducted interviews in remote parts of the Takla Lake First Nation’s over 27,000 square kilometers of territory, a third of which has had its mineral claims staked by outsiders. The report that the clinic ultimately released, “Bearing the Burden: The Effects of Mining on First Nations in British Columbia,” determined that Canadian mining laws benefit mining interests over those of the First nations people. The report also pushed the Canadian government to elaborate on its stance on this issue. Knox, who graduated this summer and now works for the Southern Environmental Law Center in North Carolina expressed how meaningful this work for her:
“It just meant a lot to me to finish this report, and make it really good and effective and informative. It’s really nice to feel like you’re doing something that makes a difference.”
