Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation (PBCN) has filed a judicial review to challenge the provincial government’s environmental assessment decision on a Denison Mines uranium project located roughly 35 km northeast of Key Lake.
In a press release on Friday, PBCN leadership said the province’s assessment decision for the Wheeler River Project focused only on current land use, and not on how the project would impact PBCN rights, title, and traditional practices.
“Our ancestors signed Treaty to share the land, not to surrender it,” PBCN Chief Peter Beatty said in the press release. “The province can’t keep treating us like an afterthought while corporations carve up our territory. We have a duty to protect the land and waters that have always sustained our people—and we won’t be silent while the gamble with our future.”
In an email to the Daily Herald, Ministry of Justice Senior Media Relations Consultant Kerri Ward-Davis wrote that the government “has not been served in relation to this matter” and will not be providing further comment on the issue since it will potentially be before the courts.
PBCN Chief and Council voted unanimously one week ago to proceed with court action. Beatty said the First Nation first raised concerns about the project with provincial and federal regulators in 2022.
However, Beatty said the Environmental Assessment and Stewardship Branch did not formally acknowledge the PBCN concerns until November 2024. By that time, Beatty said, the environmental review had already been completed.
PBCN argues they were only given six weeks to review thousands of pages of documents, and no funding to hire experts. Beatty said requests for more time and a traditional land-use study were denied.
Beatty said that lack of consultation undermines the project.
“We met with the province. We sent them information. We asked them to the table,” Beatty said in the press release. “Instead, our concerns were sidelined.
“Consultation is not paperwork – it’s a constitutional duty. Saskatchewan’s actions fell far short of that duty, and we took this step to protect our rights, land, our water, and our people.”
Beatty said Denison Mines attempted to reach out and consult with PBCN, but by the time they did so key decisions had already been made.
“That is not consultation,” Beatty said. “That is an after-the-fact invitation to watch someone else decide your future.”
The Wheeler River Project is located along the eastern edge of the Athabasca Basin, according to the Denison Mines website. Denison said the property is “well located with respect to all-weather roads and the provincial power grid.”
The project is a joint venture, with Denison operating the project and controlling 90 per cent of the stake.
Denison touts Wheeler River as “the largest undeveloped uranium project in the eastern portion of the Athabasca Basin region.” It hosts two “high grade” uranium deposits: Phoenix and Gryphon.
@kerr_jas • jason.kerr@paherald.sk.ca
