Yukon Chamber of Mines
April 21, 2026
Consider the Source
Whether opening a new bricks-and-mortar store on Main Street or building a house, knowing the date for your opening day or when you are moving in your family is absolutely and obviously key.
There is simply no way to budget or staff up or plan where you will enrol your children in school without a set, agreed-upon date. This is a simple concept we all live by. Without this, there would be no way to coordinate or control spending. Your potential customers (or your children) would be adrift (or homeless). There would be no confidence in you. There would be zero confidence in your efforts.
Confidence means certainty and certainty means investment, whether that investment is fiscal or emotional.
So why is it acceptable that responsible exploration and mining projects in the territory continue to have no adhered-to assessment and licensing timelines to work towards?
A common refrain your will hear in Yukon mineral project permitting is that “the goal posts keep moving” however, the reality is there are no goal posts at all. What passes for goal posts are arbitrary; they are bogged down by excuses and these are harming investment in the territory and with that, Yukoners’ quality of life.
Timelines are legislated in the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act (YESAA). They are supposed to be set, as mutually agreed upon in a comprehensive three-party process between the federal, territorial and Yukon First Nations governments through the Umbrella Final Agreement. In practice though, these legislated timelines continue to be blown through by months – and in several instances – years.
A recent audit report released by the University of British Columbia (UBC) Centre for Climate Justice claims that exploration and mining project delays in the Yukon are not actually delayed by permitting timelines. They are being delayed by a lack of financial investment.
When in reality, who would invest in any project, and therefore in the Yukon, without knowing where the finish line is? It cannot be imagined one would start a long-distance running or biking race without knowing where (or how) to reach your goal.
The authors of this report apparently based much of their research on local media articles, as are clear in the report’s references. Unfortunately, exploration and mining expertise, or apparently economic or financial or even climate or justice expertise, were not ingredients in this particular report’s recipe.
If responsible Yukon exploration and mining are to remain a viable contributor to helping the Government of Yukon (YG) out of its publicly-stated fiscal crisis, the wheels of bureaucracy must grind faster than they do. The territory is being left behind and as a result, Yukoners are being left behind. Canada, including the other two territories, are moving on without us.
We all know that our favourite stores or restaurants do better – and then can be open more or longer for us all to enjoy – when the Yukon exploration and mining industry’s enormous injection of financial support is circulating through the territory.
We know that our children’s hockey and soccer teams can have new jerseys and the Whitehorse Food Bank can serve more communities and our local charities can be not quite so stressed out. The vibrancy of downtown Whitehorse also depends upon committed entrepreneurs and these business owners need Yukoners with good wages and their confidence to spend those dollars at home.
You may not truly notice a Yukon without responsible exploration and mining until its gone but it will be noticed. Alarmingly.
So, before you hop on your bike or jump in your car – or switch on your lights – we ask that you consider how responsible mining makes your lives work and your lives better.
Before it’s yours, it’s mined.
Sincerely,
Jonas J. Smith
Executive Director
Yukon Chamber of Mines