VICTORIA – Environment Minister Mary Polak has determined that the

Jumbo Glacier Resort project has not been substantially started.

As a result, the environmental assessment certificate has expired and

Glacier Resorts Ltd. cannot proceed with developing this project unless

a new certificate is obtained.

The minister was required to make a determination because the

Environmental Assessment Act requires that all approved projects must

be substantially started within the time limit set out in the

certificate or the certificate expires. Documentation related to the

minister’s decision can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/q93nzon

Substantially started decisions are considered on a case-by-case basis.

In making her decision, the minister focused on the physical activities

that had taken place at the project site. In this case, the minister

determined that the physical activities undertaken on the various

components did not meet the threshold of a substantially started

project.

In making her determination, the minister considered:

 

* submissions from Glacier Resorts Ltd., the Ktunaxa Nation Council and

the Shuswap Indian Band;

* guidance from the court decision in Taku River Tlingit First Nation

v. British Columbia;

* the Environmental Assessment Office’s substantially started

determination report; and

* her own observations from a visit to the Jumbo Glacier Resort project

site on Oct. 11, 2014.

 

The minister considered information submitted by the Ktunaxa Nation

Council and the Shuswap Indian Band because the project is located in

their asserted traditional territories.

 

The project is a year-round ski resort development in the Jumbo Creek

valley, 55 kilometres west of Invermere. The Province issued an

environmental assessment certificate for the project on Oct. 12, 2004.

As a result of an extension issued in 2009, the expiry date of the

certificate was Oct. 12, 2014.