From: Don McMurtry [donmcmurtry@gmail.com] Sent: December 13, 2008 10:48 AM To: sautut@nirb.ca; lpayette@nirb.ca Subject: Uravan Garry Lake Project, NIRB File 08EN037 Follow Up Flag: Follow up Flag Status: Red Dear Ms. Autut and Ms. Payette, The Nunavut Impact Review Board is in the process of considering an application from Uravan Minerals regarding proposed uranium extraction in the Garry Lake area and I hoped you would accept my thoughts about this complex issue. Firstly, there is the critical issue of employment. It should be obvious to anyone whether they live in southern Canada or the north, that meaningful employment is a necessity and is a foundation for community stability. Secondly, there is the complex issue of conservation and environmental consequence. In the balance, I imagine it is not an easy decision for you and your colleagues. Essentially, you are likely once again placed in the difficult position of balancing demands from industrial shareholders against the value of traditional land use and voiceless animals. You have likely heard that a critical amount of the range of the Beverly caribou herd overlaps with Uravan's proposed development. And I imagine you have heard that recent survey data suggests a startling decline in the herd's size. Unfortunately we cannot negotiate with the caribou to have them move their calving area to some more convenient location nor ask them why their herd size has crashed. We must use the best available scientific research to identify the influences upon the animals and steer our industrial activities into other areas. Uravan's website states their "aim is to create shareholder value". Needless to say, enduring community benefits are outside their intrinsically short-term mandates which are being driven by uranium commodity speculators. But communities are based upon our historic dependance upon the land and the broad land requirements of the animals we depend upon and which we value. It has been three years since I was last in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories as a tourist, but I intend to return again soon. Please be a voice for nature and ensure that industrial development is only permitted where the consequences are not as severe as would be the case within the range of the Berverly caribou herd. Without doubt, there will be many more requests from the mining industry to encroach upon critical animal migration and breeding areas and I hope you will help set their future expectations by denying Uravan the ability to disrupt the caribou population. Thank you for your consideration of my concerns and I hope we have an opportunity to meet at some time in the north. -- Don McMurtry home: 519-883-4174 mobile: 519-581-7443 email: donmcmurtry@gmail.com 714 Wideman Road, Waterloo Ontario Canada N2J-3Z4