Film screening March 28th – NOW WITH LINKS TO THE FILMS

On March 28th, dozens gathered at the Nordic Museum for the film screening of “Guardians of the Eternity” and the short film, Can environmental assessments protect the Sami rights?”.

Guardians of Eternity is a startling film that documents the impact of arsenic pollution from an abandoned gold mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories on adjacent Yellowknives Dene First Nations communities. It has been over a decade since the mine closed and community members struggle today with the question of what to do with 237,000 tons of arsenic trioxide dust stored underground at the site. They also consider how to warn future generations of the toxic dangers at the old mine and communicate the perpetual care activities that will be required to contain the waste.

Arn Keeling, one of the leading researchers in REXSAC,  presented the film.  He is a historical geographer at Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada, publishing on the environmental historical geography of Western and Northern Canada.

After the film, Niila Inga, reindeer herder and chairman of the Laevas Sami village in northern Sweden, together with Rasmus Kløcker Larsen from the Stockholm Environment Institute, presented the short film, “Can environmental assessments protect the Sami rights?” The film follows Niila on his visit to the Quebec Cree people in 2017, raising the question: What can Sweden learn about Canada in terms of resource extraction on indigenous peoples’ lands?

After the films, discussions around progress in  environmental assessments and mine closure planning were held. Questions were asked about remembering what has happened and the language of grief. The differences in regards to the land usage in these two cases were discussed as the reindeer herding in Northern Sweden is an on-going activity where extractive industries impact the Sami livelihoods at once. The similarities included the concept of the future of all indigenous peoples are intertwined with the land.

For those not able to join both films can be assessed here:

Film: Guardians of Eternity  Find out more about the film and the Toxic Legacies Project here.

Film: Can environmental assessments protect the Sami rights? Read more about the project here.

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