Executives from Pricewaterhouse Coopers Inc. (PwC) — the court-appointed receiver in charge of the Eagle Gold Mine following a cyanide-laden landslide due to a heap leach facility failure under Victoria Gold Corporation’s watch — are so far refusing to appear in the Yukon legislature.
In correspondence earlier in April, Yukon Energy, Mines and Resources Minister John Streicker invited PwC to appear as witnesses in the Yukon Legislative Assembly this spring sitting. Streicker pitched for them to appear between 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on a date of their choosing, on or before April 30, 2025.
In his April 7, 2025, letter to PwC, Streicker noted opposition MLAs have also to hear from the court-appointed receiver.
“I confirm that the Receiver is not consenting to appearing as a witness, absent a Court Order,” senior vice-president Michelle Grant wrote in response to Streicker’s letter.
On March 25, 2025, PwC went through the court to effectively increase how much it borrows from the Yukon government — from $105 million to $220 million — as well as approve its 208-page third report to the court and its activities on remediation at the mine site.
A motion put forward by Yukon Party mines critic Scott Kent calls for PwC executives to appear as witnesses before Committee of the Whole to take questions about the site.
PwC execs are offering to provide written answers to questions from the Yukon government in its role as regulator and the lender of the receivership’s interim financing.
They also offered a briefing for Yukon government reps and opposition critics.
The correspondence between Streicker and Grant is posted publicly on the Yukon Legislative Assembly’s website since Streicker tabled the documents in the assembly.
On April 16, 2025, known as an “Opposition Wednesday” in which the opposition parties set the agenda, Liberal, NDP and Yukon Party members of the legislature debated and voted unanimously in favour of Kent’s motion calling for PwC to appear.
The Official Opposition Yukon Party has criticized the receivership from the start.
Kent remained critical about escalating costs and questioned the work being done at the mine site under PwC.
“We have heard many stories and concerns about the receivership process, wasteful spending on the site, concerns around water treatment, procurements, leaking water storage ponds, human resource practices, and the list goes on and on,” he said.
Kent said that a briefing PwC provided that morning to MLAs and officials falls short.
He called for PwC to take questions and respond to them in an “open and transparent forum” with a permanent record of the exchanges maintained in the Hansard.
“It’s no secret that the Yukon Party did not believe that the receivership course was the right course of action in this case. On this, we differ from our colleagues in the Yukon Liberal Party and the NDP,” Kent said.
“That said, where we do agree is that it is also fundamental to our system of government that we respect the rule of the judiciary and our democracy. But the judiciary also needs to respect the role of the legislature in that same system.”
Kent doesn’t believe the MLAs are making an “unreasonable” request given the scale of government funds provided to PwC. He wondered if PwC would try to avoid a public inquiry or audit by Canada’s auditor general’s office, if one or the other is called.
Kent argued PwC will be in “contempt of the legislature” if his motion passes and they fail to appear.
“I’ve also heard that, in limited circumstances, the sergeant at-arms has the ability — and has, in the past, in different houses — taken individuals into custody for failing to appear,” Kent said.
For example, the House of Commons can confine people for contempt, as noted in the House of Commons Procedure and Practice on the Parliament of Canada's website. Although the manual notes this authority hasn't been authorized in more than a century, the House has ordered the sergeant-at-arms to take individuals into custody four times and imprison a person.
Yukon NDP Leader Kate White described the situation at the Eagle Gold Mine as “unprecedented” and a mine “disaster” of this level isn’t normal.
“I think that this is an important issue and I think that this is also, honestly, precedent-setting for us going forward. What is our power as the elected representatives of Yukon? What should we be able to ask for? What is too much?” White said.
“I think that if we are talking about accountability and an understanding of where the money that should be benefiting Yukoners is going, I don’t think that is too far."
The spring sitting is scheduled to end on May 1, 2025.
After the briefing on April 16, 2025, the Yukon government issued a public update on preparations for freshet, or the snow melt, underway at the mine site.
The update notes the main risk this spring is that snow and ice melts faster than water can be treated or stored at the site, where snowpack levels are around average.
“As a result, there could be uncontrolled release of water containing cyanide,” reads the update.
“The Receiver, the Yukon government and the First Nation of Nacho Nyak Dun agree that every effort needs to be taken to prevent the uncontrolled release of untreated water containing cyanide. The Receiver and contractors on site are working to ensure the necessary water treatment and water management infrastructure is in place for when water volumes increase.”
Sumps, ditches and pipelines are being built to guide the melting water away from water containing cyanide and areas impacted by cyanide. Two new storage ponds are being constructed to hold water containing cyanide until treatment can occur, providing more than 200,000 cubic metres (equivalent to roughly 80 Olympic-sized swimming pools) of extra storage.
Treating water so that it meets the mine site’s licence conditions has also , as noted in the update.
“While the treatment process is effective at removing cyanide, the water treatment process introduces high amounts of copper, cobalt and nitrite. Work is underway to make upgrades to existing water treatment systems to improve the quality of the effluent discharged to the environment,” reads the update.
Contact Dana Hatherly at dana.hatherly@yukon-news.com
