29 January 2020
Seabridge Gold’s Chairman and CEO Rudi Fronk announced today that Seabridge has expanded the responsibilities and scope of its environmental and permitting team in response to the growing importance and complexity of earning and maintaining the social licence to build and operate mining projects in Canada. Key members of the management team have been promoted to expanded roles reflecting the wider scope of work required to meet new and evolving demands.
“A decade ago, the emphasis in our industry was on being successful with environmental permitting. Now, the mandate in this area is much larger and we are recognizing this fact by appointing Brent Murphy as Senior Vice President of Environmental Affairs. Reporting to him will be Elizabeth Fillatre Miller who assumes the new position of Vice President of Environment and Social Responsibility. Jessy Chaplin takes on the job of Director of Permitting and Compliance. Our aim is to continue to be a leader in our responsiveness to the environmental and the social needs of our Indigenous partners and stakeholders,” said Fronk.
British Columbia (“BC”) was one of the first jurisdictions in the world to legislate application of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (the “UN Declaration”). The principles of the UN Declaration have been incorporated into Bill 41 developed collaboratively by the BC Government and the First Nations Leadership Council acting for member nations of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, the First Nations Summit and the BC Assembly of First Nations. The Bill requires the BC government to take all necessary measures to ensure that the laws of BC are consistent with the UN Declaration, and to do so in consultation with Indigenous peoples.