"Fight Against Mine Could Be a Bloody Affair"

"Ramping up pressure on the federal government, native leaders on Thursday expressed fierce opposition to a proposed copper-gold mine in the British Columbia Interior and warned of violent consequences if the project is approved.

“Our people are willing and ready to defend our lands,” Tsilhqot'in Nation Chief Marilyn Baptiste said Thursday at a news conference in Ottawa. “As one of my elders had said when we were going through the panel hearings – she will be there on the road in her wheelchair. She will have her shotguns and she will not move.”

Ms. Baptiste said she and others will risk their lives to block the $800-million Prosperity project, which would destroy two lakes that hold about 90,000 rainbow trout, a food source for local bands, and replace them with an artificial lake that would have far fewer fish. "

Wendy Stueck and Bill Curry report for the Toronto Globe and Mail September 3, 2010.