Several rural communities are organizing to fight the Yukon government’s closures of several unmanned rural waste transfer stations and the introduction of tipping fees at others.

They say the government has not yet meaningfully consulted with community members, despite taking steps toward making the changes.

In a written statement to the Star this morning, Community Services Minister Richard Mostyn committed to holding more community discussions with residents in Keno City, Braeburn, Johnson’s Crossing and Silver City, along with First Nation governments.

“The consultation is planned to take place in late July and through August, with dates to be confirmed with communities,” the minister said.

Community members and MLAs from the Yukon Party and the NDP have criticized the Liberal government.

They have said the government was moving ahead without these consultations after seeing an application posted with the Yukon Environmental and Socioeconomic Assessment Board (YESAB) that indicated the closures were planned.

“Constituents need to be heard first before you do drastic changes or closings,” Kluane MLA Wade Istchenko of the Yukon Party told the Star on Tuesday.

This application is a major hurdle that must be cleared before the changes are made.

The issue has percolated for a few years as the government changes the way waste is managed in the territory.

It has an application in with the assessment board on closing the Silver City and Canyon Creek waste facilities, and for the introduction of tipping fees and other service alterations at the Beaver Creek, Destruction Bay and Champagne waste transfer stations.

Istchenko said there are also plans to close waste facilities in Stewart Crossing and Keno.

Today’s announcement by Mostyn on consultations has not yet been officially communicated to residents.

A statement released by Istchenko on Tuesday said he had written to the government requesting public consultation meetings for his constituents and for the Kluane First Nation, saying the public comment period offered in the assessment process is not good enough.

The assessment application allows public comments, but residents say they were not even told about the application and had only found out about it after one local found it listed on the YESAB website.

“Nobody knew anything about it,” said Destruction Bay resident Suzanne Tremblay, who also owns the Talbot Arms Motel. “This is not what I call meaningful consultation.”

The residents were granted an initial extension to comment, which was then extended again to July 28 after the Kluane First Nation also requested an extension.

NDP Leader Kate White had also sent a letter to Mostyn on July 14, saying the party’s Confidence and Supply Agreement with the Liberal government specifically commits to consulting with these communities on household waste disposal options.

In the letter, White calls the way the government is handling the situation a violation of this agreement, adding that a YESAB application does not count as “meaningful consultation.”

White also posted these comments on the YESAB site.

In today’s statement, Mostyn said the assessment board application was simply put in because it is required for the renewal of permits to keep the facilities operating.

“It does not replace our plans to host in-person discussions in affected communities,” he said.

There are now 19 comments on the YESAB site, and with the exception of extension requests and impact statements from the government, they all oppose the closures.

“Until there is actual meaningful consultation with ALL the residents, of ALL the communities, there should be no consideration of dump closures or implementation of tipping fees,” said a post on the site by John Ostashek.

Another post from Silver Creek Woodworks says having the transfer station nearby is essential to their business.

“We are paying taxes like every other community, but we have so few services to show for it,” the post reads. “If we are stripped of our waste management facility then what are we getting out of the taxes we are paying?”

There is no indication given on the YESAB site of when the closures would happen.

Letters from ministers and press releases by the government have put this in the context of needing to modernize waste disposal in the territory.

A press release from the government late Tuesday afternoon announced an agreement with the Village of Carmacks to provide money to beef up its landfill so it could provide service to more area rural residents. The announcement says the government has already signed similar agreements with Teslin and Watson Lake.

“With regional agreements in place, the Yukon is moving toward staffed and gated facilities with consistent services in all regions of the territory,” the announcement reads.

This is part of their previously stated plan to move from unmanned transfer stations to modern, staffed facilities that charge fees.

In 2021, Mostyn said in a letter published by the Star that this was part of a bid to better manage the waste stream financially and in a more environmentally friendly manner.

“Municipalities understood that uncontrolled waste put their watersheds and surrounding environment at risk,” Mostyn wrote. “They also understood the long-term financial liability they were being saddled with.”

He goes on to say as part of this push the territory will be closing unmanned and unsupervised waste facilities in favour of those that charge fees.

“We know if small sites remain open, unsupervised and free, people will drive and dump nasty waste in those sites for convenience and to avoid tipping fees,” Mostyn wrote.

At that time, Mostyn had met with local residents in Destruction Bay, including Tremblay.

She told the Star Tuesday Mostyn didn’t seriously listen to their concerns.

“Mostyn flatly told us there will be no consultation; this is what we are doing,” Tremblay said. “Period.”

Tremblay and others question how forcing them to drive long distances to dump garbage will help protect the environment.

“Imagine having to drive two hours every day to the dump,” Tremblay said.

Silver City residents would have to drive to either Destruction Bay or Haines Junction to dump garbage, which is about 40 minutes either way.

The Village of Haines Junction itself has a comment on the YESAB site opposing the closures, saying the village would be forced to take on much of the extra garbage from those sites.

They also point out that Haines Junction has not yet come to an agreement with the government similar to Carmacks to get financial assistance from the government. The village says this now puts them in a “difficult position.”

One of the other issues brought up by residents is that this could increase human-wildlife conflicts as people store garbage before driving it en masse to the dump.

Both Istchenko and Tremblay referenced an individual in Burwash Landing who was charged under the Wildlife Act recently for allegedly leaving cooking oil outside his house.

It is alleged that this is what then led to three bears being killed by conservation officers after they became food-conditioned.

Tremblay and Istchenko say this will happen more as people are forced to store garbage.

Tremblay also said her business in Destruction Bay provides several roadside garbage cans that are used mostly by passersby, and that under the new proposal she would have to pay to dump that garbage.

“This is tourist garbage,” she said.

Istchenko said residents have come up with solutions to illegal or improper dumping at unsupervised sites – one of the reasons cited by the government for the closures – such as giving local residents a key to transfer station gates.

Tremblay says they have been ignored.

“We’ve come up with tons of solutions,” she said.

In Mostyn’s statement from this morning, he said waste management is a crucial part of responsible environmental stewardship and the government has been tasked with fixing the system.

“The Yukon’s solid waste management system was not sustainable under previous governments and the communities asked us to take action,” he said.