Rise

Arriving in Phoenix, Arizona,

I'm headed to San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation,

home to the fight to save Oak Flat.

I am not Apache, I'm Anishinaabe from Canada,

but what's happening here affects all Indigenous people.

Oak Flat is central to the Apache creation story.

It is the place where the Creator came to Earth,

a place of prayer where young women

have their coming-of-age ceremonies.

Its bordering cliffs are where many Apache people

jumped to their deaths to avoid capture

by American troops in the 1870s.

Today, the Apache people are still fighting

to remain on their lands.

Oak Flat is in jeopardy of being destroyed by Resolution Copper,

a subsidiary of one of the world's largest mining companies,

the British and Australian owned Rio Tinto.

This is one of the biggest Indigenous Rights struggles

in the world because it sets a precedent.

If sacred land can be taken over by corporations for profit,

then none of our Indigenous communities are protected,

including my own.

Oak Flat sits on top of what is considered to be

the largest copper reserve in North America.

Resolution Copper acquired the land last year

through a controversial bill championed by Senator John McCain.

Ever since, the Apache have been trying to repeal the bill

that gave their land away.

If they don't succeed, Oak Flat will be decimated

just like the other land that has been mined in the area,

and the Apache will lose their holy lands forever.

This my first time in San Carlos,

and I'm here to catch the Veteran's Parade.

I want to find out what the locals know

about the fight to save Oak Flat.

We're at the 49th annual San Carlos Veteran's Day Parade.

We're honouring our veterans and honouring this community.

Oh, hey!

I can honestly say I've never, ever been to an event

where there was this many Apache people.

I love seeing all the little kids, all these little guys.

They're throwing candy into the parade, so it's really cool.

And I know here in Apache territory,

they have lots and lots and lots of people in the service.

It's really one of the ways to support the economy,

is to go into the service, so they're really proud of that.

And they've also lost a lot of their members that way.

So I'm feeling really proud just to be Indigenous, to be here.

Can you tell me what you know about Oak Flat?

- Not much. - I know that there's the mine

that's supposed to be built, and it's gonna affect like

the water and the surrounding area.

That's pretty much all I know.

Are there people in the community

who maybe don't think that Oak Flat should be saved?

Um, yeah.

We might get paid.

We might get some sort of dividend

or some sort of compensation for this loss.

And would that help you and your family?

It would help everybody here, seriously.

Take a walk down the track sometime.

You'll see what I'm talking about.

It was hard to wrap my head around

why some Apache support the potential mining,

but I guess it should be no surprise.

This is one of the poorest Native American communities

in the United States.

Resolution Copper says their project will bring in jobs

and billions of dollars in revenue.

But the Apache will have to sacrifice

one of their most sacred places.

And we have learned from history once the copper goes,

the jobs and money will also go.

Roy Chavez, former mayor of the neighbouring town of Superior,

is one of the many non-Indigenous supporters of Oak Flat.

He opposes the mining methods Resolution is proposing,

and has offered to show me what will happen to Oak Flat

if the mine goes through.

- Roy? - Hi.

- How are you? - Good, how are you doing?

- Good, good. - I'm born and raised here.

My family worked in the mines and such, and we've all had...

and been affiliated with the companies

and the industries throughout the region.

Serving as mayor, I actually got involved politically here

when the mine first shut down, the Magma Copper Mine, in 1982.

Magma Copper laid off between 1,200 and 1,400 employees here

at the Superior Mine in one day.

And that's pretty significant in this small region, you know.

So I have something to show you in reference to the project,

and really what it is, it's an animation.

This is the mining method they're gonna use,

blockade mining.

They're gonna take the ore out from underground

and create these voids.

And it's like taking an hourglass and turning it over.

And as the material falls, you see the cone, right?

This is a subsidence here.

What is subsidence, what does that mean?

Subsidence is the cave-in of the surface.

Two and a half miles wide, a thousand feet deep.

The Eiffel Tower would fit at the bottom of this,

and you could see the tip of it from the outside areas here.

Wow.

If you were to pick in context of this page,

this paper, that's what we extract.

That's the profit.

The rest is waste.

1% is the profit.

The rest of this has to be placed somewhere.

We used to put this back underground.

That's what's called "cut and fill".

Where do you put the rest of this paper

if you're not putting it back underground?

You've gotta put it on the surface.

1.6 billion tons of toxic mine waste will be produced.

That's Hoover Dam by comparison.

- That's massive! - Yes.

Where are they gonna put that?

It's about 3 miles west of us.

- Roy, can I ask you something? - Sure.

It's pretty obvious, there's no way that there would be

massive support for this.

Remember, Sarain, what I'm showing you

is coming out in a scale model for the first time,

but I agree with you. Who in their right mind would

see this and agree that this is an okay thing to do?

The fight has just started.

No one wants to lose Oak Flat.

For years, John McCain has been trying to hand over Oak Flat

to one of his long-time supporters, Rio Tinto.

The company was the top contributor

to McCain's political campaign in 2014.

At every hearing,

the project's tremendous economic

and environmental values are reaffirmed,

and yet at each hearing we see the same agitators

trotted out to play the tired role

of the industry obstructionist.

This vocal minority is so philosophically opposed

to any mining in Arizona, they're willing to throw away

the future of young families, along with the best hope

for long-term prosperity in the town of Superior, Arizona,

and the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservations

where, Mr. Chairman, unemployment hovers around 50%.

The land give-away had been introduced over a dozen times

to Congress, but last year Senator McCain finally succeeded

in giving the Apache's sacred land away

by attaching a rider at the 11th hour

onto a must-pass military spending bill,

known as the National Defense Authorization Act.

Congress had only an hour

to review and vote on the 1,600 page bill,

a move that an op-ed in the New York Times called,

"an impressive new low in congressional corruption."

Not only the press, but many people in Washington

have questioned the motives of this move.

Tara Houska is a tribal attorney and lobbyist.

She says these actions echo a sordid history

that still plays out today.

I think that this legislation has really signaled

the attitudes of the federal government

towards Indian people and towards Indigenous people.

This says that it doesn't matter if something is sacred to you.

It doesn't matter if this has been your place of worship

since time immemorial, we're gonna give it away for profits.

And that is a really, really hard thing to see.

The Save Oak Flat campaign was formed as a grassroots response

to Rio Tinto.

Wendsler Nosie and his 16-year-old granddaughter Naelyn

are the public face of the movement.

Together, they are the leaders of the Apache Stronghold.

For the past year, day and night the Stronghold warriors

camp on the land, their presence protesting the land transfer.

We are driving now to the Apache Stronghold camp.

It's a separate camp from the main camp.

We can't disclose the location, and I'm not sure whether or not

we're gonna be able to film up there.

It's a protected spot, a sacred spot.

It's where the warriors are at.

So right now, when we turn this corner,

the cameras have to go off.

Now.

Right now we are home.

This is my grandfather's home, my great-grandmother's home,

my people's home.

It's the place where we come from, and it's Oak Flat.

We believe that Yosin has touched this part of the world.

Can you explain what Yosin means?

Yosin is our creator.

It's that direct connection.

So for me, you know, that's really something powerful,

something sacred.

And I know you're traveling a lot and

really dedicated to the Stronghold.

Lots of kids your age are

focused on other things.

Kids my age, because of the way society is,

"What I want, what I need," you know, it's that "I".