Wilderness Committee finds 'destructive' mining in Nopiming Provincial Park

An environmental group is calling for a ban on all industrial activities in Manitoba's provincial parks.

The Wilderness Committee is making the call after it says it discovered extensive new mineral exploration destruction in Nopiming Provincial Park, about 155 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.

Campaigner Eric Reder says in a statement that two new projects have been quietly approved near Cat Lake, resulting in new roads and clearing in intact forests in an area that's protected for recovering moose populations.

"There's a reason a park exists, and it's not for mining," said Reder. "A park is for nature, for animals, for our solace. It is not for destructive industry and corporate profiteering."

Reder says it's not clear if any environmental assessment was done before the destruction was permitted — adding it is Manitoba's shame that the province is one of the only jurisdictions in the world where parks aren't protected.

"The industrial operation in this sensitive area of Nopiming is going on 24 hours a day right now," said Reder. "It's outrageous they're permitting this in a provincial park and that this government is being so secretive about it."