NEWS RELEASE
The Municipal Silica Sand Advisory Committee welcomes the RM of St. Clements to the Committee

Lorette, MB – The original members of the Municipal Silica Sand Advisory Committee (MSSAC), being the rural municipalities of Tache, Ste. Anne, La Broquerie, Hanover, Brokenhead, Reynolds and the City of Steinbach, welcome the rural municipality of St. Clements to the committee.

Since the Committee was formed in September 2021, it has met five times to stay on top of the two proposals submitted by CanWhite Sands Corporation for their processing facility and extraction process. The Provincial Environment Act Proposal processes are proceeding and the MSSAC has been actively engaging the province.
Some highlights of the MSSAC actions to date include:

• Issued its first News Release on September 29, 2021, on the establishment of the MSSAC;
• Sent a letter on October 5, 2021, to the Minister of Conservation and Climate requesting a Clean Environment Commission Public Hearing on CanWhite’s silica sand extraction project and the processing facility;
• Submitted detailed comments on the Environment Act Proposal for the silica sand extraction project to the Environmental Approvals Branch on October 5, 2021, which was subsequently posted on the Manitoba Public Registry;
• Received a copy of a letter dated November 15, 2021, from the Minister to the Chair of the Manitoba Clean Environment Commission (CEC) requesting that the CEC hold a public hearing on the silica sand extraction project and that the review process be complete by March 15, 2022;
• Received a copy of a letter dated December 15, 2021, from the Acting Director of the Environmental Approvals Branch that intervenor funding is not available to a number of parties for participation in the public hearing. Instead, the CEC will hire an independent technical expert to assess and report on the silica sand extraction project;
• Received a copy of a letter dated December 16, 2021, from the Acting Director of the Environmental Approvals Branch issuing Environment Act Licence No. 3667 for the silica sand processing facility near Vivian, Manitoba;
• On December 23, 2021, approved the engagement of KGS Group Consulting Engineering firm to review the silica sand extraction project; review the CEC technical expert report and represent the MSSAC at the public hearing;
• On January 20, 2022, sent a letter to the Minister of Conservation and Climate appealing the issuance of the Environment Act Licence for the processing facility, because the public hearing for the extraction is yet to occur;
• Received a copy of a letter dated January 13, 2022, from the Minister to the Chair of the Manitoba Clean Environment Commission (CEC) approving the CEC’s request to extend the timeframe of the public hearing process. The process is to be over six months from the date that the Conservation and Climate Department completes its review of the extraction project.

The MSSAC regularly monitors the CEC website and as of February 7, the schedule for the public hearing has not been posted.

For information on the Environment Act Proposals and public comments, go to:

https://www.gov.mb.ca/sd/eal/registries/6057canwhite/index.html (Processing Facility)

https://www.gov.mb.ca/sd/eal/registries/6119/index.html (Extraction Project)

For information on the CEC public hearing process, go to:

http://www.cecmanitoba.ca/cecm/

Mayors and Reeves of
R.M. of Brokenhead
R.M. of Hanover
R.M. of La Broquerie
R.M. of Reynolds
R.M. of Ste. Anne
R.M. of St. Clements
City of Steinbach
R.M. of Tache