Watchdogs condemn Sio Silica lobbying during Environment Act review
For Immediate Release — July 2, 2026Sio Silica should stop advertising while impact assessment underway Watchdog groups warn on corporate lobbying during Environment Act reviewsWINNIPEG / TREATY 1 TERRITORY AND HOMELAND OF THE MÉTIS NATION — Prominent environmental organizations in Manitoba are warning that corporate advertising and lobbying can undermine assessment processes meant to protect Manitoba’s ecosystems. Sio Silica Corporation (Sio) continues to run an extensive ad campaign claiming the “safety” of the unproven processes they propose to extract silica sand while a provincial licensing decision is ongoing. “We should limit advertising by proponents during environmental review processes the same way we limit government advertising during a by-election campaign,” said Eric Reder, Senior Campaigner with the Wilderness Committee. “This is a question of preventing undue influence.” For more than a decade, Sio has wanted to extract silica sand in a controversial proposed mining operation near Vivian, Manitoba that threatens the aquifer local residents rely on for drinking water. Sio submitted a similar application in 2021, but it was rejected by Manitoba in February 2024. At the time Premier Kinew indicated the threats to the aquifer, upon which approximately 100,000 Manitobans rely upon for drinking water, was too great for the project to proceed. This decision followed Clean Environment Commission public hearings in 2023. The CEC ultimately recommended that the project not receive a license after hearing from the company, numerous independent experts, and the public. “Our livelihoods, our environment and thus our health are threatened by the Sio Silica project,” said local resident Tangi Bell, chair of Our Line in the Sand, a group that formed to oppose the project. “The Environment Act license that the company needs in order to operate their mine must not be influenced by corporate advertising. This is a legal permitting process and there is no room for PR schemes to prop up materially deficient proposals. It must be evidence-based.” Sio submitted a second application for a license to the Environmental Approvals branch in October 2025. Nearly 2,300 comments were received in response to the most recent application, nearly all of them opposed to the project. The branch requested that Sio provide further information in March, and Sio has until September 30, 2026 to provide the requested information. No licensing decisions have been made with respect to the second application. Restricting public advertising during the assessment process is one of a string of recommendations being put forward by experts to modernize Manitoba’s aging Environment Act, which first became law in 1988. Environmental organizations have pushed the Manitoba government to update the Environment Act for more than a decade. “The threats to climate and biodiversity today are far greater than we understood when the Environment Act was written,” said Heather Fast, Policy Advocacy Director with the Manitoba Eco-Network and PhD candidate at the University of Manitoba’s Natural Resources Institute. “Restricting advertising is only a start. There are many things that require improvement, but the key to any solution is restoring public trust in the assessment process. When corporations try to push through risky projects by whatever means they can, it does the opposite. It increases public concerns about regulatory capture.” Fast has co-authored reports for the Eco-Network and her former employer the Manitoba Law Reform Commission on the need to overhaul Manitoba’s impact assessment process. -30- |
For more information please contact:Eric Reder | Senior Campaigner, Wilderness Committee Tangi Bell | Chair, Our Line in the Sand Heather Fast | Policy Advocacy Director, Manitoba Eco-Network |
