The Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy (CIELAP) is an independent, not-for-profit environmental law and policy research and education organization, founded in 1970 as the Canadian Environmental Law Research Foundation. The Institute has a long history of work in the area of waste management and, more recently, has undertaken a number of major projects related to mining and the environment. Canada is an excellent case study for exploring the problems inherent in the question: how can we start to move away from the assumption of a continued expansion of the consumption of new metals and materials in view of the apparent need to promote dematerialization? Canada a major mineral exporter, but has also been subject to major costs associated with mineral development. The costs of remediating abandoned mines in Canada has been estimated by the Mining Association of Canada to be in the region of $6 billion. These costs are largely associated with dealing with abandoned mine wastes and tailings. At the same time, Canada has made explicit commitments to waste reduction at the provincial and federal levels. Although the conflict between waste management policies intended to reduce consumption of new metals and materials, and mining policies designed to increase consumption of these materials is obvious, mining and waste management policies have been completely disconnected in the Canadian experience.