NovaRed Mining Just Hired the Woman Who Called Canada the “51st State”
A "Canadian" mining company just gave a board seat to the woman who calls us the 51st state — and what you can do about it.
NovaRed Mining Just Hired the Woman Who Called Canada the “51st State”
NovaRed Mining wants you to think of it as a Canadian success story: a Vancouver-based exploration company quietly building out copper and gold assets on Canadian land. This week, it sent a different message. NovaRed appointed Kristi Noem — the former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, fired by Donald Trump this past March — to its Advisory Board.
This is the same Kristi Noem who has repeatedly called Canada “the 51st state.”
Read that again. A Canadian company just appointed someone to a strategic seat who doesn’t think Canada should exist as a country.
Who is Kristi Noem, really?
Before her dismissal, Noem’s roughly 14 months as Secretary weren’t quiet ones. She publicly defended two deadly shootings of U.S. citizens by immigration agents in her department. She was accused of needlessly slowing federal disaster response while people waited for help. She spent taxpayer money on a television ad campaign built around her own face. She was criticized for using agency funds to buy two luxury jets.
And then there’s the dog.
In her own memoir — not an accusation, her own words — Noem describes taking the family’s young dog, Cricket, to a gravel pit and shooting it herself, because she’d decided it wasn’t a good hunting dog.
This is the résumé NovaRed handed in to get a seat at the table.
This isn’t a one-off
Noem isn’t even the first American political or military figure NovaRed has recruited this year. She’s the third, joining a retired U.S. Army colonel and a retired U.S. Navy commander already advising the company. A “Canadian” company is being quietly remade into an extension of American political interests, one hire at a time.
Within days of the announcement, British Columbians reacted exactly the way you’d expect: fast, loud, and furious. Comment sections and social media are filled with people asking the obvious question: why does a company digging up Canadian land need an American political operator with this record telling it what to do?
Why this actually matters
This isn’t about one offensive hire. Critical minerals — the copper, the rare earths, the resources NovaRed exists to extract — sit at the center of the Canada-U.S. relationship right now, which is exactly why we cover this beat at The Sanity Project. Whoever shapes a resource company’s strategy shapes who actually benefits from Canadian land. Three American hires in a row isn’t an accident. It’s a direction, and directions can still be reversed if enough people make it costly to keep going.
What you can actually do
NovaRed’s inbox is already reportedly bouncing and blocking emails. So skip it. This is a mailbox fight, not an inbox one.
Below is a letter you can mail straight to Brian Goss, NovaRed’s CEO, at the company’s Vancouver office. It’s modular; pick from a few opening, middle, and closing options. This is what lands on his desk: it is genuinely yours, not a form letter he can toss without reading.
This costs you a stamp and ten minutes. It’s legal, it’s loud, and companies pay attention to a stack of real letters in a way they’ve trained themselves to ignore in an inbox.
We’re not stopping at the letter. A second piece is coming, with a way to put your name behind this publicly. For now: write it, mail it, and tell one more person to do the same.
Letter to NovaRed Mining — Mail Version (Modular)
Mail to: Brian Goss, President & CEO NovaRed Mining Inc. 503 - 905 West Pender Street Vancouver, BC V6C 1L6 Canada
How to use this: Pick ONE opening, ONE middle, and ONE closing, and combine them into a single letter. Mixing and matching means NovaRed receives 27 different letter variations.
[Your Name] [Your Street Address] [Your City, Province, Postal Code]
[Date]
Brian Goss, President & CEO NovaRed Mining Inc. 503 - 905 West Pender Street Vancouver, BC V6C 1L6
Dear Mr. Goss,
[Choose ONE opening:]
Opening 1 — Civic/identity My name is [Your Name], and I’m writing as a Canadian concerned about NovaRed’s decision to appoint Kristi Noem, former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, to your Advisory Board.
Opening 2 — Pattern-first I’m writing about a pattern I’ve noticed at NovaRed. In recent months, your company has added a retired U.S. Army colonel, a retired U.S. Navy commander, and now Kristi Noem to its advisory team. As a Canadian, I want to know why a company developing Canadian mineral assets is increasingly being shaped by American political and military figures.
Opening 3 — Sovereignty-first, I am one of many Canadians genuinely disturbed to learn that NovaRed Mining has appointed Kristi Noem (a politician who has openly mocked Canadian sovereignty) to help guide the strategic direction of a company built on Canadian land and Canadian minerals.
[Choose ONE middle:]
Middle 1 — Fully documented record. Ms. Noem’s record deserves real scrutiny:
Dismissed from her cabinet position in March of this year, after roughly 14 months as Secretary, following sustained controversy over her department’s conduct
Sought to justify two deadly shootings of U.S. citizens by immigration agents, and faced accusations of needlessly slowing federal disaster responses
Oversaw a costly, self-promotional television ad campaign funded by taxpayers
Separately criticized for using agency funds to purchase two luxury jets
By her own account in her memoir, she killed the family dog by shooting it
Has repeatedly referred to Canada as the “51st state”, a comment many of us read as a direct dismissal of our sovereignty
This is the record NovaRed chose to bring onto its Advisory Board.
Middle 2 — Governance-focused Beyond Ms. Noem’s personal record, this appointment raises real governance concerns:
NovaRed’s board currently has only one independent director
No new board appointments have been made in several years
Rather than strengthening independent oversight, the company added a high-profile political figure with no mining background and a controversial public record
That is not the kind of decision-making Canadians should be expected to trust with the development of our resources.
Middle 3 — Short pattern + record. This is not an isolated decision:
Ms. Noem is the third high-profile American added to NovaRed’s advisory team in recent months
She was removed from her cabinet position earlier this year following serious controversy
She has a public history of dismissing Canadian sovereignty, including referring to Canada as the “51st state”
A Canadian company developing Canadian resources should not be building its strategy around figures like this.
[Choose ONE closing:]
Closing 1 — Firm demand I am asking NovaRed to reverse this appointment and recommit to an advisory board built on relevant industry expertise and accountable governance — not American political connections. I will be watching for your response.
Closing 2 — Consequence-oriented: Until this appointment is reversed, I will not support NovaRed and will encourage other Canadians to do the same. I expect a response explaining how the company intends to address this.
Closing 3 — Accountability/transparency, I would like to know what governance process led to this decision, and what NovaRed plans to do about it. I look forward to your written response, and I will be sharing it with other Canadians following this story.
Sincerely,
[Your Name] [Your City, Province]
Letter-writing campaigns are a lot more effective than e-mails, which are easily blocked, listed as ‘spam,’ or just trashed.
As an added step, we’ve started a petition on Change.org that's easy to sign online. Our current goal is 1,500 signatures. But even at lower levels, some meaningful things will happen:
Cross 100 signatures, and Change.org automatically notifies Brian Goss, NovaRed’s CEO, that real people are asking for this.
Comments build up as signatures do. That’s a public record, in people’s own words, that we can hand straight to a reporter.
If NovaRed responds publicly on the petition page, which they have the option to do once notified, every signer gets that response sent to their inbox.
