During the referendum, the communities will decide if they are in agreement or not with this mining development in Quimsacocha.  The indigenous communities involved include, Tarkis, Irkis, Kachiwaiku, Escaleras and others who are part of the parish of Tarqui and Victoria del Portete.  All of these people rely on this water for domestic use, irrigation, agriculture and livestock production, in other words for their food sovereignty.

This is the first referendum to be held in Ecuador regarding a mining project. Despite many attempts to have their voices heard, the government seems to be at the very best unresponsive.  A referendum is the last hope to voice their opinions.  The right to hold a referendum is supported by Ecuador’s Constitution, and the International Labour Organization Law 169.  These communities have the right to free and prior consent.

Different experiences of voting have proved to be an important, peaceful and crucial political tool in making mining corporations accountable and socially responsible.  The first voting case in Tambogrande, Peru, in 2002 whereby 90% of the people affected voted against a mega-mining project, grabbed international media attention, and led to the eventual closure of the mining project.  This case, stimulated further referendums in other communities in Latin America including; Esquel – Argentina, Sipacapa – Guatemala, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, and recently here in Canada.

The presence of international observers is partly why these referendums have had such a success.  Given that the referendum in Ecuador is taking place in 2 days, it may not be viable to send volunteer observers, however it is vital that we continue to support such communities at the most important stage in their struggle.  Everyone needs to be aware of this upcoming referendum, spread this information to all of your contacts, and help where you can.

Approximately 70 people gathered today at a commemoration held for the seven individuals killed in Tanzania at African Barrick Gold’s North Mara Mine. Public outcry over this violence has been amplified by recent reports that local security/police forces employed by the mine have attempted to ban a memorial ceremony for the deceased. To the horror of many local families, these security forces also stole 5 of the 7 peoples’ bodies from the mortuary.

The company has claimed that this violence was in response to an invasion of 1500 local people looting for gold ore. For others however, the real crime can be linked to the history of large-scale mining in the region. Editor of ProtestBarrick Sakura Saunders comments: “This mine was built on displacement and dispossession of the local people. These communities have a long history of small-scale mining for their livelihood that has been taken from them. Now, these same communities are being criminalized for using the survival-mechanisms that they know. They are being killed for ‘stealing’ the same gold-laced sand that used to be theirs.”

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case. According to Carlos Jimenez a member of the Mining Injustice Solidarity Network, local mining communities often feel negative impacts and experience economic losses. He also expresses other concerns as a U of T student. He states, “It is disgusting that the University of Toronto chooses to accept donations from an industry which destroys communities and legitimizes it under the rhetoric of development. We must evaluate what kind of influence mining companies have in communities both at home and abroad.”

U of T alumni soon-to-to be graduate student Kwanza Msingwana agreed. “Barrick Gold should be held accountable . . . rather than just take the goods of Tanzania and leave the people impoverished leaving the environment in a bad state so that people cannot continue to benefit from the environment.”

President of Science for Peace, Judy Deutsch also expressed concern for human rights violations as well as the toll that mining has on the environment as a whole. She states, “The focus needs to be on preserving cultivable land and preserving water, not sacrificing young people to enrich entrepreneurs such as what just happened at the North Mara mine.”

The names of the individuals killed in North Mara mine were read out loud: Emanual Magige, 27; Chacha Mwasi, 25; Chacha Ngoka, 26; Chawali Bhoke, 26; Mwikwabe Marwa, 35. Statements were also read from Tarime residents and advocates who work in the region.

Despite receiving formal invitations, no administrators of the Munk School of Global Affairs were available for comment.

Confront Barrick Gold at their AGM in Toronto! Poster 2011

Once a year, the board of Directors of the world’s most powerful gold miner converge in downtown Toronto. Join us and representatives from mining-impacted communities to… CONFRONT BARRICK GOLD!

WHEN: Wednesday 27 April 2011 @ 10.30AM
WHERE: Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 255 Front Street West, Toronto

JOIN THE RESISTANCE TO END CORPORATE IMPUNITY!
WHO IS BARRICK GOLD? Barrick Gold is the world’s largest gold mining company, founded and chaired by Peter Munk. With a former Prime Minister on their board and former executives sitting on the board of the Canadian Pension Plan, Barrick enjoys government funding and diplomatic support.

WHY PROTEST BARRICK? Barrick Gold takes advantage of inadequate and poorly enforced regulatory controls to rob Indigenous Peoples and communities of their land and livelihoods, destroying sensitive ecosystems, supporting brutal military and security operations, and suing anyone who dares to report on it. Impacted communities are coming to Toronto to confront Barrick, sharing their own undeniable perspectives and shedding light on the ongoing corporate impunity.

MAKE THE TRANSFORMATION AWAY FROM GOLD EXTRACTION!
WHY? With the majority of gold used for jewelry or to store wealth and the majority of gold extraction destruction on Indigenous lands around the world. It is time to question humans ongoing obsession with gold. HOW? Through reduction, recycling and reuse of gold there can be a halt on new and expanding gold mining explorations and operations around the world.

More info: http://protestbarrick.net/
M 647-838-8455 :: E protestbarrick@gmail.com

JOIN US on our social networks:

http://facebook.com/protestbarrick

http://twitter.com/stopbarrick

http://youtube/waysofseeing

SUPPORTED BY:
http://protestbarrick.net/ :: http://porgeraalliance.net/ :: http://savelakecowal.org/ ::http://munkoutofuoft.wordpress/ :: http://foei.org/ :: http://leat.or.tz/ :: http://foe.org.au/ ::http://macec4marinduque.multiply.com/ :: http://lrcksk.org/ :: http://solidarityresponse.net/ ::http://ejtoronto.wordpress.com/ :: http://cupe.on.ca/doc.php?subject_id=253

Recent corporate contracts made by the University of Toronto as exemplified by the Memorandum of Agreement between The Peter and Melanie Munk Charitable Foundation and the University of Toronto, reveal an ongoing trend towards increased corporate control of academic spaces.

Students, faculty and the wider community have expressed concern over the undue influence that corporations may be able to exert as a result of corporate ‘donations’ made behind closed doors, without faculty or campus consultation and with little oversight by necessary university regulatory bodies. Adding to concerns of threats to university governance, academic freedom and integrity are the poor reputation of many of these corporations globally.

Peter Munk’s Barrick Gold for instance, is accused of human rights abuses, environmental violations, and corrupt practices at many of their operations around the globe. In this context, attaching the name and conditions of the CEO of Barrick Gold to a school of Global Affairs, can be considered to be a glaring political conflict of interest. The same can be said for BP Amoco PLC (formerly British Petroleum)’s financial support to the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) at Berkely among many others.

You can sign the petition against the Corporatization of the University of Toronto here:

http://www.petitiononline.com/munkoff/

For more information visit:

http://munkoutofuoft.wordpress.com/

protestbarrick.net

Here’s an opportunity right now to make a difference.

Amnesty International is concerned about human rights violations committed directly or indirectly by some Canadian mining, oil and gas companies in developing countries.

To ensure that all Canadian companies respect human rights in developing countries, we need mandatory human rights standards and stronger regulations to hold transnational companies accountable.

This fall, the Canadian Government is considering adopting a bill on corporate accountability (Bill C-300).

Amnesty International supports Bill C-300. But to ensure that the bill passes into law, we need everyone who cares about human rights to express their support.

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD

Please send a message to the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development and express your support for Bill C-300

Fill out this form below to send an immediate message to all committee members:

2391 signatures have been added to the petition. Click here to view petition signatures.

Take action here

11:00 am-Car/bicycle caravan departs from south-west corner of Allen Gardens
Park (Carlton & Sherbourne Sts.).

11:30 am-Rally @ Bob Rae’s Constituency Office, 514 Parliament Street (Carlton
& Parliament Sts.).

Background
The Canadian House of Commons is debating Bill-C23, to implement the
CCFTA. The
Harper government, with crucial Liberal party support, is committed to
implementing the CCFTA and throwing right-wing Colombian president
Alvaro Uribe
a political lifeline, despite his corrupt, discredited regime and egregious
human rights record. Two Liberal MPs in particular, Bob Rae and Scott Brisson,
have shown themselves to be strong supporters of the CCFTA.

Come and tell our elected officials that we are opposed to the ratification of
the CCFTA. It has no effective, binding mechanisms to safeguard labour, human
rights and the environment. Like Mexico’s NAFTA, it will negatively impact
small and medium-sized producers who are among the most marginalized in
Colombia. It will mainly safeguard investors’ rights, especially Canadian
energy and mining corporations that are active in conflict-zones. CAFTA will
aggravate internal displacement, which at close to 4 million people,
is already
an alarming humanitarian crisis. At minimum, the Liberal party should honour
its earlier stated commitment to a full independent human rights impact
assessment before further consideration is given to a trade agreement with
Colombia.

Organized by: Colombia Action Solidarity Alliance (CASA), Toronto Chapter
Council of Canadians & Latin American Solidarity Network (LASN)/Endorsed by:
CUPE OntarioFor more Information: esguerra @vif.com 416.651.2409

Caravan  Route:
First Loop
Departure – Allan Gardens Park @ 11am
EAST – on Carlton Street
NORTH – on Parliament Street (5 min. stop at 514 Parliament Street)
EAST – on Wellesley Street
SOUTH – on Sumach Street
WEST – on Carlton Street

Second Loop
NORTH – on Parliament Street (5 min. stop at 514 Parliament Street)
WEST – on Wellesley Street
SOUTH – on Jarvis Street
EAST – on Carlton Street
End – Allan Gardens Park

__________________________________________________
For more information about CASA please contact
esguerra@vif.com

The Canadian government has consistently failed to create meaningful measures to regulate the activities of Canadian mining companies operating overseas. A private member’s bill, number C-300, represents the best chance for urgently needed regulation. It is currently being reviewed by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. Your letters in support of Bill C-300 are urgently needed to ensure that Canadian mining companies live up to international human rights and labour standards and environmental best practices when they operate overseas, and that government financial and political support are not provided to companies that abuse human rights and the environment.

Show your support for Bill C-300

Background:

Bill C-300 is a private member’s bill introduced by Liberal MP John McKay on February 9, 2009. Bill C-300 implements a number of key recommendations from the March 2007 Final Report of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Roundtables. The recommendations reflected the consensus of a multi-stakeholder advisory group that had representatives from industry and civil society groups including MiningWatch Canada.

If passed, Bill C-300 will:

• put in place human rights, labour, and environmental standards that Canadian extractive companies receiving government support must live up to when they operate in developing countries;
• create a complaints mechanism that will allow members of affected communities abroad, or Canadians, to file complaints against companies that are not living up to those standards;
• create a possible sanction for companies that are found to be out of compliance with the standards, in the form of loss of government financial and political support.

Write to the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development

It doesn’t matter where you live; the Committee needs to hear from people around the world as well as Canadian voters

Sample letter:

To: John McKay, MP. Liberal Party of Canada, MckayJ@parl.gc.ca
cc: Kevin Sorenson, Chair, Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, SorenK@parl.gc.ca
Angela Crandall, Clerk, Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, faae@parl.gc.ca

House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario  K1A 0A6
Canada

Date:

Dear Mr. McKay,

Re: Support for Bill C-300 on Corporate Accountability

I am writing to let you know that I strongly support Bill C-300, an Act respecting Corporate Accountability for the Activities of Mining, Oil and Gas Corporations in Developing Countries.

I am appalled by regular reports that Canadian mining, oil and gas companies are involved in human rights, labour, and environmental violations around the world and by the fact that these companies often receive financial and political support from the Canadian Government. The current government’s response to these concerns is its “Building the Canadian Advantage” strategy. This voluntary approach is completely inadequate.

Bill C-300 responds to the urgent need for a stronger regulatory framework to hold Canadian mining, oil and gas companies accountable, in Canada, for human rights, labour, and environmental violations overseas. Bill C-300 has garnered support across the country and internationally. It is supported by the Canadian Network for Corporate Accountability (CNCA), an organization which includes Amnesty International Canada, the United Church of Canada, the Canadian Council for International Co-operation, Friends of the Earth, the Steelworkers Humanity Fund, the Canadian Labour Congress, KAIROS – Ecumenical Justice Initiatives, MiningWatch Canada and many other organizations. Bill C-300 has my support as well.

I urge Members of Parliament and the members of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development to support Bill C-300, recognizing that Bill C-300 reflects and responds to the recommendations that were made to the Government of Canada by the earlier Standing Committee of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 2005.

Yours truly,

(your name and address)

Agriculture is Sustainable, So NO to Mining!

For nearly two decades, the Indigenous community of Didipio in the Philippines has been fighting to stop a gold and copper mine that threatens their environment, farmlands, and families. The mining company and government have responded with violence and intimidation and ignored the people’s rights. But now there is real chance to stop this mine once and for all. In August, the United Nations’ Committee for the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) found the Philippines out of compliance with its own laws and with international conventions on Indigenous Peoples’ rights. Now, during the one year before it reports back to CERD, the government must show that it is enforcing Indigenous rights laws.

This is a moment when international pressure counts. Your letter can help the Indigenous Peoples of Didipio stop the violation of their rights and the destruction of their sustainable economy. Please join us. Stand with the Didipio people by sending a letter to the President of the Philippines today.

Learn about the Didipio community’s struggle to save their homes and their valley from destructive mining.

Youth Action: Help the Didipio Protect their Lands, Homes, and Rivers.

This Cultural Survival/Global Response action alert is issued at the request of and with information provided by the Didipio Earth Savers Multi-Purpose Association (DESAMA), Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center-Kasama sa Kalikasan/Friends of the Earth-Philippines, and Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links.

For more information about Indigenous Peoples and mining in the Philippines, see www.piplinks.org andhttp://www.oxfam.org.au/resources/filestore/originals/OAus-MiningOmbudsmanDidipioPhilippines-0907.pdf

For the CERD report, see:http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/co/CERD.C.PHL.CO.20.doc

For information about the impacts of gold mining, seewww.nodirtygold.org/dirty_golds_impacts.cfm

Special thanks to Oxfam Australia and LRC-KsK/FoE Phils for use of their photos and to Julien Katchinoff for creating the map.

For more info please email: business@aito.ca

Clean Up Shell

Anti-uranium rally at Queen’s Park, south lawn, organized by Cottagers against Uranium Mining and Exploration. The message is clear: Stop the uranium mining industry from staking further claims, and protect all Ontarians by giving them what residents of British Columbia already enjoy—a ban on uranium mining and exploration.

Radioactive fallout and washout from uranium mining sites is carried for up to 400 kms, resulting in a significant increase of cancer fatalities in a wide area.
Kueppers 1994

“Wherever uranium is mined, it contaminates the land, air and water. Yet the province of Ontario is allowing multi-national companies to strip our local cottage-country forests and drill near our source waters in search of uranium. Most of which, is destined for export. And what they’re planning here are open-pit mines,” says Susanne Lauten, founder of Cottagers against Uranium Mining and Exploration. “British Columbia has a ban on uranium mining, Nova Scotia and Labrador have a moratorium, New Brunswick has strict regulations, but Ontario’s a free-for-all.”

Just 2 hours northeast of Toronto, south of Algonquin Park, an American mining company has bulldozed 20 hectares of mature forest, scraping the earth to bedrock. Followed by 40 test drills each 100 metres deep. All without environmental assessment. This took place in the Trent Severn watershed, source water to tens of thousands of residents.

Uranium has not been mined in Ontario since 1996, when the mines at Elliot Lake were closed, and the rich reserves in Northern Saskatchewan—the largest in the world—became Canada’s primary source. And now, just ten years later, the Ontario government is opening the door to uranium mining again. But this time, it’s open-pit mining, and it’s right on Toronto’s doorstep.

Speakers include:

Bruce Cox, Executive Director, Greenpeace Canada

Robert Lovelace, Retired Chief of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation, and Queen’s University professor, imprisoned for 101 days for resisting uranium prospectors on aboriginal land

Terry Rees, Executive Director, Federation of Ontario Cottagers’ Associations, FOCA

Lorraine Rekmans, Author, and witness to World Uranium Congress, Salzburg

Email: cottagers.vs.mining@sympatico.ca

*There will be road closures downtown that day due to Toronto Waterfront Marathon, and the Word on the Street.