TIME: 7 PM

LOCATION: TBD

Mining Injustice Solidarity Network cordially invites you to attend a meeting for new members. The meeting seeks to introduce members of the public to the work conducted by MISN and its members and to allow those interested in the group and the work that it does to join its membership.

Mining Injustice Solidarity Network (MISN), previously known as Community Solidarity Response Toronto (CSRT) works to bring the voices and experiences of communities impacted by Canadian extractive industries to Toronto, where much of this industry is based. As Canada is a leader within the international mining industry, we recognize the pressing need for a movement within Canada to demand accountability in this sector.

We also recognize that any activism related to these industries must take its direction from the impacted communities themselves. As such, MISN works in alliance with affected communities and aims to be responsive to their calls for support.

To RSVP, please visit our facebook page

Location: Sidney Smith Hall, University of Toronto, 100 St. George Street

FOR COMPLETE CONFERENCE SCHEDULE PLEASE VISIT: http://www.solidarityresponse.net/mining-injustice-conference/conference-agenda-2011/

***bring your own cup and a blank t-shirt if you can!***
…
This conference reflects the collective effort of several organizations and grass roots groups in Toronto, in collaboration with peoples, communities and organizations facing and resisting the entrance of corporate mining mega-projects into their territories.

****************************************************
Friday May 6th, 7 pm: Conference ‘soft-launch’ – meet and greet with affected community members and activists at Beit Zatoun (612 Markham Street)
RSVP here so we know how much food to bring!: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=180292898686837

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Saturday May 7th, 1:15 pm: keynote speaker Winona LaDuke and concurrent sessions as well as workshops and caucuses! (Sidney Smith Hall)

Official conference launch, 8 pm – 2 am: dance party (193 Dowling Street @ Queen Street West)

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Sunday May 8th, 10 am: concurrent sessions as well as workshops and caucuses (cont.!) (Sidney Smith Hall)

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Particular themes that will be discussed this year include:
• Gendered violence, inequity and feminist perspectives
• Militarization and forced displacement
• Indigenous knowledge and spirituality as forms of resistance
• Labour rights and the rhetoric of development
• Criminalization of dissent and protest
• Environmental contamination effects and health
• Food security and water rights
• The cycle of supply and demand of uranium in the North
• Tar sands and the petroleum industry in the North and South

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Stay tuned for a list of speakers or visit our website at www.solidarityresponse.net

Endorsed by: AccentsBookstore, Barrio Nuevo, Bayan Canada, Canadians Against Mining in El Salvador, Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean, Common Frontiers, CUPE 4400, CUPE 3903, Environmental Justice Toronto, First Continental Encounter of the Peoples of the Abya Yala-Ecuador, First Nations Solidarity Working Group, Guatemala Community Network – Toronto Kitchener-Waterloo Mayan Project – Tzijolaj-Ottawa, Health for All, Indigenous Environmental Network, Latin American and Caribbean Solidarity Network, Latin American Trade Union Coalition, Migrante, MiningWatch Canada, Munk OUT of UofT, NooneisIllegal, Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, Opirg Toronto, Osgoode Environmental Law Society, Philippines Solidarity Network of Canada, ProtestBarrick, Rights Action, Science for Peace, Students for a Free Tibet, Toronto Bolivia Solidarity, Todos por Guatemala, Workers Assembly.

If you would like to endorse this event please email Mining Injustice Solidarity Network at miconference2011@gmail.com

Winona will present at 1:15 pm at Sidney Smith Hall Saturday May 7th. Check out our conference page for more information as we confirm more exciting speakers!

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

The Role of Unions & Pensions in the Struggle for Mining Justice
Friday April 15 & Saturday April 16
63 Gould St. Toronto
Located: at the corner of Church and Gould streets, just one block north of Dundas and two blocks east of Yonge street.
This event is free and open to the community.

The Canadian Mining and resource extraction industry is a dominant player nationally and internationally. The negative impacts of resource exploration and extraction have had negative consequences on the environment and human rights violations here in Ontario and around the world.

The Canadian government is an important player in the mining industry, actively supporting companies’ overseas operations through the provision of both financial and political backing.

Workshops and panels will examine the social & environmental damage caused by Canadian mining corporations. Participants will discuss and explore strategies for accountability & justice.

Join us to show our support for healthy & just mining practices. For more information and to register send an e-mail to iburbano@cupe.on.ca

This conference reflects the collective effort of several organizations and grass roots groups in Toronto, in collaboration with peoples, communities and organizations facing and resisting the entrance of corporate mining mega-projects into their territories.

****************************************************
Friday May 6th: Conference ‘soft-launch’ – meet and greet with affected community members and activists at Beit Zatoun (612 Markham Street)

****************************************************
Saturday May 7th: keynote speaker and concurrent sessions as well as workshops and caucuses! (Sidney Smith Hall)

Official conference launch: dance party (193 Dowling Street @ Queen Street West)

********************************************************
Sunday May 8th: keynote speaker and concurrent sessions as well as workshops and caucuses (cont.!) (Sidney Smith Hall)

********************************************************
Particular themes that will be discussed this year include:
• Gendered violence, inequity and feminist perspectives
• Militarization and forced displacement
• Indigenous knowledge and spirituality as forms of resistance
• Labour rights and the rhetoric of development
• Criminalization of dissent and protest
• Environmental contamination effects and health
• Food security and water rights
• The cycle of supply and demand of uranium in the North
• Tar sands and the petroleum industry in the North and South

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Stay tuned for a list of speakers!

Endorsed by: Barrio Nuevo, CUPE, Environmental Justice Toronto, Guatemala Community Network – Toronto, Kitchener-Waterloo Mayan Project, Tzijolaj-Ottawa,Health for All, Indigenous Environmental Network, OPIRG Toronto, Philippines Solidarity Network of Canada, Latin American and Carribean Solidarity Network, Latin American Trade Union Coalition, NooneisIllegal, Students for a Free Tibet

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

We stand in solidarity with mining affected communities and work with them to resist the destructive acts of Canadian mining companies that threaten:

*indigenous sovereignty
*community rights
*labour rights
*the environment
*our water
*health and wellness
*food security
*survival

and exacerbate:

*gendered violence and inequity
*militarization and forced displacement
*criminalization of community leaders
*the corporatization of education
*mass poverty

From North to South, East to West – from university campuses to the rural highlands of mining affected regions – we believe that resistance is possible. We take direction from local community leaders who experience the impact of mining companies first-hand. We work to join our struggles together and form a network of mining impacted people (directly affectected and otherwise)

Join us! We put on the annual Mining (In)Justice Conference in Toronto where we bring affected community members from around the world to tell their stories, and organize. We also do protests, petions, independent media, vigils, art projects, photography, and documentaries. We are made up of community members and also have a chapter at the University of Toronto that you can get involved with, specifically focused on taking on corporatization and the support of the university for these mining abuses.

Find us online: solidarityresponse.net
Email us: csrt@gmail.com
RSVP on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=599797469&ref=ts#!/event.php?eid=125070904229050

Climate Justice Activists shut down intersection by the Toronto Stock Exchange (photo: Alex Felipe)

by Tim Groves

Over 150 climate justice activists blocked traffic at the intersection of Bay St. and King St., at the heart of Toronto’s Financial District. They were responding to a call put out by La Via Campesina for an international day of actions to protest ”the False Solutions promoted through the Copenhagen Accord” and in solidarity with those protesting outside climate talks taking place in Cancun, Mexico.

Protests took place in a dozen cities in Canada.  In Toronto a large crowd gathered at Nathan Phillip Square, despite the freezing cold weather. After a series of speeches the crowd marched down Bay St. accompanied by a samba band and a large dragon puppet.

As the sky darkened they reached the corner of Bay and King, the hub of Toronto’s financial district. Suddenly two giant bamboo tripods were taken out of the Dragon puppet, and erected in the middle of the intersection. Two demonstrators quickly mounted each tripod and a banner was strung between them reading ”Tar Sands Kill, Pipelines Spill”.  The crowd gathered around the tripods, blocking any traffic from getting by. Chanting and dancing continued around the tripods.

Later, the tripods were taken down and the march continued.

“In light of the ongoing talks in Cancun and the Canadian government’s incompetence and inaction we came together today to stand in solidarity with First Nation and respond to the call for actions” said Taylor Flook, one of the activists who perched atop a tripod.

Explaining some of the reasons to protest the talks in Cancun, Alberto Gómez Flores, representative of La Via Campesina, said: “It’s a disgrace that the United Nations space intended to tackle climate change has been converted into a platform to legitimize the commercial strategies of transnational corporations.”

Jasmine Thomas of the Carrier Nation, located 13 hours north of Vancouver, traveled to Cancun. She expressed the issues that were important to her nation, ”The Carrier Nation is opposed to Enbridge pipeline corporations bid to build the Northern Gateway pipeline which would move dirty Alberta Tar Sands to the port of Kitimatt, British Colombia.”

Community Solidarity Response Toronto, as one of the group who participated the demonstration put out the following statement:

“Community organizers unite to demand climate and social justice in solidarity with La Via Campesina

Close to 100 Migrant rights, union, anti-poverty, gender equity and climate activists gathered at Nathan Phillips Square in the Toronto financial district, to express solidarity with the La Via Campesina’s International Day of a 1000 Cancun’s and with the many grassroots organizations mobiizing in Cancun.

La Via Campesina, a north/south farmer’s coalition for food sovereignty, sustainability, gender equity, and social justice, is campaigning against false solutions such as REDD [Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation]. Alberto Gómez Flores, representative of La Via Campesina for the North America region, said: “It’s a disgrace that the United Nations space intended to tackle climate change has been converted into a platform to legitimize the commercial strategies of transnational corporations.” Local organizers emphasized that racialized/indigenous people, women and the poor are disproportionately affected by the extractive industry, which often displaces whole communities, leads to increases in sexual violence and gender inequity and sabotages local economic activities such as subsistence farming.

A dozen cities across Canada have responded to the Via Campesina’s call for climate justice. These groups point to Canada’s lax regulation and exploitative policy that further endanger the environment as well as the safety and livelihood of the earth’s people. The Latin American and Carribean Solidarity Network condemned Canada’s failure to pass Bill C-300, a bill that would regulate mining companies’ activities abroad by withholding government investments and the undemocratic defeat of Bill C-311, meant to address climate change. Other issues raised at the rally concerned Canada’s continued negligence of local food security for poor people, the harmful consequences of the Tar Sands project, the privatization of water, and the need for supportive migration policy to respond to the environmental refugee crisis created by Canadian foreign policy. Canada’s climate negotiations in Cancun, which has been described as an “excuse for inaction” by environmental think tank groups is not likely to change Canada’s reputation. It has been reported that Canada, a long with only Russia and Japan will fight to vote down an extension of the Kyoto Protocol. Canada has yet to meet their previous commitments made with the Kyoto Protocol to decrease emissions and instead, their levels have increased by 24% since 1990.”

Originally published on the Toronto Media Coop. Photo byAlex Felipe

PALAWAN CHILDE FROM A VULNERABLE AND ISOLATED UPLAND COMMUNITIES FOUND IN MACROASIA MPSA AREA.

On July 30, over 20 members of the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) – a local government body in charge of the protection and sustainable management of the Province meet to decide whether to issue a SEP (Strategic Environmental Plan) clearance to the mining operations of MacroAsia Corporation (MAC for brevity) with reference to a 91ha area, out of the approved Mineral Production Sharing Agreement area of over 1300 hectares.  The area for which SEP clearance is being sought consists of well-conserved forest which provides clean water to lowland communities and which is also part of the traditional territory of Palawan tribes living in Brooke’s Point Municipality. During the last PCSD meeting, thanks to the support of Atty Grizelda Mayo-Anda (representing the NGOs community within the Council) and through the effective mediation of Governor Abraham Kahlil Mitra, the ALDAW network (Ancestral Land Domain Watch) was allowed to present ‘geotagged’ findings collected in two separate field surveys carried out in collaboration with the Centre for Biocultural Diversity (CBCD) of the University of Kent (UK). In a photographic context, geotagging is the process of associating photos with specific geographic locations using GPS coordinates. GPS coordinates were obtained through the use of a professional device connected to the camera’s hot shoe during the entire mission’s reconnaissance in the hinterlands of Ipilan and Maasin (Brooke’s Point Municipality). The obtained GPS coordinates were later overlaid on PCSD maps to show the overlapping between core zones and MAC mining activities.  Overall the findings indicates that: 1) over 95% of test pits and drilling holes in MAC MPSA area are located in “core zones” and biodiversity rich forest, 2) Isolated Indigenous communities are living in the MPSA area of MAC (these have never been consulted about MAC operations); 3) The 91ha for which SEP clearance is being sought by MAC (out of a total MPSA area of more than 1,300 ha) overlap partially with “core zones” and entirely with well-conserved and residual forest. Even more surprisingly, the mission found no evidence of test pits and drilling holes in the recommended 91ha area. “This area includes sacred places where our Palawan indigenous communities carry out their own rituals. Moreover, portions of the Ipilan river and other tributaries which provide potable and irrigation waters to the lowland farmers are also found inside the area” explained ALDAW Chairman Artiso Mandawa.

PAST POST:

PALAWAN ‘UNESCO MAN AND BIOSPHERE RESERVE’ SOLD OUT TO MINING COMPANIES: LAST GOVERNMENT DECISION ON 30 JULY

On the 7^th of June (see previous IC release) 600 protesters from farmers and indigenous communities had reached the capital city of Puerto Princesa on Palawan Island requesting the Provincial Government not to endorse the proposed mining plans of MacroAsia and Ipilan Nickel Corporation (INC). As a result of the negotiations taking place between the protesters’ delegation and policy makers in Puerto Princesa, the Provincial Government agreed that endorsement of both MacroAsia and INC should have required further investigation.  However, that promised was not honoured and, after a few days, the Provincial Government gave his endorsement to MAC and INC to operate in one of the best conserved biocultural paradises found in the Philippines, and in South-East Asia as a whole. The area given out to mining concession is also inhabited by traditional indigenous Palawan having limited contacts with the outside. Moreover, the Gantong range and neighboring areas where MAC and INC intend to operate are within the area recently declared as Mount Mantalingahan Protected Landscape, pursuant to Presidential Proclamation no. 1815.

Both the MPSA areas of MacroAsia and INC are located in ecologically valuable areas which include watersheds, hunting/agricultural grounds, extractive reserves of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) such as Almaciga (Agathis philippinensis) resin, on which upland indigenous communities depend for their daily subsistence. Also indigenous peoples’ sacred and worship sites are found within the mining tenements of these companies.

Representatives of ELAC (Environmental Legal Assistance Center) are now filing cases against government officials and their respective agencies for having endorsed MAC and INC without securing first the needed social acceptability requirements and in disregard of the Strategic Environmental Plan (Republic Act 7611).  Say ELAC Atty. Edward G. Lorenzo: “the sustainable management of the entire Province is, in fact, governed by the SEP law which prohibits any human activity in those areas that are classified as ‘core zones’ and that – very unfortunately – are now part of MAC and INC mining tenements”. A indigenous member of the indigenous community of Gieb (Barangay Maasin, Brooke’s Point Municipality) also claims: “they(mining personnel of MAC) just entered our land without asking permission, and they removed our rice plants to excavate big ditches in our agricultural fields and also up into the mountains, only few meters away from the Balgtik (Agathis Philippinensis) trees that we sell and from which we depend for our survival”. According to another member of the same community: “MacroAsia peoples have removed soil and trees also in those sacred forest that we call lylien and that are inhabited by powerful super-human beings (Taw Kawasa)”.

Very recent field investigation carried out by the ALDAW (Ancestral/Land Domain Watch) in collaboration with the Centre for Biocultural Diversity (CBCD) of the University of Kent has confirmed that MacroAsia test pits and drilling holes are found in ‘core zones’ (areas of maximum protection) around and even above 1,000 m ASL. Undoubtedly, both MAC and INC have bluntly violated the basic tenets of the Strategic Environmental Plan (SEC) and also of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA Law), a national law protecting the interests of Indigenous Cultural Communities (ICC). Faced by this and similar accusations, the Provincial Government has recently made a statement according to which MacroAsia and INC may not be allowed to operate in core zones, but their activities might be limited only to multiple/manipulative use areas. Again, ocular inspection and GPS data obtained by ALDAW and CBCD indicate the those portions of MacroAsia and INC mining concessions, which are outside the core zones, still include forested buffer zones which, obviously, do not fit by any means into the standard definition of ‘multiple/manipulative use zones’, where – according to the law – mining might be allowed. In fact, the mining claims of both MAC and INC are entirely located in ‘core zones’, ‘restricted zones’, agricultural and agroforestry areas that are subject to various cropping regimes. All these categories, according to the SEP law, should not be subject to any other form of large-scale extractive activity.

Also, lowland farmers are extremely concerned about the siltation of their wet-rice cultivation, as all irrigation water coming into their fields originates from the mountains where mining is supposed to take place. Members of academic institutions have suggested that: unless these precious water catchments are protected from mining operations, at least 50% of Brooke’s point sustainable agriculture, which requires irrigation, might be lost.

Says a spokesman of Alyansa Tigil Mina (the largest anti-mining advocacy group in the country) “Ironically enough the mining companies and the politicians who are endorsing them have also infringed the Philippine Mining Act which prohibits mining in old growth or virgin forest, proclaimed watershed forest reserves, wilderness area, and other areas of outstanding environmental value”. According to Atty. Mary Jean Feliciano of the ALDAW Network “in endorsing the mining exploration of both MAC and INC, the Sangguniang Bayan (Local Government of Brooke’s Point) has acted in contradiction with its own Municipal Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) for 2000-2010, in which mining was never considered as a development strategy and, in doing so, it has also bypassed the interests of local communities, as well as all forms of public consultations”.

Undoubtedly, the endorsement by both Local and Provincial governments of the proposed operations of MAC and INC contravenes also those provisions contained in well know conventions [e.g. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that the Philippine Government has already signed. Says a member of the Palawan advocacy community: “When the Government itself infringes its own laws so bluntly, it means that the fundamentals of democracy are breaking apart and a new form of state-led terrorism is coming into being to deprive hundreds of farmers and indigenous peoples of their traditional, and thus legitimate sources of life, just to benefit a handful of greedy and irresponsible businessmen and their cronies”.

On July 30, the members of the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) – a local government body in charge of the protection and sustainable management of the province – will meet to decide whether to issue a SEP clearance to the operations of MacroAsia and Ipilan Nickel Corporations. The future of one of the most pristine forests in the Philippines and the life of thousands of peoples who depend from it, is now in the hands of the Council.

Indigenous peoples and their networks, farmers, fisher folks, the Palawan NGO Network Inc (PNNI) and its associates, are uniting their effort to convince the PCSD to take a responsible decision which will ensure the sustainable future of Brook’s Point Municipality and of its biocultural diversity.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Sign a Petition to Stop Mining in Palawan!
http://petitiononline.com/PA2010/petition.html

And address your concerns to:

*PALAWAN COUNCIL FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (PCSD)

oed@pcsd.ph. AND c/o Mearl Hilario mearlhilario@yahoo.com

FAX: 0063 (048) 434-4234

*Honorable Governor of Palawan

Baham Mitra

abmitra2001@yahoo.com FAX: 0063 (048) 433-2948

For more information watch ALDAW videos
http://www.vimeo.com/aldawnetwork http://www.youtube.com/user/ALDAWpalawan

http://hub.witness.org/en/users/aldaw-network
or contact the ALDAW Network (Ancestral Land/Domain Watch) aldawnetwork@gmail.com and Alyansa Tigil Mina (nc@alyansatigilmina.net/alyansatigilmina@gmail.com)