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 messageto 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:
Sergio Campusano is the elected President of the Diaguita Huascoaltinos
by Megan Kinch
Barrick Gold is trying to create ersatz Indians at their Pascua-Lama mine in Chile, in the name of corporate social responsibility. Ironically, this is being done in an attempt to undermine the actually existing Indigenous leadership. That photo Sergio is holding? Those are community members, but that’s not traditional dress. In fact, those outfits are completely made up, according to Sergio Campusano, president of the Diaguita Huascoaltinos . It was created as an idea of what “Indians” should wear. An examination of the photo, taken from Barrick’s “Corporate Social Responsibility” literate, bears this out: if you look closely, they do look ridiculously clean and unworn.
Sergio said during his statement in the Barrick shareholder meeting : “The mining company Barrick Gold has for several years conducted a process of reinvention of ethnic Diaguita which is intended to make the public believe that they have the support of the Diaguita Huascoaltinos. In this process the company has brought outside professionals to conduct training on the Diaguita’s own ancestral traditions and has manipulated these teachings for their own convenience, inventing a nonexistent Diaguita culture and denying the ethnicity of our community. They have raised false leaders, who are now attending meetings with the company and appearing in Barrick’s newsletters, and have discredited our real leaders, creating irreconcilable divisions among our people and weakening our neighbors and community’s identity.”
After the shareholder meeting, Sergio told a group of us that the company has also hired outsdiers to teacher “traditional” dances and to make pottery. This pottery is not anything that the Diaguita’s actually make, or have ever made. Barrick claims that it is sponsoring workshops in “local crafts” (Barrick, Beyond Borders-December2007, 9).
This whole process seeks to discredit their actual elected leaders, who are against things like melting glaciers which feed rivers to get at minerals. Apparently, the people in the outfits are actual members of the community, but the clothes are made up, as they are not the actual leaders: classic divide-and-conquer tactics.
I think this speaks to the immense desire for photos of smiling, indigenous people in traditional dress in corporate literature. Whereas actual indigenous people, because they are wearing normal clothes and aren’t fitting in the with the caricature, are de-legitimized. So when there is no traditional dress, the mining company simply invents it, just as they invent dancing and pottery.
This reminds me of how, when I was working in Guatemala I was supposed to create a powerpoint to illustrate ILO 169 (The UN declaration on Indigenous Peoples). And while some of my slides did have colorfully dressed people, some of them had guys in t-shirts and baseball caps. And my boss was all pissed off with me because not every slide showed colourful outfits. Even though, in Guatemala as in many other countries, that’s what the vast majority of indigenous men wear. Indigenous people throughout the world often wear T-shirts and jeans, or western suits, or dresses.
Albadina Carmona (left) and Sergio Campusano (right) of the Diaguita Huascoaltinos, and Daniela Guzman (center), who lives and works with the Diaguita Huascoaltinos – all wearing jeans!
Anyway, so while Barrick’s tactic of creating a ‘traditional’ dress and dance and pottery for people is particularly awful, it’s part of a larger essentializing tradition. People want colourful pictures of ‘Indians’ doing traditional dances, not actual people who cause disruptions the smooth functioning of corporate power.
Megan Kinch is a graduate student in Social Anthropology at York University who studies Canadian mining companies in Latin America.
Saturday, October 10th
Join us for a caravan and rally at Liberal MP Bob Rae?s Toronto Centre office
to protest the Harper-Liberal party alliance to ratify a Free Trade Agreement
with Colombia.
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.
Break the Silence Congo Week, which will take place from October 18-24, 2009, is a global initiative led by students and community organizers around the world, in association with Congo Global Action and Friends of the Congo, to raise awareness about the humanitarian crisis in the Congo. Students from the US, Canada, England, Belgium, Germany, France, Brazil, Jamaica, Norway, Korea, Ghana, Mali, South Africa, Columbia, etc. will organize events about the Congo (films, lectures, demonstrations, and more) on their respective campuses.
The purpose of the Break the Silence Congo Week is to raise awareness about the devastating situation in the Congo and mobilize support on behalf of the people of the Congo. It will take place from Sunday October 19th to Saturday October 25th.
The University of Toronto chapter of Friends of the Congo is proud to present a number of excellent speakers and films. See below for the full schedule.
The Congo is the greatest humanitarian crisis in the world today where nearly 6 million people have died since 1996, half of them children under 5 yrs old and hundreds of thousands of women have been raped all as a result of the scramble for Congo’s wealth. The United Nations said it is the deadliest conflict in the world since World War Two. However, hardly anything is said about it in the media. Can you imagine 45,000 people dying each month and hardly a peep from anyone in the age of the Internet? This is literally what has happened and continue to happen in the Congo. There is a media blackout about Congo and no worldwide resolution to end the conflict and carnage there.
Visit the Friends of the Congo – University of Toronto Chapter for a full schedule of events
WHEN THE Marinduque Council for Environmental Concerns (MACEC) received notice in 2007 that the case filed by the province of Marinduque against Placer Dome Inc. and Barrick Gold in the U.S. state of Nevada had been dismissed, MACEC executive secretary Miguel Magalang almost did not want to release the news.
“Baka bumagsak ang morale ng buonganti-mining movement (The whole anti-mining movement might lose its morale),” he explains.
Since 1996, two criminal cases have been filed against officials of Marcopper Mining Corporation and its Canadian investor Placer Dome, Inc. Both corporations have also been slapped with two civil cases. All of these cases were filed in the Philippines.
In 2005, however, the Marinduque provincial government decided to change tactics and pursued its claims against Placer Dome in a U.S. court, with 13 causes of action including violations of several Philippine laws, breaches of contract, and promissory estoppel (which assumes that one party wrongly or falsely made a promise to another party that caused the latter an economic loss).
The case against Canadian company Placer Dome was filed in the United States based on the “long arms statute,” which gives a local state court jurisdiction over an out-of-state company. Placer Dome has had extensive presence in Nevada since 1959; this means it has enjoyed the privileges and benefits of the state’s laws, and therefore fall’s under the state’s jurisdiction.
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MOGPOG resident Milagros Muhi recalls how her family got a measly P1,000 as compensation for the damage caused by the flood when the Maguila-Guila siltation dam burst in 1993. (photo by Karol Ilagan)
“Kumbaga, puwede kitang habulin (I can run after you, in other words),” says Eleuterio Raza Jr., majority leader of Marinduque’s Sangguniang Panlalawigan. “Even if you had operations in the Philippines and violated Philippine law, but if you operate…in Nevada, you have a presence (there). And what you did in another country, you can be tried for that (there).”
In January 2006, Barrick Gold Corporation, another Canadian mining giant, acquired 91 percent of Placer Dome’s shares. Six months later, Nevada District Court presiding judge Brian Sandoval granted the motion of the province of Marinduque that Barrick Gold be joined as a defendant in the civil case filed originally against Placer Dome.
A year later, Sandoval dismissed the case, not because it lacked merit, but because the court did not consider itself the right forum to resolve a dispute between a Philippine government unit and a Canadian multinational company. The Marinduque provincial government was given the options to file the case either in the Philippines or in Canada, but the Sangguniang Panlalawigan had reservations regarding these.
For one, reasons Raza, Barrick Gold might be given “home court advantage” if it is sued in its home country. For another, says the Marinduque provincial board member, cases filed in the Philippines have been barely inching forward.
“The judicial process in our country is discouraging,” he says. “Previous cases had not been moving in the last 10 years so we thought of adding pressure to Placer Dome.”
“We foresee that we can never get justice in our country,“ adds Allan Nepomuceno, another provincial board member. “Nawalan na kami ng kumpiyansa sa justice system natin (We’ve lost confidence in our justice system).”
Diamond McCarthy, the U.S. law firm that took on Marinduque’s case on contingency, has already filed an appeal in the Nevada appellate court. The amount of damage claim is not determined. Marinduque’s provincial board members say the damage their province suffers is unquantifiable, but that they would let the court to decide a just amount.
“This is a tough battle, but we’re not losing our hope,” says Raza. “(If) worse comes to worst, we (will) file the case in Canada.”
In fairness, Marcopper did set up an Environmental Guarantee Fund (EGF) Committee to oversee the fund’s dispensation, most of which was allotted as damage compensation. So far, the EGF has paid 5,318 claimants from Boac a total of P38,452,929.61. The EGF Assessment Team has also processed 1999-2001 damage claims totalling P37.5 million for Boac and Mogpog residents.
But there are still 5,242 claimants from both towns who have yet to receive from the EGF compensation that amounts to almost P64 million in total.
Mogpog resident Milagros Muhi also remembers receiving P1,000 after the 1993 flood in her town, and says that other families received the same amount. Still, she quips, “Ay, sapat na ba ‘yon (What, is that enough)?”
A class suit filed by Mogpog residents in 2001 against Marcopper is seeking more than P41 million in damages. The municipal governments of Boac and Sta. Cruz, meanwhile, want about P1.2 billion and P500 million respectively from Marcopper and Placer Dome officials.
The Calancan Bay Fisherfolk Federation (CBFF) also filed a P49.2-billion class suit against Marcopper in 2001. Of the CBFF’s 170 members at the time, five are now dead.
“Marami pa rin doon ang hindi malusog ang katawan, may sakit sa balat pero hindi naman kami makapagpasuri sa duktor dahil walang perang magamit (Many have become undernourished, with skin diseases, but we don’t have the money to see the doctor),” says CBFF head Paciano Rodelas. Yet, he says, he is willing to wait for justice to be served.
Lawyer Ronaldo Gutierrez, who is representing the CBFF in the case, says he’s in it for the long haul, too. “We anticipate this,” he says. “Law takes a while. Assuming that there is a fair judicial system, we could get our day in court.”
“Who am I to be impatient?” Gutierrez also asks. “All these people I’m representing have been waiting much longer.”
Guatemalan Re-Sisters in San Miguel Ixtahuacan testify about the impact of mining on their crops, water sources and health. They also talk about the company’s broken promises.
Gregoria Crisanta Perez explains why she fears the mining company will take away the land of her community in San Miguel, Ixtahuacan, Guatemala.
Francisca Angelica Aguilar Cinto talks about the impacts of mining activities of the Canadian company Goldcorp Inc. on her water sources, her animals and her house and what she did to protest.
Crisanta Hernandez talks about the way her community has been seeking redress for the damage to their houses caused by the mine, and how the company responded.
Clementa Marcelino Cinto talks about the involvement of mine workers from the Canadian mining company Goldcorp Inc. in the death of her father and the insecurity in her community.
Margarita Bamaca talks about how the contamination of water sources caused by mining activities of the Canadian mining company Goldcorp Inc. is affecting her crops and cattle and people’s health.
Brendys Bamaca talks about the effects of mining on the environment and on people, and what she has done to protest.
Julia Bamaca talks about how the contamination of water sources caused by the mine is affecting her food crops and cattle and peoples health and how she has tried to seek redress.
Friends of the Earth International’s community testimonies let people speak for themselves. Visit www.foei.org to hear more testimonies and to find out how you can get involved!
This testimony was filmed by CEIBA, FOE Guatemala.
September 3, 2009, OTTAWA – The tar sands are creating severe environmental, economic and social problems in the Ontario – Michigan Great Lakes Region according to a new Polaris Institute report.
The report, “Toxic Trail Exposure,” is the result of an Ontario youth delegation that traveled together to Sarnia, Detroit and Windsor to uncover and expose the connections between the Great Lakes Region and tar sands developments.
Some of the key findings include:
Residents of Sarnia, Windsor and Detroit are located near five major tar sands oil refineries, are reporting disproportionately high rates of respiratory illness, cancers, skin disorders, and kidney problems.
Across the Great Lakes Region – in both Canada and the United States – youth are concerned about the impacts of ongoing tar sands developments and actively working to expose the dangers.
“Our findings clearly show that the tar sands are not just concerning for communities in Alberta, but a troubling national issue,” explains Tanya Roberts-Davis, report author and Polaris Institute Campaigner. “Here in Ontario, refineries that process tar sands oil are contaminating our watersheds with toxic chemicals, increasing air pollution levels, and polarizing our communities.”
Together the youth delegation and Polaris Institute are calling for a moratorium on all tar sands developments – from the pits in Alberta to the pipes and smokestacks in the Great Lakes Region.
Sergio Campusano, leader of the Diaguita Descent Community Los Huasco Altinos in Chile.
Since he assumed the role of president, Sergio has been fighting against the greed of the mining corporations and the local agriculture companies in order to maintain the rights of his People. He has participated pressing charges in countless times even against the Chilean State and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. He’s conscious they’re fighting not only to represent the living, but the ancestral thought of preservation of the ecosystem for the entire world, for the children of us all. In this clear idea is impregnated the principles of AUTO-DESTINY, AUTONOMY, and the right of the indigenous peoples of AUTODETERMINATION.
Ulises García is a human right activist from Perú. He became a community leader in Tambogrande Peru and known for his work throughout Peru and in a number of countries in Latin America after the assassination of his father Godofredo Garcia Baca in march 2001.
Ulises’ father was the leader of the main opposition to a Canadian mega-“development” mining project, owned by the Canadian mining company Manhattan Minerals , and was a beloved leader of the community of Tambogrande.
Since the assassination, Ulises Garcia continued to lead and support the struggle of his community of Tambogrande, as well as other communities in Latin America , for the right to self determination and the right to maintain their sustainable agriculture lifestyles.
Tambogrande remains a symbolic case as it was the first community to hold its own referendum and successfully expel a powerful global mining company. Ulises has traveled and continues to work with Indigenous communities throughout Latin America to promote referendums in mining conflict areas.
Ulises currently resides in Canada with his family and remains active in raising awareness about the issues related to the environmental and development harms and human rights violations caused by mining projects. He is the founder of a grassroots organization called Tropico Seco, which focuses on the promotion of peaceful resistance and the holding of community and municipal referendums in Latin America concerning development initiatives. Tropico Seco also supports community controlled development projects such as tree planting projects.
People & Power speak to native and environmental groups, as well as government and oil industry spokespeople about the impact Alberta’s oil sands development is having on the environment.
![MOGPOG resident Milagros Muhi recalls how her family got a measly P1,000 as compensation for the damage caused by the flood when the Maguila-Guila siltation dam burst in 1993. [photo by Karol Ilagan]](http://www.solidarityresponse.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/milagros-muhi.jpg "milagros-muhi")
