Shocking new health study confirms Native health concerns; questions Health Canada guidelines Toronto – The health impacts of mercury poisoning in Grassy Narrows people are worse now than in the 1970′s, say the shocking results of a newly translated health study by Japanese mercury expert Dr. Harada. The study is being released today on the 40th anniversary of when Ontario first banned fishing on the Wabigoon River due to mercury contamination by the Dryden paper mill upstream. The study finds that Health Canada safety guidelines are too low to protect people from the cumulative long-term health impacts of low level mercury exposure, which is now ubiquitous worldwide due to industrial pollution from sources such as coal burning power plants. (more…)
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.
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.
Alberta’s oil sands now make Canada America’s major oil supplier, but the billion-dollar industry extracts a terrible price: some of the cleanest water on earth is used to make the dirtiest oil in the world, with catastrophic results.
Robertsville, Ontario Canada
Note: This interview with retired Algonquin Chief Bob Lovelace gives insights into why we have to oppose the destructive and unnatural extraction of dangerous minerals like uranium to protect all citizens. First Nations Law forbids the abuse of our Mother Earth, just as the Natural Law of most nations should.
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.
