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PATH OF DESTRUCTION: CANADIAN MINING COMPANIES AROUND THE WORLD Episode One: Damaging Communities and the Environment
Introduction:
Kristin: Canada is the world�s leading mining nation.
Asad: Sixty percent of all public mining companies are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Kristin: About half of all mining capital is raised in Canada.
Asad: Many Canadian mining companies have become notorious for damaging communities and the environment and fueling wars and repression all over the world.
Edgar Godoy: They are displacing communities and killing people.
Joan Kuyek: And they�ve left a legacy of mercury and lead contamination in that area that will never be cleaned up.
Chief Arthur Petahtegoose: We use terms like genocide and ethnic cleansing.
Karyn Keenan: We have a huge problem in terms of access to justice.
Asad: Just as European settlers created Canada by stealing and plundering native land, its mining companies today continue these practices all over the world.
Kristin: This colonialism and neocolonialism is what Canada is all about.
Asad: You�re listening to �Path of Destruction: Canadian Mining Companies Around the World�, a three-part radio documentary. I am Asad Ismi.
Kristin: I am Kristin Schwartz. This is �Damaging Communities and the Environment�, the opening episode in our series. For the next half-hour we focus on the drastic effect Canadian mining companies have had on indigenous peoples in Canada and Papua New Guinea.
[Introduction Ends]
Asad: Canadian mining companies have been responsible for devastating communities and the environment all over the world including in Guyana, Ghana, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Burma, India, Kyrgyzstan, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Romania, Spain, Chile, Argentina, Australia, the United States and Canada.
Kristin: In Guyana, the Canadian companies Cambior and Golden Star owned the Omai gold mine which caused reportedly the biggest cyanide spill in world history in 1995, destroying the Essequibo River, Guyana's most important source of fresh water. The government declared a national emergency and more than 20,000 people lost access to water and food with many suffering health problems. Canadian companies have also been responsible for the biggest environmental disaster in Ghana's history and 30 years of environmental destruction in the Philippines.
Asad: Indigenous communities have borne the brunt of mining operations worldwide. Canada itself was created by British and French settlers through the genocide of its indigenous people and the stealing of native land. Close to15 million natives in North America were killed by European invaders, almost the entire population. There are 86 mining operations in Canada and mining has devastated many communities all over the country, spreading death and disease by poisoning the air, water, soil and food supplies through acid mine drainage, toxic effluents and pollution. 10,000 abandoned mines endanger fragile ecosystems, while fifty lakes have been turned into dumps for mine waste.
Kristin: The people of the Whitefish Lake First Nation are descendents of the Ojibway, Algonquin and Odawa Nations. Their reserve is located near Sudbury, Ontario. The current land base is 44,000 acres, much of it forests. The total population is 850 members with 340 living outside the reserve.
Asad: The Sudbury nickel and copper mines are the largest mining operation in Canada. The mines were opened in 1901. They were operated by Inco, a leading Canadian mining corporation, from 1916 to 2005. In 2006 Inco was sold to a Brazilian company and is now known as Vale Inco Ltd. This documentary is concerned with Inco�s record when it was a Canadian company for 89 years.
Kristin: We spoke to Arthur Pehtategoose during his tenure as the Whitefish Lake First Nation�s Gimaa or Chief. According to him, the area of the Sudbury mines belonged to the Nation and was stolen from it with the mines' creation. A treaty signed between the Nation and the British Crown in 1850 set up the Whitefish Lake Reserve which included Sudbury. However, the Crown and later the government of Canada refused to survey the land in order to establish the boundaries of the reserve even though the Nation's representatives asked them to do this several times. The Chief believes this to be an act of racism designed to deprive the Whitefish Lake First Nation of its land.
Asad: When nickel and copper were discovered at Sudbury and mines were set up between 1901 and 1908, the Canadian government stated that the mine areas were not part of the native reserve and therefore the state did not need the Whitefish Lake First Nation's permission to build them. Since the boundaries of the reserve had not been marked due to the government's refusal to survey the land, any part of the Nation's land could be taken away from it by Ottawa. In Chief Pehtategoose�s view, the Sudbury mines were created by deception and trickery through which the Canadian government stole the Whitefish Lake First Nation's land from it.
Chief Arthur We are bullied as a population. I think about the child in the schoolyard, where the bully comes and takes his money, pressures the individual to behave in a particular manner. That�s how I�ve expressed our relationship in terms of how we sit with the Crown. The Crown bullies our people and is able to get away with it because we are not able to defend ourselves. So when we look at the territory of the First Nation, the territory of Atikmeksheng, the city of Sudbury is clearly within the boundaries of our territory. And that�s partly what we�re reminding Canada and Ontario about today, that this is something that needs to be addressed. That was part of the understanding of what was contained in the treaty agreement. However what we see today is that the boundary that was put into place has been moved from where we had intended that it be originally placed and this is the part where we see the injustice on our part being suffered. The reserve has been made smaller not by choice but by design of the Crown�s�..We were removed by the Crown so that the resources from the land would not have to be shared with us.
Kristin: The Nation has launched a 550 billion dollar lawsuit against the Canadian federal government and the Ontario government on the basis that the area of the Sudbury mines belongs to the Nation as does the revenue generated by their operations for the last century.
Asad: The Canadian government�s stealing of the Whitefish Lake First Nation�s land was not only an example of racism but also a part of the process of colonization which was spearheaded by biological warfare. According to Chief Pehtategoose, the White colonizers hoped to wipe out the Nation totally through the spread of diseases such as smallpox and tuberculosis that they brought from Europe. Ninety percent of the Whitefish Lake First Nation and other native communities were killed mainly by these diseases. There were tens of thousands of Whitefish Lake members in the Sudbury area. After the diseases killed so many, there were only tens left in Sudbury and these natives were displaced by the mines. The mines thus completed the colonizing process of stealing native land, first implemented by killing the indigenous people and then by displacing those left alive.
Chief: We were some of the first victims of germ warfare�.That�s a tragedy but the government doesn�t talk about that�..You don�t want to talk about the nasty things that you do. Our numbers were decimated by the diseases. Our peoples, those that remained, the survivors, we had a difficult time in coming to reassert our presence as a people. We�re still being challenged by this low point in terms of recovery from this kind of tragedy. We hear about crimes against humanity�.and when we are a small population, we become victims, and we�re not able to question. That�s not well when that occurs to you. Our eventual extermination as a body of people. This for us is a threat and we have to remind Canada that this is something that�s occurring, we use terms like genocide, the practice of what we saw over in Europe, ethnic cleansing, we see this as being a policy which is being brought against us.
Kristin: Nor are the lives of the surviving members of the Whitefish Lake First Nation, safe today. For a hundred years and continuing, the Sudbury mines have poisoned their air, water and soil, endangering, degrading and shortening their existence. Acid rain and other pollution caused by the mineral industry have had a significant negative impact on the food supply of the Nation. Fish is a major food source for the people and they rely heavily on this. Acid rain has considerably damaged the fish stock causing its quantity and quality to drop dramatically. This means that at times the Nation has not had enough food which has led to malnourishment and numerous deaths. Kathleen Naponse is Director of Community Health and Wellness at the Whitefish Lake First Nation.
Kathleen: We�ve had a significant drop in fish. We do have a large number of people who fish and hunt still. Some of our community members here, still the wildlife is their main source of food. We have low-income families that still depend on the land to be able to provide their family with their proper food nutrition.
Chief Arthur We look at one species, the lake trout, we would see the adult fish but we would not see the young. So that tells us something is happening with the eggs and the research people have shared with us that the spaces where the fish would lay their eggs were becoming contaminated with the acid rain particles, the material that was being dumped from the stack.
Asad: We asked Chief Petahtegoose if this led to malnourishment, due to lack of food.
Chief: In some of our earlier populations, yes. They relied solely on the land, my father�s generation, my mother�s generation, the wage economy not being present, they relied on the resources of the land to produce for them the food they needed. When there was less of a supply that meant that their children were going to have a less healthy diet. In our family, disease came to us�..we had tuberculosis and flus that hurt our population�we could look at the mine as being partly responsible for that.
Kristin: Other sources of food also damaged by pollution are animals such as deer and moose, as well as trees. The animals have become sickly and their livers have been fouled. The leaves of maple trees have been burnt so that these no longer produce maple syrup which the people used to collect. The Nation sued Inco for the tree damage and the company settled out of court.
Chief: We used to harvest the trees, we saw the value in selling the timber resources but through time people noticed that when there was a reversal of the winds, when the sulphur fumes inundated our air, we saw a decline in the trees. The leaves would turn yellow and drop off which tells you that there�s damage in the tree and through time, we saw the population of the trees declining. A lot of them would die due to the burns that resulted from the air fumes. So our people launched a suit against the company. So there was a small compensation paid to us for some of the trees. When you look at the quantity of work that was undertaken to produce the evidence that showed that in fact there was a direct resulting between the mine activity and the damage that was occurring, it was costly. We probably spent more money in studies than in compensation that was actually paid to the First Nation.
Asad: Members of the Nation also suffer from high levels of asthma due to mine pollution. Sometimes the air is so bad that they cannot go outside. Pollution Watch Canada identified Inco as the biggest air polluter in Canada in 2003. In the same year, Environmental Defence Canada listed Inco as the worst mining polluter. The group�s assessment is based on pollution data collected by the federal government.
Chief: Recently there was a study initiated from the perspective of our community. What we�ve noticed is that among our children there has been an increase in the aspect of asthma, breathing problems�.there�s something going on here that�s not right. Children should not be getting these kinds of occurrences. And the older people the ones that have to be supported, their capacity to have a more healthy life is diminished because you�re breathing air that is not of a high quality. That�s something we really notice when there�s a shift of wind from the northeast and fumes are carried in our direction, people start to, you notice within half an hour that� it starts to affect your breathing. You can actually taste in your mouth, the chemical. So we become concerned that it�s going to affect us in terms of our health.
Kristin: A study of metals in Sudbury soils in 2001, conducted by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, found that copper and nickel levels were above the recommended level in almost 80% of the samples, lead and selenium levels in a quarter of the samples exceeded guidelines and 5% of the samples had above the recommended level for antimony, arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, and zinc. To make things worse, high concentrations of nickel, copper, cobalt, arsenic, lead and zinc tended to turn up in the same samples.
Asad: Lead, arsenic, nickel and cadmium have been declared legally toxic in Canada. Lead is associated with kidney and blood problems as well as neurological disorders. Arsenic and nickel cause cancer and are believed not to have a safe threshold for human exposure. Cadmium is considered a probable carcinogen when inhaled and is associated with the development of kidney disease.
Chief: We do know that cancers have increased among our population. When you go back and look at those toxic metals, the ones that are hazardous to us in terms of our health, we have to take a closer look at those elements and ask, �is that the cause? That we see higher incidences of asthma, diabetes, our people having problems with kidney damage as a result of diabetes? But is this element that�s here in higher concentrations, a factor? The heavy metals attacking their kidneys. Our space that we�re living in becomes much more of a hazard. And this is something that we become very concerned about, contaminants that are within the soil, within the air, and this is what we�ve been wanting to track as part of our concerns for the well-being of our people. We know that cadmium and arsenic are very very dangerous as elements. We�re going to be here, okay, we�re not going to go anywhere. Other people may be mobile, they have come to this and they may go to other parts of the world. But our people, we�ve always lived here and we intend to stay here. So the long-term impact of this accumulation of contaminants in and around our homes worries us.
Kristin: The European invasion and the Sudbury mines have had a devastating effect on the Whitefish Lake First Nation.
Chief: So we take a look at what has been brought to us by European settlers. What has happened to you? You forgot your teaching. What�s happened to people? They forget their sense of humanness. It�s unfortunate that they have not learned more appropriate behavior, more moral behavior in terms of how to live.
Kristin: Another indigenous community drastically affected by Canadian mining are the Ipili people of Papua New Guinea. Canada's Barrick Gold is the world's largest gold mining corporation. In Papua New Guinea, Barrick operates the Porgera gold mine, one of the world's biggest. The open-pit mine has transformed parts of this beautiful South Pacific island into a moonscape. Barrick has dumped tons of poison waste directly into rivers and streams. Mine debris and rivers full of mine tailings or waste are eroding the landscape and making hillsides collapse thereby eradicating the homes of many villagers.
Asad: The Akali Tange Association is a human rights organization which addresses the rights abuses perpetrated by Barrick�s Porgera mine security forces. According to the Association, Porgera mine security guards have shot 33 people and raped14 young girls. Also, the police have detained two thousand people in lock-ups due to conflicts stemming from the mine. Twenty more people have died as a result of waste dumped by the mine. Barrick admits to nine killings.
Kristin: In spite of its riches, the town of Porgera has no paved streets. Waste generated by the mine has ruined the land and livelihoods of 10,000 people. Barrick appears to be extracting as much gold as it can at minimum cost by impoverishing the community and severely degrading the environment. Barrick Gold is notorious for damaging communities and the environment and for violating human rights in several countries including Tanzania, Australia, Argentina, Peru, Chile, the Philippines, the U.S. and Canada.
Asad: Jethro Tulli is Executive Officer of the Akali Tange Association. He is a former labour leader who organized the first union at the Porgera mine. Tulli and two other activists from Papua New Guinea traveled to Toronto in May 2008 to demand at Barrick Gold�s Annual General Meeting that the company relocate the 10,000 people whose land has been destroyed by the mine. The company refused to do so. We spoke to Tulli after a public meeting in Toronto.
Jethro Tulli: They are horrible, they are terrible, they are criminals, corporate criminals. They are a terrible company. They should not be mining. They should give up mining. They can�t respect basic rules to do mining. They are causing destruction to everything.
Kristin: There are five million people in Papua New Guinea. They belong to thousands of different indigenous groups that speak 800 languages. Tulli is a member of the Ipili ethnic group, the main one affected by the Porgera mine. The Ipili are subsistence farmers and depend on the land. They grow sweet potatoes, taro, bananas, yam and local vegetables.
Jethro: We survive on the land. Most of the fertile land has been taken by the company. We were left to fend on a small portion. Now that is being overcrowded with the increase of population and we cannot sustain ourselves. That�s why we are saying, �you are taking out more so you have to relocate us. They have turned the fabric of our society upside down in the space of just 20 years. We are becoming settlers in our own land. We can�t live there that is why we are asking the company to relocate us.
Asad: Tulli also wants Barrick to pay compensation for the people killed by mine security as well as for environmental destruction.
Jethro We want them to pay for the damages for the deaths plus the damages to the environment and relocate. That�s it, end of story. What I have demanded from them to compensate is roughly about $350 million and that claim is still sitting with them.
Kristin: The mine has dumped mountains of waste rock on Ipili land which has destroyed farming and houses and killed people according to Tulli. These mountains are called �erodable dumps� because they have been engineered to move like glaciers and deposit themselves in the river, a massively harmful process which will continue for a hundred years after the mine has closed. Mark Ekepa is Chairman of the Porgera Landowners Association.
Mark Ekepa When the dump gets bigger and heavy it slips down into the river. Schools and houses have been covered up by the waste dumps. Six to seven hundred families are living without houses now. They are homeless.
Kristin: People have been killed by the dumping, according to Jethro Tulli.
Jethro: They dispose of the waste which has caused landslides and causing harm to the local indigenous communities which has resulted in more than 20 people dying in the dump areas by just burying them or by landslides burying them or floods carrying them away.
Asad: The Porgera mine deposits tailings straight into a nearby river rather than holding these in a tailings dam which is usual practice. Such direct dumping into rivers is illegal in Canada due to the obvious health hazards. According to Tulli, the dumping has poisoned the river.
Jethro: I don�t see any other mining company dispose cyanide straight from the mill into a big waterway.
Kristin: The Ipili people also rely on rainwater, which they collect from rooftops, in tanks. Mark Ekepa describes how this rainwater has been contaminated by air pollution generated by the mine.
Mark Ekepa: Because the air coming out of the mill itself, it is some sort of white smoke. And when it drops down to the plants, the plant�s colour changes into red. So even the rooftops of the building, close to my house, where I live in, is all rusting up and getting red in colour. So all the dust goes into the tank, and I drink it. No option to get water. Even the company doesn�t provide the water supplies. I drink all this contaminated waters.
Kristin: Jethro Tulli�s appeals for help to the Papua New Guinea government have brought no action due to the power Barrick Gold has over the state.
Jethro: The government is corrupt��We�ve raised these matters but the government can�t say anything�. They are controlled by the companies.
Asad: The government has even refused to act on the 14 charges of rape brought against the mine�s security personnel.
Jethro: No action. No police. The police and the company, they cooperate. The government cooperates. They cover up very quickly.
Kristin: If Barrick does not pay compensation to the community, Tulli is determined to resist its operations.
Jethro: Either they stay or we stay. We will move them out. By force we can move them out.
Kristin: You have been listening to �Damaging Communities and the Environment�, the first episode of the documentary series �Path of Destruction: Canadian Mining Companies Around the World�.
Asad: �Path of Destruction: Canadian Mining Companies Around the World� is dedicated to indigenous peoples everywhere.
Kristin: This documentary was written by Asad Ismi and produced by Kristin Schwartz. Go to www.asadismi.ws to download the series.
Asad: Translation by Alex Petroff, Susy Alvarez, William Sacher and Sandra Cuffe. Voice-over by Matthew Fava and Susy Alvarez.
Kristin: Theme music is �Shaman�s Call� and �Come Home Safe� [Dance Mix] by TKO from Winnipeg, Canada. On this episode, you also heard �Alir Pukai� by the Alir Pukai Stringband of Papua New Guinea.
Asad: Many thanks to Danae Peart and Kevin Shaw of CHRY 105.5 FM in Toronto.
Asad and Kristin [alternating]: This documentary was funded by:
Canadian Union of Postal Workers (National) CUPW Local 576 North Bay Canadian Union of Public Employees--Local 3903 CUPE National Ontario Public Service Employees Union Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association Public Service Alliance of Canada Ken Luckhardt Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Kristin: Thank you for listening.
PATH OF DESTRUCTION: CANADIAN MINING COMPANIES AROUND THE WORLD
Episode Two: Fueling Wars and Repression
Introduction:
Kristin: Canada is the world�s leading mining nation.
Asad: Sixty percent of all public mining companies are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Kristin: About half of all mining capital is raised in Canada.
Asad: Many Canadian mining companies have become notorious for damaging communities and the environment and fueling wars and repression all over the world.
Edgar Godoy: They are displacing communities and killing people.
Joan Kuyek: And they�ve left a legacy of mercury and lead contamination in that area that will never be cleaned up.
Chief Arthur Petahtegoose: We use terms like genocide and ethnic cleansing.
Karyn Keenan: We have a huge problem in terms of access to justice.
Asad: Just as European settlers created Canada by stealing and plundering native land, its mining companies today continue these practices all over the world.
Kristin: This colonialism and neocolonialism is what Canada is all about.
Asad: You�re listening to �Path of Destruction: Canadian Mining Companies Around the World�, a three-part radio documentary. I am Asad Ismi.
Kristin: I am Kristin Schwartz. This is �Fueling Wars and Repression�, the second episode in our series. For the next half-hour we focus on how Canadian mining companies have been stoking conflict in the Congo, Guatemala, Canada and on an international scale.
[Introduction Ends]
Asad: Canadian mining companies have fueled wars and been linked to repressive governments all over the world including in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Guinea, Colombia, Burma, Chile, Indonesia, the Philippines, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Thailand and Canada itself.
Kristin: The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is Africa�s richest country in terms of mineral resources. A decade-long war in the Congo has killed more than five million people and displaced about six million. This genocidal war was started by the United States which used its proxies Rwanda and Uganda to invade the DRC in 1998 in order to establish Western control over its resources.
Asad: Though a peace agreement was signed in 2002, the war continues in the eastern part of the country. In 2002, the �United Nations Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo� released a report, in which it accused eight Canadian mining companies of pillaging the Congo and contributing to conflict there. The companies named were Banro Corporation, First Quantum Minerals, Kinross Gold, American Mineral Fields, International Panorama Resources, Tenke Mining, Melkior Resources and Hrambee Mining. In total, the Panel named 125 companies and individuals for having contributed directly or indirectly to the Congo War.
Kristin: Banro and Barrick Gold have held mining properties in eastern Congo under Rwandan or Ugandan control. According to Le Monde Diplomatique, both companies have been accused of "funding military operations in exchange for lucrative contracts." Intelligence specialist Wayne Madsen who has worked for the U.S. National Security Agency, testified to the U.S. Congress in 2001 that, quote, �Barrick and tens of other mining companies are helping to stoke the flames of civil war in the DRC.� Madsen explained that Barrick signed a mining deal in 1999 with RCD-Goma, a Rwandan-backed rebel group fighting the Congolese government. According to Madsen, one of the main goals of RCD was, quote, �restoration of mining concessions for Barrick Gold.�
Asad: The DRC�s richest mining area is in the southern province of Katanga. In October 2004, the Canadian-Australian company Anvil Mining provided logistical support to the DRC's army to suppress a rebellion in the town of Kilwa where Anvil operates a copper-silver mine. The company gave the army, planes, vehicles, personnel and food. The military used these supplies to massacre 70 to a 100 civilians even though the rebels offered no resistance.
Kristin: Prince Kumwamba is Executive Director of the Congolese human rights organization, Action Against Impunity for Human Rights (ACIDH in French). ACIDH is based in Lubumbashi, capital of Katanga province. The organization has been trying to bring those responsible for the Kilwa massacre to justice and to obtain compensation for the victims in the Congo and abroad.
Prince Kumwumba: I think that our organization investigated this massacre in 2004. Through this investigation we realized that the soldiers of the Congolese army had committed killings of people considered to be sympathetic to the insurrectional movement that had happened in Kilwa. In reaction, the armed forces of the DRC, invited by the corporation Anvil Mining and with its material support, including trucks and also a plane to transport some soldiers, had committed these killings, as well as looting and burning down some homes of the population in Kilwa. So, for us, the Anvil Mining Corporation was very implicated but unfortunately the Congolese justice system couldn�t make that finding. The massacres were committed in October, 2004. And in January 2005, our organization was informed about these massacres. We sent a letter to Anvil Mining to ask Anvil to tell us to what point it was involved in these massacres. Unfortunately, the corporation never answered our letter. So in April, after our letter in January, we issued a press release to denounce this massacre and to denounce especially the silence of the corporation that didn�t want to clarify, for the population, its possible involvement. So in April, an Australian TV channel visited us in Lubumbashi, and we drove them to Kilwa ourselves, to prove everything that we were alleging about these massacres. And some weeks later, this TV channel produced a movie that described the situation. It infuriated Bill Turner, CEO of Anvil Mining. And he began to take action on an international level and especially on a local level, here with the local authorities, to try to prevent us from talking about this story.
Asad: Partly due to ACIDH�s demands, Congolese military personnel and Anvil Mining employees were tried for the Kilwa massacre by a military court in 2007. The court acquitted military officers and three expatriate employees of Anvil Mining, of charges of war crimes and complicity in war crimes. The expatriates were Canadian Pierre Mercier, general manager of Anvil Mining Congo, and two South Africans. According to Amnesty International, quote, �there was apparent high-level political interference in the trial, as well as intimidation of witnesses. The acquittals were widely condemned as a setback in the struggle against impunity in the DRC.� End quote.
Prince Kumwumba: Anvil Mining corporation seriously involved itself, with the support of the Congolese authorities, to prevent a fully independent trial. As a result, the judgement that was issued was a false judgement. A judgement that has no relation to the acts committed in Kilwa. A judgement that said there was no massacre. Whereas several reports, including the reports of the United Nations Mission in Congo, have demonstrated that tens of people were massacred, that lootings were committed and that rapes were committed by soldiers of Colonel Ademar Ilunga. So, for us, it�s a complacent verdict, issued in order to exempt the true criminals from their legal responsibilities.
Kristin: In April 2008, Prince Kumwamba tried to visit Kilwa on behalf of an Australian legal firm pursuing possible compensation claims in the Australian courts against Anvil Mining. The Congolese government barred Kumwamba from going to Kilwa and after that he started getting threats on the phone warning him to stop his activities concerning the Kilwa massacre and Anvil Mining. Amnesty International issued an "Urgent Action" on Kumwamba�s behalf in April 2008 and believes that the government may be behind the threats and that his life may be in danger.
Asad: We asked Prince Kumwamba what he would like Canadians to do.
Prince: We simply ask them to exert some pressure on these Canadian multi-national corporations, to encourage them to have some morality, to have a bit of generosity, to participate in the development of the native population, to dedicate a fraction of the benefits. Rather than collaborating in hurting them, notably through acts such as Anvil Mining committed against the population of Kilwa. And I think, at this moment, they can support us.
Kristin: We go now to Guatemala, where 80% of the population is indigenous Maya and Canadian mining companies are the new conquistadors. Goldcorp, Canada�s second largest gold mining company, operates the open-pit Marlin gold mine in the department of San Marcos. The mine traverses the municipalities of San Miguel Ixtahuacan and Sipakapa. The Marlin mine has brought official repression, deforestation, contamination of water sources, dry wells, dangerous wastes and damage to houses. There is so much public opposition to the mine that 98% of area residents voted against it in a referendum. Goldcorp ignored the vote.
Asad: Fausto Valiente works with the Pastoral Commission on Peace and Ecology (COPEI) which is linked to the Diocese of San Marcos, that is part of the Catholic Church. Valiente came to Toronto to protest at Goldcorp�s Annual General Meeting in May 2008. He attended the meeting, where he spoke. We asked him what happened there..
Fausto: At the beginning they gave this presentation which painted a very nice picture of mining, making it seem as if this was a great development opportunity. However, we all know hat this is not the case given the environmental, social and economic negative consequences we have witnessed and experienced. They also never addressed the questions and comments we made.
Kristin: Resistance to the mine has been answered by repression, including murders, arrests, threats and intimidation.
Fausto: We do know that the government acts in favour of mining companies and that they have in the past used repression against the communities that opposed them. For example, last year, in San Miguel Ixtahuaquan, a man who opposed mining and refused to sell his land to this company was found dead and beheaded.
Asad: In January 2005 the government sent in 200 soldiers and police to suppress a bulic demonstration against the mine. Two people were killed by security forces and 26 were injured.
Fausto: The newspaper only reported one death, but there were two and many others were wounded at the hands of 200 soldiers and police employed by the government. The government and the authorities also use threats to repress and intimidate people.
Kristin: Those whose lives have been threatened due to the mine include the Bishop of San Marcos.
Fausto: Also, just a month ago, Monsignor Ramazzini received a death threat ordering him to stop getting involved in this type of conflict.
Asad: Members of COPEI have also been intimidated and Valiente is concerned for his own safety.
Fausto: In our case, we have been followed when we are in the countryside doing our work. For example, when I do my environmental monitoring work, my team has been followed, photographed and filmed in a manner that is quite threatening and intimidating. I have yet to receive any threats but I am not so sure what will happen following this speaking tour upon my return to Guatemala.
Kristin: Inspite of the repression, Valiente and the community are determined to resist the Goldcorp mine.
Fausto: The work we are currently doing is mostly focused on the communities Marlin wishes to explore which are located within the 8 remaining municipalities [of San Marcos] where mining potential has been assessed. What we are doing to counter this is coordinating and carrying community consultations to address this issue. The objective is that once the consultations have been carried out, communities reach a consensus in their opposition which can be used to close the doors to this company and halt the further expansion of this mining prospects. We do know that in Tajumulco, one of the communities that has yet to go through its consultation, the people there have vowed that they will burn or lynch any company machinery or employee that enter their land without their permission.
Asad: Official repression and Canadian mining go hand in hand in Guatemala. The country suffered from a 36-year civil war that lasted until 1996 when peace accords were signed. During the war, the U.S.-backed Guatemalan Army killed close to 250,000 civilians wiping out 400 indigenous Mayan villages. The Canadian mining company Inco operated in Guatemala during the war and relations between the genocidal military and Inco were so close that the army tortured people inside Inco facilities.
Kristin: Edgar Godoy is a Guatemalan-Canadian labour leader of mixed Mayan and Spanish ethnicity. He is President of Local 2191 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees in Toronto and an activist in international solidarity. Godoy did his Masters thesis on the impact of Canadian mining companies on Guatemala focusing on Inco and Goldcorp.
Edgar Godoy: I looked at what Inco did in Guatemala in the �60s ,�70s and �80s�.Mining companies in Guatemala, international mining companies are all Canadian�.Mining on a large-scale began with Inco in the 1960s when they started operations during military rule in Guatemala and they acquired large extensions of land in the department of Izabal, they were exploiting nickel there. Also, during the signing of peace agreements in Guatemala, there were two Commissions, one was the Commission for Historical Memory and the other one was the United Nations Commission and both Commissions have a case in which it was found that the company Inco was in cooperation with the army during the violation of human rights so those times they used the company facilities to torture people. Inco was in bed with the military, with the Junta, with all those Generals who were in power during those years.
Asad: Inco has also been implicated in the Guatemalan army�s murder of the lawyer attempting to unionize workers at its Izabal mine.
Edgar Godoy: Mijangos Lopez was killed around �73 and he was the main lawyer helping organize the union�..That�s how Inco at once killed the legal representative and stopped the process of unionization of the workers in the plant in Izabal��.The Army did the actual killing but Inco was complicit in it because they were paying the Army to not only provide security for the plant but also to persecute all those involved in organizing the union within the plant.
Kristin: The same army that killed close to 250,000 Guatemalans and tortured thousands more is now guarding Goldcorp�s Marlin mine.
Edgar: People fear this army given the past practices in kidnapping, torturing and violating people�s human rights in particular, the indigenous communities�...It brings back memories�� we�re back to square one because of the greed of this corporations because the community will not be benefiting in any shape or form.
Asad: Canadian mining companies are fueling not only conventional war but also nuclear war, the ultimate horrifying conflict that could end all humanity. Canada accounts for upto 40% of the world�s uranium production making it the largest producer of this essential mineral in nuclear weapons. Cameco, based in Saskatchewan, is the largest uranium mining company in the world. Canada is the main source of uranium for the U.S. nuclear arsenal, the world�s largest at 10,000 warheads. The U.S. is an aggressive, threatening nuclear power with a first-strike policy; it is the only country that has actually used the atomic bombs and is today actively preparing for nuclear war. Uranium from Canadian mines was used in the two nuclear bombs dropped by the U.S. on Japan in 1945. Canada has not only provided uranium but also some of the research that led to the dawn of the nuclear age. This was done at McGill University in Montreal.
Kristin: Uranium mining in Canada fuels nuclear and conventional war as depleted uranium (DU) from Canada is used in nuclear and conventional weapons. Canada is the biggest supplier of DU to the U.S. DU makes conventional shells far more deadly and spreads lethal radiation. DU�s effects have been particularly devastating during the criminal U.S. war on Iraq, leading to babies born without heads and spiraling cancer rates.
Asad: Professor Jim Harding taught at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan. He is author of the recent book Canada�s Deadly Secret: Saskatchewan Uranium and the Global Nuclear System.
Jim Harding We�re right smack in the middle of the British-American arms system and we can�t seem to get it through our consciousness that we are not just used by the Anglo-American imperial system, we were willing compatriots in the creation of nuclear weapons. We were involved at the very front end of the Manhattan Project that created the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The uranium that was used in the uranium bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima was refined at Port Hope and the two sources were probably some from the Belgian Congo and some from the Port Radium mine that was reopened��But the early work with the CANDU reactor in Montreal at McGill and then at Chalk River also played a role with the production of the plutonium for the plutonium bomb which was used in Nagasaki��And the U.K.�s weapons program was based on research at McGill and the prototype reactor that ended up as the CANDU.
Kristin: In 1970, the Canadian government signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty . The government guaranteed that Canadian uranium would not be used for weapons production, only for nuclear reactors generating electricity. However, according to Professor Harding, the government did not tell the truth. From 1970 till now, Canada has been providing uranium for use in U.S. nuclear and conventional bombs in violation of the Treaty.
Jim Harding: So the weapons connection got obscured when the Non-Proliferation Treaty came because technically the uranium is shipped to the U.S. or France for their reactors but in fact the depleted uranium that�s left is then in the control of those countries�.. While it�s true that that process is to go into the electrical generating nuclear reactors, about nine-tenths of the mass of what�s left after enriching which is called depleted uranium is then available to the Department of Defense to use for weapons��. then of course the various weapons-producing companies Aerojet and some of the others take it and make the depleted uranium weapons that are now clearly contaminating probably the last four war zones in the Middle East and Southern Europe�.. The public, I think, is largely unaware that we are still complicit directly in the weapons stream�..So it fundamentally abrogates the intentions of the Non-Proliferation Treaty but not technically.
Asad: Depleted Uranium is also packed into the nuclear hydrogen bomb giving it its enormous destructive power.
Jim Harding: It�s frightening stuff to think about�..We�re really talking madness here in terms of the capacity��How few of these mega-bombs it would take to create a catastrophe that makes climate change look insignificant.
Kristin: The opposition of Native Canadians to uranium mining on their land has been met by official repression. In March 2008, Bob Lovelace, former Chief of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation, was sentenced to six months in jail and fined $25,000 for trying to stop uranium mining by the Canadian company, Frontenac Ventures, on Algonquin land in Ontario. Paula Sherman, the Nation�s Chief, was fined $15,000. Lovelace was freed after serving three months but only due to considerable public protest. With his release, the two fines were dropped. In this way, uranium mining in Canada fuels both wars and domestic repression. Bob Lovelace.
Bob Lovelace: Governments, if they don�t take the responsibility then we�re forced to take a course of resistance and we don�t want a course of resistance, we want a course of cooperation and complement. That�s our traditional way, to find a higher solution. You can�t repress people and expect them to join as partners. If you want people to join as partners in a confederation, you recognize their original jurisdiction. You recognize the values of their culture and that�s what needs to happen with Aboriginal people.
Asad: Chief Paula Sherman is a single mother of two daughters. She was threatened with imprisonment if she tried to block uranium mining on Algonquin land. If jailed, she could have lost custody of her children.
Chief Paula Sherman: This is definitely a symbol of colonialism and repression at the hands of the Ontario government.
Kristin: According to Chief Paula Sherman, the Ontario government has used mining to wipe out the native economy and culture.
Chief Paula Sherman: Historically also, the Ministry of Natural Resources was started as the Crown Lands Department to actually enforce assimilation. On the one hand after confederation and the development of Indian Act, they had the Indian Act assimilating Aboriginal peoples to not practice traditional harvesting and trapping and any communities who still wanted to do that could be charged under the MNR. So they were using the Ministry of Natural Resources to charge people who refused to abide by the assimilation tactics. So mining and northern development is just another mechanism in that kind of control.
Bob Lovelace: Colonialism continues today in Canada. There�s no doubt about that. Most of the laws that were set down were set down with colonial foundations. What legislators have to do today is they have to be honest about that. And they have to ask themselves, do they want to the live in the past or do they want to live in a future? The future in this country means that colonialism has to come to an end. No government that supports colonialism today is fit to govern. Things have to change.
Kristin: You have been listening to �Fueling Wars and Repression�, the second episode of the documentary series �Path of Destruction: Canadian Mining Companies Around the World�.
Asad: �Path of Destruction: Canadian Mining Companies Around the World� is dedicated to indigenous peoples everywhere.
Kristin: Theme music is �Shaman�s Call� and �Come Home Safe� [Dance Mix] by TKO from Winnipeg, Canada. Asad: Many thanks to Danae Peart and Kevin Shaw of CHRY 105.5 FM in Toronto.
Asad and Kristin [alternating]: This documentary was funded by: Canadian Union of Postal Workers (National) CUPW Local 576 North Bay Canadian Union of Public Employees--Local 3903 CUPE National Ontario Public Service Employees Union Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association Public Service Alliance of Canada Ken Luckhardt Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
PATH OF DESTRUCTION: CANADIAN MINING COMPANIES AROUND THE WORLD
Episode Three: Who Benefits?
Introduction:
Kristin: Canada is the world�s leading mining nation.
Asad: Sixty percent of all public mining companies are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Kristin: About half of all mining capital is raised in Canada.
Asad: Many Canadian mining companies have become notorious for damaging communities and the environment and fueling wars and repression all over the world.
Edgar Godoy: They are displacing communities and killing people.
Joan Kuyek: And they�ve left a legacy of mercury and lead contamination in that area that will never be cleaned up.
Chief Arthur Petahtegoose: We use terms like genocide and ethnic cleansing.
Karyn Keenan: We have a huge problem in terms of access to justice.
Asad: Just as European settlers created Canada by stealing and plundering native land, its mining companies today continue these practices all over the world.
Kristin: This colonialism and neocolonialism is what Canada is all about.
Asad: You�re listening to �Path of Destruction: Canadian Mining Companies Around the World�, a three-part radio documentary. I am Asad Ismi.
Kristin: I am Kristin Schwartz. This is �Who Benefits?�, the final episode in our series. For the next half-hour we focus on the enormous benefits that Canadian mining companies get from their operations and from government support.
[Introduction Ends]
Kristin: By devastating communities and the environment and fueling wars and repression around the world and at home, Canadian mining companies extract a considerable amount of wealth. This mainly benefits their executive officers and other shareholders. Ian Telfer, the Chairman of Goldcorp received 23 million dollars in salary and stock benefits in 2006, making him the ninth highest paid executive in Canada. Meanwhile Guatemala only gets a 1% royalty from Goldcorp�s Marlin mine. Edgar Godoy is a Guatemalan-Canadian labour leader.
Edgar Godoy: They are offering 1% royalty which will be divided, half percent for the central government and further split half and half for the two communities where the mine operates. It�s nonsense, financially, economically it doesn�t make sense at all. It�s not generating any significant money for those communities or for the government.
Asad: Jamie Kneen is Communications Coordinator of MiningWatch Canada, the leading public interest advocate on mining issues.
Jamie: The problem with the mining industry is that it concentrates wealth in the hands of the shareholders and executives�..it becomes obvious when Ian Telfer who is head of Goldcorp made $23 million last year�.and then turned around and set up his own fund at the University of Ottawa, so now there is the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa and yet you look at how much was going to the entire country of Guatemala�.it�s maybe a bit more than that for the whole country. And if you look at the people who gave up their land to make way for the mine it�s maybe a few thousand dollars. And if you look at what they�re paying their local employees�.they�re still a few thousand dollars�..They�re called extractive industries because they extract material but they�re actually extracting wealth.
Kristin: In addition to executive officers, those benefiting most from mining revenues are pension funds, mutual funds, the banks and the brokers. Mutual funds and pension funds account for the bulk of mining company shares. These funds are invested in by ordinary people who put their money aside in an RRSP or the Canada Pension Plan and that money is being invested usually without their knowledge. However, the major benefit from these funds goes not to ordinary investors but again to executive officers� salaries and bonuses.
Asad: Mutual funds see mining as a high risk and high return investment. One factor that makes mining high-risk is the sector�s shadiness. Many Canadian junior mining companies are not really interested in developing a mine; they are �mining investors.� Investors in these companies are only interested in speculating--buying low and selling high. This encourages companies to hype their exploration activities outrageously. Due to such shadiness, the Vancouver Stock Exchange became known as "the scam capital of the world.� This was one of the reasons why its functions were folded into the Toronto Venture Exchange.
Jamie [Kristin asks: It�s entirely possible for people to make a lot of money without a mine ever opening?] Absolutely. That�s why they�re mining the market, they�re mining the financial market not any actual resource. A lot of junior mining companies, most of them never open a mine. Most of them never even find a deposit that turns into a mine but even the large companies when they get involved in exploration aren�t necessarily more successful than anyone else. It�s on the order of, in Canada in the last few years, on the order of one mine started out of maybe a thousand exploration projects and you can have entire exploration booms fueled by the tax benefits and the investment hype, that come and go. The result is that the stock goes up and collapses and anyone who had share options and exercised them at the right time and sold the stock when it was doing well made a lot of money and everyone else was left sucking wind. That�s what happens and that�s why it�s a high risk game for investors.
Kristin: The biggest mining fraud in history was perpetrated by Calgary-based Bre-X Gold Minerals in 1997 when the company falsified gold samples and claimed that its mine in Indonesia contained 200 million ounces of gold. The price of Bre-X shares shot up to $200 each. When it was discovered that the mine was a hoax, investors lost an astounding six billion dollars. The scandal lead to more regulation by the stock exchange of mining activities, and the introduction of rules for reporting potential mineral deposits. In July 2007, a seven-year long lawsuit brought by investors against John Felderhof, the company's founder and chief geologist, concluded. Shockingly, the judge found that the executive was not guilty of misleading investors. Given such a verdict, fraud by Canadian mining companies continues as in the case of Southwestern Resources Corporation.
Jamie: They said�. they had a sizable thing and it turns out that there was nothing there at all. This is just a few months ago. So it can still happen, maybe it gets caught earlier because of the slightly improved regulation but overall, Canada has a long history of separating little old ladies from their money in the mining sector.
Asad: One of the pension funds investing in mining companies is the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System or OMERS which is run by the Ontario government. The pension money in OMERS includes that from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and other public sector unions. The decision to invest in mining companies is made by OMERS not by CUPE. Edgar Godoy is President of CUPE Local 2191.
Edgar: From the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement Fund there is almost $400 million that Goldcorp has in its hands. So we have to demonstrate to the members that their money is being used to displace communities in Guatemala, indigenous Mayan communities, they�re displacing communities in Mexico, displacing indigenous communities in Colombia, killing people basically. So members have to be aware that it�s not worth it to allow these corporations to invest their pension fund money in such schemes. The other element that is crucial here is that unions have to take control of their pension funds.
Kristin: Godoy wants CUPE to divest its pension money from mining companies and is working to accomplish that.
Asad: The Canadian government claims that mining provides 388,000 jobs in Canada. But the actual figure is less than 24,000 employed in metal mining and 25,000 in smelting. The government includes all sectors of the mineral industry from mining to manufacturing in its statistics. According to MiningWatch, many of these jobs would still be there, and might in fact increase, if mining raw materials were to be progressively replaced by recycling of existing minerals. Many of the 49,000 mining jobs in Canada are high-paying but mining is also hazardous work and these high wages are not shared by miners in Southern countries who make up the majority of mine workers.
Kristin: By itself, mining is not economically viable. The mining sector is based on massive government subsidies and mining companies pay little in taxes. MiningWatch Canada did a study of subsidies in 2001. Joan Kuyek is National Coordinator of MiningWatch.
Joan: The total subsidies that we could count to the mining industry across the country were $600 million a year�.the mining industry had only paid less than $200 million dollars in taxes to the federal and provincial governments per year at that time�.They were paying less in taxes than they were getting in subsidies by almost a factor of three�..taking the subsidies away�..would be a huge blow to this economy because it�s based around it, its built around it, it�s systemically built around it.
Asad: There are subsidies at the federal and provincial level.
Joan: The federal government has a number of subsidies, they contribute directly to infrastructure, they help build ports, they help build railroads, they contribute to major highways. The federal government puts billions into the cleanup of abandoned minesites and doesn�t do a very good job of trying to hold companies accountable for the mess they made in the first place�.They have a tax system that has very low corporate taxes, that�s phased out the capital gains tax..�in Canada mining exploration is subsidized by the accelerated capital cost allowance which allows them to deduct a 100% of expenses for one year and also by the superflow-through share program which allows them to flow their expenses through to investors from exploration and gives the investors a 15% tax credit in addition to that.
Kristin: The flow-through share program allows investors in exploration to get their money back as a tax write-off. In this way the Canadian government actually pays for a lot of mining exploration. Not only do mining companies pay low taxes, some don�t pay any at all for decades.
Joan: One of the things that mining companies have done is be part of the very strong lobby to cut back on capital tax, to make sure that corporate taxes are reduced, to make sure that there are all sorts of loopholes in mining tax. Companies like Kemess South didn�t pay taxes till their last year of operation. Hudson�s Bay Mining and Smelting in Manitoba paid their mining tax last year for the first time in 75 years of operation and they�ve left a legacy of mercury and lead contamination in that area that will never be cleaned up.
Asad: The Canadian government also subsidizes and provides critical political support for the foreign operations of Canadian mining companies. Karyn Keenan is Program Officer of the Halifax Initiative Coalition which monitors Canada�s international economic role.
Karyn: There�s a number of ways involving different government departments. In some cases they�re providing financial support to companies and in some cases it�s more political backing. For financing we have examples like Export Development Canada. There�s also a fund in the Canadian International Development Agency called Canadian Investment Fund for Africa��promoting private sector investment in the mining sector. So it provides subsidies to Canadian mining companies to encourage them to invest in Africa. Export Development Canada also provides insurance which is another form of political backing because it insures private sector investments. Another form of financial support is through the Canadian Pension Plan, it�s heavily invested in mining companies and some of the worst ones.
Kristin: The political support that the Canadian government provides to mining companies investing abroad has included actually changing the mining code of a country to favour the companies at the expense of the local people as in the case of Colombia.
Karyn: Our embassies are very active, some of them, are active in promoting Canadian investments and have come out publicly to promote projects that have been contested locally. We also promote Canadian investments on trade junkets so Prime Ministers or ministers will accompany companies to foreign countries and help facilitate meetings with important decision makers to enhance their possibilities of acquiring concessions. Those kinds of political connections can be very advantageous to Canadian companies.
Asad: Such enormous official subsidies and significant political backing for mining reflect the formidable power the sector has over the government. This is further enhanced when former Canadian Prime Ministers serve as directors of and advisers to mining companies. These include Brian Mulroney on the board of Barrick Gold, Jean Chretien on the board of Viceroy Resource and Joe Clark as Special Advisor on Africa to First Quantum Minerals. Such national leaders make powerful promoters for the mining companies at home and abroad. Peter Munk, the Chairman of Barrick Gold, explained Mulroney�s appointment to the Board by saying quote �Mulroney knows every dictator in the world on a first name basis�.
Kristin: Canadian mining companies benefit greatly from the Canadian government�s massive financial and political support but this is not enough to provide them access to the resources of Southern countries. Crucial in this regard is the United States government�s imperialist attack on the South which has killed 38 million people since 1945. Such massive genocide has made it possible for Canadian mining to go into many countries especially the Congo, Guatemala and Chile.
Asad: The Congo was invaded by U.S. proxies Rwanda and Uganda in 1998 partly to fulfill the American aim of opening up the country to Western mining companies. The invasion has resulted in the deaths of more than five million Congolese. Once the U.S. had encouraged and facilitated the invasion, Canadian mining companies could then enter the Congo and plunder its rich minerals.
Kristin: In Guatemala, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency orchestrated a military coup that overthrew the elected left-wing government of Jacobo Arbenz in 1953. His removal led to four decades of military dictatorship and civil war which killed 250,000 Guatemalans. The CIA coup opened Guatemala to Western multinationals and Canadian companies came to dominate the mining sector. A CIA-engineered coup in Chile in 1973 had the same result. The coup led by General Augusto Pinochet killed the country�s elected left-wing leader Salvador Allende, and led to the deaths of 120,000 Chileans. Barrick Gold then became prominent in Chile�s mining sector.
Asad: At a shareholders meeting in 1996, Peter Munk, Chairman of Barrick Gold, praised the vicious military dictator Pinochet for, quote, �transforming Chile from a wealth-destroying socialist state to a capital-friendly model that is being copied around the world�. Richard Helms was Director of the CIA when the Agency used Pinochet to overthrow Allende. Writer David Barouski states in a detailed article on Barrick that Helms has been one of the mining company�s Directors. Barrick�s close link to the U.S. government is best displayed by the fact that Munk appointed former U.S. President and CIA Director George Bush Senior to its Board. Munk even got Bush an honorary degree from the University of Toronto.
Kristin: Canadian mining companies fit well into the U.S. strategy of denying Southern countries use of their own natural resources especially for industrialization. The U.S. government and the Canadian companies act in collaboration to ensure that these resources only develop Northern economies. Progressive Southern leaders such as Allende and Arbenz who wanted to use their national resources for the benefit of their own people have been eliminated by Washington.
Asad: Given such strong official Canadian support as well as U.S. imperialist backing for Canadian mining companies, it is no surprise that attempts to regulate them and hold them accountable for their disastrous practices have led nowhere so far. In July 2005, after studying the issue in depth, the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade asked the government to take action to end the devastating social and environmental impacts of Canadian mining operations abroad. A Standing Committee report called on the government to stop using taxpayer money to support destructive Canadian mining projects abroad and hold Canadian mining companies legally accountable for environmental and human rights violations in other countries.
Kristin: The Liberal government under Paul Martin rejected the Committee's recommendations and insisted that the issue should be studied even more. The government then started holding a series of public forums called the "National Roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility and the Canadian Extractive Industry in Developing Countries". This Roundtable process resulted in a number of recommendations, which after a year and a half, the Conservative government under Stephen Harper still has not even responded to. Karyn Keenan of the Halifax Initiative Coalition which participated in the Roundtable process.
Karyn: It was a very constructive discussion, a very high level discussion and a lot of ideas were generated and then the advisory group against all odds managed to bring all this information together and come up with a set of consensus-based recommendations and we saw that as a huge victory and an enormous accomplishment. So it is disappointing to then be stuck in this holding pattern.
Asad: Given the government�s failure to act, criticism of Canada from around the world has mounted, led by indigenous and environmental groups, religious and human rights organizations and even the United Nations. By refusing to regulate Canadian mining companies and hold them accountable, the government has turned Canada into a haven for corporations that damage communities and the environment and fuel wars and repression all over the world. Canadian corporate environmental and human rights violations go unpunished in Canada turning the country into a promoter of corporate crimes. Corporate impunity is also encouraged by the Canadian judicial system which refuses to try the companies for their destructive practices abroad.
Kristin: When 23,000 affected citizens of Guyana sued the Canadian companies Cambior and Golden Star in a Canadian court for destroying the main river in their country in 1995, the judge sent the case back to Guyana saying the company could not be prosecuted in Canada.
Karyn: The classic example is the Omai mine in Guyana. It�s almost impossible for non-nationals, non-Canadians�.to access our judicial system when they are wronged by Canadian companies. �.So we have a huge problem in terms of access to justice��There are all kinds of cases of serious and widespread environmental contamination that have not been addressed, not been mitigated and no compensation has been paid either to the governments where these mines have happened or to the peoples who have suffered from that contamination.
Asad: In contrast, in the United States, any U.S. company can be sued by foreign nationals for violating their human rights under the Alien Tort Claims Act. This makes Canada even more of a corporate-dominated state than the U.S. is.
Kristin: The thousands of people all over the world whose livelihoods have been destroyed by Canadian mining companies cannot sue them in Canadian courts but if Canadians merely point out such practices they can be sued by the corporations in the same courts for millions of dollars. This brings Canada close to being a corporate dictatorship. Recently, three French-Canadian authors published the book �Noir Canada: Plunder, Corruption and Criminality in Africa�. The authors and their Quebec publisher are being sued by Barrick Gold and Banro Corporation for eleven million dollars simply for publishing information that is critical of these companies� activities in the Congo and Tanzania. This is a warning to anyone writing about these companies that they will not tolerate criticism. William Sacher is one of the authors of �Noir Canada�.
William: I think this is really dangerous for any journalist, any person who wants to bring political debate at the level of the public sphere. It means that you can be attacked by such a structure, a powerful structure that is able to pervert the judicial system just to bring you down and that�s really scary. We call it a SLAPP, a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation which is intimidation of groups of citizens which want to bring to the public sphere political debates and they just want to prevent us from speaking. That�s dangerous also because in the media you will never find or you will barely find critical views about Canadian activities, Canadian company�s activities abroad. We do think that Canadian citizens have the right to get this information. That�s why it�s so important.
Asad: No matter how much they suppress criticism, Canadian mining companies cannot hide the fact that they are implicated in crimes against humanity, war crimes and environmental devastation all over the world. These companies are another instrument by which Europe and North America have been plundering the resources of the South and North for more than 500 years. This imperialism has resulted in the holocaust of more than 600 million people in the South and close to 15 million in the North. Through such massive killing, Northern countries that make up only 20% of the world�s population have gained control of 80% of its resources and wealth. This murderous disparity can only be changed by popular resistance in the South and North including resistance to the operations of Canadian mining companies.
Kristin: In Canada, native groups are leading this resistance. Similarly, people are opposing the incursions of Canadian mining companies all over the Global South including in Papua New Guinea, Guatemala, Venezuela, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Kenya, the Congo and Tanzania. The government of Ecuador has suspended all mining in the country. Venezuela has stopped all open pit and gold mining. Bolivia has nationalized its minerals. In particular, Venezuela has taken the lead in gaining control of its national resources and creating an alternative economy to what its President, Hugo Chavez, calls �savage capitalism�. Latin America today has 11 left-wing governments that are following Venezuela�s progressive lead. Edgar Godoy.
Edgar: At the end of the day it�s about workers taking control of the resources including the natural resources, including the economy of the country�.It�s about workers control�.in the North and South and we can do it through solidarity between country to country, community to community, worker to worker, organization to organization.
Kristin: You have been listening to �Who Benefits?�, the final episode of the documentary series �Path of Destruction: Canadian Mining Companies Around the World�.
Asad: �Path of Destruction: Canadian Mining Companies Around the World� is dedicated to indigenous peoples everywhere.
This documentary was funded by:
Canadian Union of Postal Workers (National) CUPW Local 576 North Bay Canadian Union of Public Employees--Local 3903 CUPE National Ontario Public Service Employees Union Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association Public Service Alliance of Canada Ken Luckhardt Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Kristin: Thank you for listening.
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