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Canadian mining convention ignores harsh reality of deadly industry
Canadian mining kills, but at the plant’s largest mining conference in Toronto this weekend, the industry will spin fantastical tales for investors that ignore the suffering of the communities bearing the brunt of its “successes”.
Kate Klein, Merle Davis, Caren Weisbart | NOW Magazine
March 1, 2017
Time for Canada to take Action on the Mining Industry’s Human Rights Abuses
On January 17 2007, a half-dozen armed men claiming to work for Hudbay Mineral Inc., a Canadian mining corporation, stormed the one-room house of a woman living in Lote Ocho Guatemala. The men took turns raping her, before dragging her from her home and setting it on fire. There were ten other reported incidents of gang rape in the community that day, and many other homes were torched.
Kyle Jacques | Munk – Global Conversations
February 5, 2017
What are we doing about the “Canada Brand”?: Canada’s strides towards corporate accountability in the extractive sector
Last fall, Osgoode Hall’s Justice and Corporate Accountability Project published a ground-breaking report detailing the egregious violence perpetrated by Canadian mining companies towards communities who both neighbour and have been displaced by their mine sites in Latin America. The report, titled The “Canada
Brand” observes that “violence is accepted as a part of doing business.” The facts are astonishing, yet unsurprising. Incidents involving 28 Canadian mining companies that occurred between 2000-2015 led to 44 deaths, 403 injuries, and 709 interactions with law enforcement, including legal complaints, arrests, detentions, and charges. A significant majority of these incidents were classified as targeted, or occurred when the community was protesting the construction or operations of a mine.
Sydney Lang | McGill International Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy
2017
A Clearing in Canada: Ottawa’s New Standards for Sustainability
For Vancouver-based Nevsun Resources Ltd., the timing could hardly have been worse: Just as Canada issued its latest corporate social responsibility (CSR) standards for extractive companies in November, the Eritrea-focused miner was sued over “forced” labor allegations at its copper-gold project 90 miles east of Asmara, the capital. The British Columbia Supreme Court filing followed a 2013 Human Rights Watch (HRW) report alleging employment of pressganged military conscripts at the operation, a 60:40 joint venture with the “pariah” government. “Based on company-led and third-party audits,” countered CEO Cliff Davis, “the Bisha mine has adhered to international standards of governance, health and safety.”
Joseph Kirschke | Huffington Post
February 17, 2015