while most people’s mental images of canadians are of funny, nice neighbors, the nation of canada and canadian mining companies have been aggressively murdering people around the world for minerals
Colombians marched in the streets of Bucaramanga on March 18, protesting against foreign, in this case, mostly Canadian, mining companies that they feel are infringing on their clean water supply. (Photo courtesy Pastor Virviescas Gómez / CBC)
Tens of thousands of Colombians took to the streets of Bucaramanga, the country’s sixth-largest city, last month to defend their water supply from a Canadian-owned gold-mining project.
The chief target of their protest was Vancouver-based Eco Oro Minerals Corp.
The company is exploring for gold and silver in a high-altitude, environmentally sensitive area that is the main source of water for Bucaramanga’s one million inhabitants.
Canadian companies have also been targeted in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Israel.
“Canada is very well represented in global mining conflicts because, in large part, Canada is the home of most of the junior mining companies of the world,” says Ramsey Hart, the Canada program co-ordinator at Mining Watch (their website was being blocked last time i checked), an Ottawa-based advocacy group.
Unlike the U.S. Alien Tort Statute, which allows foreign citizens to bring American companies to U.S. courts for abuses committed in a foreign country, there are no mechanisms to hold Canadian companies overseas accountable for their social and environmental policies. “We’ve just completely dropped that ball,” Ramsey says.
The last attempt to impose minimum standards on Canadian companies was a bill sponsored by the opposition Liberals that would have set international standards for human rights and the environment for oil, gas and mining companies operating abroad, and would have made government political and financial support contingent on compliance.
- from the CBC, Canadian mining companies subject of worldwide protests
CANADA FUNDS GENOCIDE IN PERU
Prime Minister Stephen Harper sped to Peru for a few days. Media failed to report that he went to give “foreign aid” to Canadian mining companies that are committing major human rights crimes against Indigenous people.
Last year, Canada invested $6.9 billion in extracting mining, oil and gas in South America. The funds came from the Indian Trust Fund without our consent.
Harper advised, “Genocide them Indigenous and then run like hell!” then quickly flew off to Cali to meet with the right-wing Pacific Alliance of Peru, Mexico, Chile, and Colombia. Canada is at the forefront of strategies to kill Indigenous and steal their natural resources worldwide.
Visit to Philippines by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, November 10, 2012 met by protest against the wrecking of their lands by Canadian mining firms in that country.
Pacific Alliance of right wing regimes [Peru, Colombia, Chile and Mexico] is well known internationally for human rights abuses against their opponents. 15 civilians were recently murdered by Peruvian police during protests over oil, mining and gas extractions. A couple opposed to Vancouver’s MAG Silver mine was gunned down in Chihuahua, Mexico. Barrick Gold’s Pascua Lama mine in Chile commits environmental violations and threats against Indigenous leaders who stand up to paramilitary and mining company aggression in Colombia. The model for “disappearing” enemies was set by CIA backed General Pinochet of Chile in the 1970′s.
Harper gave Peru a $53 million aid package to promote mining security to stand up to Indigenous resistance. Mounties are giving special training in security to Peruvians at UBC’s “Extractive Industries and Development”. They work for Canadian mines with old and new colonial tricks to mow down Indigenous defenders of the land.
53 per cent of Peruvians live in poverty. Mining companies leave behind contamination, labor unrest and social decay. 50% of the 229 social conflicts are related to opposition of resource extraction. Jose de Echave, former vice-minister of the Environment, says Canadian companies are causing mining conflicts and deaths.
Vancouver-based Candente Copper is building a copper mine in northern Peru’s fragile tropical forests. The local Cañaris indigenous people say this would destroy their water and livelihood. By law the government must consult them. To get around the law the government declared the Cañaris as “non-indigenous”. Though 95% voted against the mine, the company is proceeding.
In January 2013 the Peruvian police fired on and tear-gassed about 400 protesting Quechua. At least 25 were injured. A dialogue was set-up. The Indigenous were refused entry into the meeting.
In Peru’s southern Andes, Macusani Yellowcake, a small Toronto-based company, is attacking Indigenous opposition to the the first Peruvian uranium project. Peru has no safety regulations on mining and transportation of radio-active material. Most roads are barely travelable around sheer mountain cliffs. Electricity is almost non-existent and water is scarce. The Quechua herd llamas and grow potatoes. Some selected community “leaders” were bribed to sign agreements with the company.
At Barrick’s Lagunas Norte gold mine, in northern Peru, Canadians constantly stir up civil strife. Harper directs Canada’s International Development Agency CIDA to fund and carry out the mining industry’s brutality.
Canadian corporations’ inhumanity is not monitored. Taxpayers and Indigenous funds are financing these human rights abuses.
originally posted in mohawk nation news – i will not link to the original post because of the numerous ethnic slurs against mexicans in the article. can’t understand how this was published “as is.”
Kyrgyzstan Declares State of Emergency After Clashes Over Canadian Gold Mine
Hundreds of stone-throwing protesters besieged a Canadian gold mine in Kyrgyzstan on Friday, clashing violently with riot police and prompting the president to declare a state of emergency.
Over 50 people were wounded and 80 detained in the clashes, authorities said.
The protest also triggered widespread unrest in the southern city of Jalal-Abad, where hundreds of people stormed the governor’s office.
The twin developments threatened further turmoil in this impoverished Central Asian nation of five million, which hosts a U.S. base supporting military operations in nearby Afghanistan.
Protesters want the Kumtor gold mine in the northeastern part of the country to be nationalized and the company to provide more benefits.
Largest foreign-owned gold mine in post-Soviet bloc
The mine, operated by Toronto-based Centerra Gold (TSX:CG), is the largest foreign-owned gold mine in the former Soviet Union. It accounts for about 12 per cent of the nation’s economy and has been at the centre of heated debate between those favouring nationalization and officials who believe that would deter much-needed foreign investment.
Centerra said Friday that an orderly shutdown of its milling facility using power from a backup diesel generator was continuing and that mining operations have been suspended other than those to manage ice and waste.
“Until safe and secure access and grid power has been restored to the facility, it will not be possible for the company to determine the extent of the impact on the operations, including gold production and financial results,” the company said in a statement.
Shares in the company were down 39 cents or nearly 10 per cent at $3.76 in trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Friday.
Electricity cut off
The demonstrations began earlier this week when protesters blocked the road leading to the mine in the northern Tian Shan mountains.
On Thursday night, several hundred demonstrators, some on horseback, besieged a power transformer unit in the village of Tamga and cut off electricity to the mine for several hours. Riot police moved in overnight, detaining about 80 protesters and restoring the power supply.
By Friday, riot police used stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse some 2,000 protesters who attempted to storm the Kumtor mine office, the Health Ministry said.
It said at least 55 people, including 13 police, were wounded in clashes and a police bus was set on fire.
Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev declared a state of emergency in the area and the Defence Ministry announced it was deploying forces to protect key facilities.
- from the EarthFirst! newswire
Zapotec protesters shot on behalf of Canadian mining company. photo: noticias.mx click on image to see article, from intercontinental cry.
Tens of thousands of Colombians took to the streets of Bucaramanga, the country’s sixth-largest city, last month to defend their water supply from a Canadian-owned gold-mining project.
The chief target of their protest was Vancouver-based Eco Oro Minerals Corp.
The company is exploring for gold and silver in a high-altitude, environmentally sensitive area that is the main source of water for Bucaramanga’s one million inhabitants.
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