This year has been a year of contradictions. In the midst of US tariffs and tension with Canada’s largest trading partner, the federal government and the governments of B.C., Ontario, Québec, and Nova Scotia all passed or tabled legislation aiming to deregulate the mining sector and incentivize more mining projects. Both in Canada and globally, we saw a worrying trend of dismantling environmental protections, limiting democratic participation, and trampling on Indigenous rights to consent in order to fast-track mining projects in the name of national security and economic growth.
Yet even faced with such threats, mining-affected communities across the world continued to organize. From protests on Parliament Hill to encampments in the remote peatlands of Northern Ontario, people mounted powerful responses to this extractivist vision for our collective future. In Québec, citizens of the five municipalities in La Petite Nation held a first-of-its-kind referendum on Lomiko Metals’ La Loutre graphite project, voting overwhelmingly against it. In Ecuador, people poured into the streets in Cuenca to protest DPM Metals’ Loma Larga project, succeeding in getting its environmental licence revoked.
MiningWatch strategically intervened and reported on these issues and more in 2025. Our annual report provides some key impact stories from MiningWatch's work in 2025, with additional information about our financial position in 2025.