Prominent Indigenous, human rights, labour, environmental and other civil society leaders from across Canada are raising their voices to say ‘NO’ to the Canada-Ecuador Free Trade Agreement.
Negotiators for both countries have been explicit that the deal is designed to promote and protect more Canadian mining investment, even amid widespread protests about serious harms from existing Canadian mine projects in Ecuador.
Canadian leaders are raising their voices in solidarity with Indigenous, environmental, human rights and trade justice organizations in Ecuador who are fiercely opposed to the FTA. A reset is urgently needed, they say, in line with promises by the Carney government of rights and values-based international relations.
See why Canadian leaders are saying ‘NO’ – Scroll down for words of wisdom from voices grounded in rights, justice and environmental protection.
ADD YOUR VOICE! Sign this action to send a message to the Carney government: No Trade Deal that threatens rights and the environment.
Learn More – Read Canada's Free Trade Agreement with Ecuador: Why We Say No
Messages from Canadian Civil Society Leaders
Aidan Gilchrist-Blackwood
Network Coordinator, Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability
"Canadian mining and oil companies in Ecuador are linked to serious human rights violations, including poisoning freshwater sources and trampling Indigenous rights. Ecuadorian communities have spoken loudly and clearly: this free trade agreement will exacerbate existing concerns. Canada must listen and ensure rights are protected."
Alex Neve
Professor of International Human Rights Law, University of Ottawa
"Everything about both the process and substance of the FTA between Canada and Ecuador ignores, undermines and violates binding international human rights obligations, including crucial standards that protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples. This cannot go ahead. No people should ever be expected to trade away their human rights."
Anjali Appadurai
Director of the Padma Centre for Climate Justice
"The deepening climate crisis is driven by exactly the same system this free trade agreement is part of: relentless resource extraction without Indigenous consent, and the protection of corporate interests above people or ecosystems."
Arturo Ezquerro-Cañete
Latin America Program Coordinator, MiningWatch Canada
"A trade agreement that sacrifices water, land and Indigenous rights for corporate gain is not progress. The Canada–Ecuador FTA was negotiated without Indigenous consent and expands investor protections that Ecuadorians have already rejected. In a time of climate crisis and growing repression of land defenders, this deal points us in exactly the wrong direction."
Bert Blundon
President of the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE)
"We urgently call on the government to withdraw all diplomatic and other support for Canadian resource extraction companies that violate human rights, the rights of nature, and which operate without the consent of the affected Indigenous peoples. In a context of climate crisis and environmental collapse, we firmly reject Canadian mining in key water sources, and other ecologically sensitive areas."
Caren Weisbart
National Coalition Coordinator, Common Frontiers
"Ecuadorians have repeatedly stated their opposition to excessive investor protections in trade agreements that prioritize international business interests over human rights and environmental safeguards. The Canadian government needs to listen to the people, not just investors, and change course now."
Carmen Aguirre
Bestselling Author, Actor and Playwright
"I stand with mining-affected communities in Ecuador demanding that the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and Ecuador be repealed. Communities on the ground have made their message clear: NO Canada-Ecuador FTA - communities and ecosystems over profit.”
David Boyd
Professor at UBC, former UN rapporteur on human rights and the environment
"Canada should stop prioritizing investor rights over human rights in free trade negotiations. ISDS provisions are unjust, undemocratic and catastrophic for the climate and environment."
Eriel Deranger
Founder of the Woven Project, President of Indigenous Climate Action
In the midst of a growing global crisis this free trade agreement doubles down on resource extraction and Business as Usual, once again sacrificing people and ecosystems. We need systemic and transformative change led by Indigenous Peoples, our knowledge, rights and ways of life. In order to achieve this we must take collective decisive action to uphold and safeguard Indigenous Peoples’ survival and the survival of the planet.
James Yap
International Human Rights Lawyer
“Pursuing a free trade deal that protects corporate mining interests over human rights invites further social conflict, Indigenous rights violations, and environmental destruction. As Canadians, we must demand better from our government.”
Jessica Farias
Co-Chair of the Americas Policy Group (APG) Network of Civil Society Organizations
"Our member organizations have called on the Canadian Government on multiple occasions to ensure their trade negotiations with Ecuador are compatible with their international human rights obligations. Alarmingly, they are not!"
Ketty Nivyabandi
Secretary General, Amnesty International Canada (English Speaking Section)
"Indigenous women in Ecuador have spoken loudly and clearly about human rights violations at the hands of Canadian mining companies. This free trade agreement will exacerbate existing concerns. Canada must listen to voices on the ground, and ensure rights are protected."
Maude Barlow
Canadian Activist and Author, Founder of the Blue Planet Project, Co-Founder of the Coucil of Canadians
"Water is not a commodity, but a basic right! This is what is at stake with the Canada-Ecuador Free Trade Agreement! The economic rights of Canadian mining companies cannot be allowed to prevail over communities’ rights to water and life."
Melina Laboucan-Massimo
Founder and Executive Director of Sacred Earth Solar
"In the midst of the climate crisis, this free trade agreement worryingly doubles down on resource extraction, and protects corporate interests above all. Sacrificing people and ecosystems is not the path to a just transition, or a just trade relationship. I stand with communities in Ecuador who have spoken loud and clear: this FTA will drive more dispossession of Indigenous peoples from their territories."
Min Sook Lee
Documentary film-maker, screenwriter, academic and political activist
"Canada is fast-tracking a free trade agreement in Ecuador that criminalizes those who resist mining violence. This FTA threatens Indigenous sovereignty, accelerates environmental devastation, and expands corporate impunity. This isn’t diversification, it’s recolonization."
Peggy Nash
Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA)
"Prime Minister Carney says the rules-based international order serves the interests of the powerful, yet his government is rapidly signing new trade and investment deals that do the same. The Canada-Ecuador free trade agreement must be rejected as long as it privileges corporations and investors over the interests of people and the Earth."
Salvador Herencia-Carrasco
Director of the Human Rights Clinic at the Human Rights Research and Education Centre, University of Ottawa
"A Canada-Ecuador agreement must have the effective participation, access to information and access to justice of Indigenous Peoples, women, and other vulnerable groups. No trade agreement can minimize the recognition and protection of environmental, human rights and labour standards."
Sheila Sampath
Co-head of the Nature and Biodiversity Program, Greenpeace Canada
"The Canada–Ecuador Free Trade Agreement undermines the regenerative, just futures communities want and deserve. Environmental governance must centre Indigenous sovereignty, FPIC, and ecological knowledge, with meaningful accountability for corporate harm. Collective wellbeing depends on systems rooted in interdependence, transparency, and community power over extraction."
Tanya Principe
Executive Director of Kairos: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives
"Trade that ignores Indigenous consent, gendered impacts and human rights is not diversification, it is dispossession. Canada must choose relationships rooted in justice, accountability and respect for communities, lands and sovereignty."
tsiqw xwéxwne (Red Hummingbird), Judy Wilson, Secwépemc
Kúkpi7 Judy Wilson, former Chief (25 years on Council) for Neskonlith Indian Band and formerly Secretary Treasurer for Union of BC Indian Chiefs
“Just like what is happening right now in Ecuador, we continue to see women leaders impacted by mining, oil and gas projects, like on Wet’suwet’en territory and across Canada. Canada needs to listen: Indigenous people in Ecuador said no to this agreement”
Tzeporah Berman
International Program Director at STAND.earth, Chair of the Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative
"The free trade agreement Canada is pursuing with Ecuador is a wolf in sheep's clothing. It is a way of opening even more doors with less guardrails to Canadian mining companies who have a terrible record in the Amazon. Carney needs to consult with and listen to indigenous people and impacted communities before he makes a big problem even bigger."
Willo Prince
Campaign Manager, Indigenous Climate Action
"Despite the overwhelming demands of the Ecuadorian people and the Indigenous rights violations from the 15 EXISTING Canadian mines across Ecuador, Canada continues to push for this Free Trade Agreement (FTA). This FTA will continue to poison waters, destroy biodiversity, and annihilate Indigenous rights. We urge legislators to reject this agreement, and to not continue without the Free, Prior and Informed Consent of Ecuadorian Indigenous Peoples."
