MiningWatch Canada is pleased to announce that Diana Martin has joined our staff as Administration and Resource Development Coordinator. Diana brings a strong commitment to social justice and comes to us with many years of experience working with activists, networks, and decision-makers in Canada...
Urgent Action: Mexican Human Rights Defender Faces Dire Threats
The lives of human rights defender Victor Andrés Cruz Chi and his family, from Colima, Mexico are under threat. They are being targeted for their work in support of the indigenous community of Zacualpan that has been resisting the presence of mining concessions on their land and for Victor's...
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Mokopane Residents Picket Canadian High Commission in South Africa to Protest Ivanhoe Mines
Members of the Mokopane community in Limpopo province, where Ivanhoe Mines subsidiary Ivanplats is building the Platreef platinum mine, today protested inside and outside the Pretoria office of the South African Heritage Resource Agency (SAHRA) as well as picketing the Canadian High Commission.
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How a quasi-military project was created to protect Tahoe Resources' Escobal mine
On November 24, 2014, Donald Paul Gray, vice president of Tahoe Resources Inc., submitted an affadavit to the British Columbia Superior Court that sheds light on the powerful interests at play since 2011 in connection with private security companies contracted for the Escobal mining project in San...
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Honduran organizations fight to have Canadian-backed mining law declared unconstitutional
A short summary of two constitutional challenges submitted to Honduras' Constitutional Court against the General Mining Law passed in January 2013 with technical assistance paid for with Canadian overseas development aid.
Canadian Embassy went too far to protect mining company interests in Mexico, critics say
The CBC's Karen Pauls covered our report documenting the involvement and responsibility of the Canadian Embassy in Mexico in the violation of community and human rights in Durango. Her online story noted, "MiningWatch report says Canadian diplomats were complicit in repression of peaceful protest."
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Discredited Fraser Institute Mining Survey Resurfaces
Wow. We asked ourselves how the Fraser Institute could bring back its annual global mining survey after Press Progress’ devastating exposé "Now ordinary Canadians can skew Fraser Institute's data from home”. Apparently the answer is simple -- pretend that nothing is wrong with the methodology (or...
"Mining if necessary, but not necessarily mining"
Inclusive, Sustainable and Resilient Development: The Role of the African Mining Vision and Its Implementation
Presentation by Jamie Kneen to the Alternative Mining Indaba, Cape Town, February 10, 2015
I’d like to start by congratulating the organisers on a successful event and thanking them for...
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Honduran Organizations Demand Support for Farming Not Mining in Protest of World Bank Sponsored Event
Last week, the Honduran National Coalition of Environmental Networks and Organizations (CONROA by its initials in Spanish) protested a World Bank-sponsored “Conference on Sustainable Development of Natural Resources” in Tegucigalpa. They demanded support for farming not mining, and for community...
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Speculation Over Delayed ‘Three Amigos’ Meeting Forgets Ayotzinapa, Avoids Tough Questions for Mexico and Canada
Prime Minister Harper’s decision to indefinitely postpone the North American Leaders’ Summit – better known as the annual ‘Three Amigos’ meeting – likely has a lot to do with his own electoral calculus. But it also does Mexican President Peña Nieto a huge favour and avoids uncomfortable questions...
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“The Process Is the Punishment”: Taseko Takes Wilderness Committee to Court Over Fight to Save Fish Lake
(Guest blog by Dawn Hoogeveen) A crowd gathered in front of B.C.’s law court in Vancouver on Monday morning in support of the Wilderness Committee. It was the first day of a lawsuit instigated by Taseko Mines Limited, which is suing the environmental organization for defamation.
Recent attention ha...
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José Tendetza's murder is more blood on Canada's hands
José Tendetza should have been in Lima, Peru last week at the climate change talks as one of the powerful Indigenous voices speaking about the destruction that the mining and energy agenda of countries like Canada is bringing upon his and many other communities in the Global South.
José Tendetza...
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Philippine Province’s Lawsuit against Barrick Gold Could End Up in Canada
In August, I was invited to travel to Marinduque Island in the Philippines to meet with civil society organizations, municipal elected officials, and the elected Provincial Board. The topic on people’s minds was a long-running lawsuit pitting the Provincial Board against Canadian mining giant...
Book review: Leviathans at the Gold Mine: Creating Indigenous and Corporate Actors in Papua New Guinea
[This review was originally published in Political and Legal Anthropology Review: Volume 37, Issue 2: November 2014]
Leviathans at the Gold Mine: Creating Indigenous and Corporate Actors in Papua New Guinea, by Alex Golub (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2014)
Alex Golub’s ethnography is...
Five Years After Mariano Abarca Was Murdered for his Resistance Against Blackfire Exploration, We Demand Justice!
The following letter has been sent to authorities to demand a response from the Mexican and Canadian authorities to ensure justice for his death. This video is from a vigil in front of the Canadian Embassy in Mexico City mere days after the Mariano's November 27, 2009 murder, held by the Mexican...