Seventy-seven Ecuadorian, Canadian, and international civil society organizations and coalitions have sent a formal letter to the Canadian Ambassador to Ecuador, Craig Kowalik, urging the Canadian Embassy to implement Canada’s Voices at Risk: Canada’s Guidelines on Supporting Human Rights Defenders in response to the criminalization of Indigenous and environmental defenders from the Federation of Indigenous and Campesino Organizations of Azuay (FOA, Federación de Organizaciones lndigenas y Campesinas del Azuay). 

FOA members are facing criminal proceedings for their environmental defense work to safeguard the Kimsakocha páramo from the Loma Larga gold mining project, owned by Canadian mining company DPM Metals Inc. (DPM.TO). The letter follows up on a communication sent in November 2025 by civil society organizations and academics to DPM Metals, calling on the company to permanently close the project and cease the criminalization of nature defenders. To date, the company has not responded.

The new letter to the Embassy expresses deep concern over criminal charges initiated by DPM Metals against six FOA members — Lauro Sigcha, Lizardo Zhaqui, Marco Tapia, Ruth Pugo, Carmita Pérez, and Yaku Pérez — following a peaceful clean-up action to remove mining waste left by the company near the headwaters of the Irquis and Tarqui rivers in the Kimsakocha páramo. The Kimsakocha páramo is a fragile ecosystem that regulates the regional hydrological cycle and provides fresh water to tens of thousands of people. For more than 30 years, Indigenous and peasant communities have defended this ecosystem against large-scale mining projects. In September 2025, the FOA and allied environmental organizations led a historic march in defense of water, drawing more than 100,000 participants.

The open letter is being sent just a week and a half after Ecuador approved a new mining law aimed at accelerating mining investment in the country. Civil society organizations warn that the new law could threaten biodiversity and Indigenous territories, while weakening protections for communities affected by extractive projects. The Union of Water and Nature Defenders (Unagua) has filed a constitutional challenge against the law.

It is within this broader context of expanding mining policy that the 77 signatory organizations express concern about a potential intensification of the criminalization of environmental defenders. The letter also raises concerns about the imminent signing and ratification of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Canada and Ecuador, which would further increase and protect Canadian mining investments in the country.

The letter calls on the Canadian Embassy to:

• Attend upcoming court hearings in Cuenca as international observers 
• Request that DPM Metals cease criminal proceedings against water defenders 
• Withdraw financial, political, and commercial support for DPM Metals due to serious environmental and human rights concerns

In addition, the organizations urge the Embassy to call on DPM Metals to permanently suspend the Loma Larga project; respect Ecuadorian court decisions that have kept the project suspended since 2022; respect the binding local referenda in Girón (2019) and Cuenca (2021); and refrain from filing international arbitration claims that would violate Ecuador’s Constitution.

On February 3, the FOA and more than 100 community members met with Ambassador Kowalik during a public assembly in Cuenca to share their concerns regarding the Canadian mining project and the proposed FTA with Canada. Community representatives demanded that Canada prioritize human rights and the rights of nature over mining interests.

Signatories emphasize that Canada’s Voices at Risk guidelines require Canadian diplomatic missions to proactively support human rights defenders facing threats and reprisals. They argue that the current situation in Azuay is precisely the type of case these guidelines were designed to address.

The full letter and list of supporting organizations are available here. 

SUPPORTING QUOTES

“The Canadian Embassy in Ecuador needs to understand that the Fifth River – the massive demonstration for water protection this past September – has become a national paradigm. Without rivers, we would not be rebels nor farmers. We are Kichwa Kañari peoples, and these are ancestral territories. We have not been here for 500 years; we are millenary peoples and territories, and our future generations will remain here. For more than 30 years we have defended Kimsakocha, our sanctuary of life and source of water, against the threat of large-scale mining. That is why we defend water, life, and our food reserves.” Lauro Sigcha, President of the FOA, who is facing criminal charges brought by Canadian mining company DPM Metals Inc.

“As women defenders of Kimsakocha who plant, sow and care for the land, and produce natural food without chemicals, we denounce before the Canadian embassy the criminalization we are facing, which seeks to obstruct the peaceful resistance we are carrying out against mining in the páramo. But we will always remain firm in our defense. We peasant women are being persecuted and our rights are being violated.” Ruth Pugo, from the ancestral community of San Pedro de Escaleras and member of the board of directors of the Victoria del Portete Tarqui Water Board, who is facing criminal charges brought by Canadian mining company DPM Metals Inc.

“We are being persecuted and slandered, accused of unlawful association and property damage simply for protecting what is most sacred — water and life. Our struggle is peaceful and will remain firm and continue to say: Hands off Kimsakocha. We are grateful that the Canadian ambassador came to Azuay. I reiterate to him: do not see us as a threat, but as defenders fighting climate change and defending life and peace. We hope that the Embassy will follow up on what was shared during the public assembly with concrete action.” Yaku Pérez, lawyer for the FOA, who is facing criminal charges brought by Canadian mining company DPM Metals Inc.

 “These Canadian mining companies have divided our community, subjected us to legal harassment, persecuted us, and fractured our families and leaders. For 32 years of struggle, the government has tried to see us behind bars. We do not want mining at our water sources. From these fields come the milk and the corn that feed us and other provinces.” Lizardo Zhagüi, President of Community Water Systems of Tarqui and Victoria del Portete, who is facing criminal charges brought by Canadian mining company DPM Metals Inc.

“These legal actions against Indigenous and water defenders represent a pattern of criminalization in Ecuador aimed at silencing peaceful resistance to Canadian mining. We urge the Canadian government to ensure that its diplomatic engagement in Ecuador is consistent with its human rights commitments and to call on DPM Metals Inc. to withdraw the charges against environmental defenders.” Viviana Herrera, Latin America Program Coordinator, MiningWatch Canada.

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