OTTAWA – The Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability (CNCA) is greatly encouraged by the Minister of International Trade’s announcement today of the creation of a Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise. The human rights ombudsperson will investigate complaints concerning the overseas operations of Canadian companies and will issue public findings on allegations of harm.

(Ottawa) The OECD’s 2017 Environmental Performance Review of Canada, released today, finds Canada ill-prepared to shift its economy towards greater environmental sustainability. A continuing emphasis on a “rip it and ship it” economy that pushes extraction ahead of value-added processing and manufacturing has left Canada lagging badly in innovation, in materials efficiency and recycling.

While celebrating B.C.’s December 14 decision to reject the risky and ill-considered Ajax open pit mine proposal on the outskirts of Kamloops and on Stk’emlupsemc te Secwépemc Nation (SSN) ancestral lands, MiningWatch Canada joins local, provincial, and national groups in urging both B.C.

BC Government Rejects KGHM Ajax Open Pit Mine on Sacred Lands, Honouring Commitment to UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

(Kamloops) Stk’emlúpsemc te Secwépemc Nation (SSN) leadership is exuberant that the British Columbia Government, through the Ministries of Environment and Climate Action and Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, has chosen to not issue the environmental assessment certificate for the KGHM Ajax Mine proposed copper and gold mine- effectively rejecting the project.   

Join MiningWatch and the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG) to sign and share this online action to alert Members of Parliament to problems with the Liberal government’s National Security Act 2017, Bill C-59. Far beyond a threat to the privacy of Canadians, it puts land and environment protectors in danger of continuing to be targeted as security threats.

In the chaos following national elections in Honduras on November 26, Canadian authorities must take a strong public stand and forcibly denounce evidence of electoral fraud and violent repression of public protests. Across Honduras, tens of thousands of people have been demonstrating their discontent over evidence of electoral fraud by the government-controlled electoral tribunal.

(Vancouver/Ottawa) The Federal Court dismissed a Taseko Mines Ltd. lawsuit in a ruling issued earlier this week, closing the door on the company’s most recent bid to build a copper-gold mine in Tŝilhqot’in territory in central British Columbia.

Elizabeth McSheffrey published this excellent article in the National Observer, a subscribers-only site that provides top-quality independent news, research, and analysis. If you are not a subscriber, we would urge you to sign up; the National Observer assures us that they can waive the subscription fee if you cannot afford it. An excerpt:

(Yellowknife) Northwest Territories and national public interest groups have filed detailed comments in response to the territorial government discussion paper for consultation on a new Mineral Resources Act.

ANA ROSE WALKEY, VANCOUVER 

A Federal Court judge has ruled against a contentious mine proposal in central British Columbia, upholding Ottawa's decision to reject the project over concerns it would adversely affect the environment.

A pair of decisions, released this week, mark the latest blow for Taseko Mines Ltd.'s New Prosperity mine, which is opposed by local First Nations, has been rejected twice by the federal government and has been the subject of years of litigation. The company says it's reviewing the court decision.