This is MiningWatch Canada’s submission in response to the federal government’s Discussion Paper on its reviews of environmental and regulatory processes, including the review of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012, the National Energy Board Act, the Fisheries Act, and the Navigation Protection Act. Our focus here is on the environmental assessment portion of the Discussion Paper; we refer readers to our submissions to the Parliamentary reviews of the Fisheries Act and the Navigation Protection Act for our comments on those reviews.

EarthRights International, MiningWatch Canada, and the University of Toronto International Human Rights Program issued this report calling on the CERD to denounce Canada’s ongoing failure to prevent Canadian mining and petroleum companies violating human rights – and especially the rights of Indigenous peoples – abroad.

This is a report of MiningWatch Canada's human rights field assessment of Acacia Mining/Barrick Gold's North Mara mine in northwest Tanzania, conducted by staff member Catherine Coumans. This was the fourth consecutive year Coumans had conducted human rights field assessments around the mine interviewing over a 100 victims and family members of victims of excess use of force, including sexual violence, by mine security and police guarding the mine.

Members of the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights visited Ottawa as part of their May 23-June 1 mission to Canada. This is part of what they heard.

This document was prepared to help members of the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights prepare for their May 23-June 1 mission to Canada. 

It proposes discussion in six areas:

MiningWatch Canada is very concerned about Mount Polley Mining Corporation’s (MPMC's) application for a long-term permit to discharge not-fully treated mine waste water into Quesnel Lake. We recommend that the BC Ministry of Environment (MOE): 1. reject this permit application and require MPMC to propose…

Submission to the Expert Panel Reviewing Environmental Assessment Processes

Based on our work, we would like to focus on four areas within the collective recommendations of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Caucus, the Multi-Interest Advisory Committee (MIAC), and the EA Reform Summit.

This submission focuses on the critical relationship between the protection of navigable waterways and protection of the environment, specifically through the environmental assessment of projects and activities that may harm those waterways. The Navigation Protection Act should be amended to turn it back into the Navigable Waters Protection Act, with the full scope of application of that Act, but with clear direction on the appropriate level of scrutiny for projects and activities of different types, magnitudes, and durations.

The Fisheries Act is a keystone law in Canada’s legislative framework for protecting the environment and allowing the pursuit of sustainable development. Far beyond simply regulating fisheries, it can, and should, protect all aspects of aquatic habitat. In so doing, because water is so fundamental to all ecological cycles as well as human survival and well-being, the Fisheries Act provides a crucial link to everything from environmental assessment to protecting human health.

“Canada Is Back” But Still Far Behind, reviews how complaints of serious harm linked to Canadian mining projects have been handled by the country’s National Contact Point (NCP) for the OECD Guidelines. The office aims to resolve disputes through “facilitated dialogue,” which requires companies’ voluntary participation. The Canadian government relies on the NCP as a central component of its Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy and describes it as a “robust and proven dispute resolution mechanism.” The report concludes that the NCP, established in 2000 to advance responsible multinational business conduct, is failing to prevent or remedy human rights abuse by Canadian companies operating overseas.

MiningWatch was invited to present to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Natural Resources as part of its study on “The Future of Canada’s Oil and Gas, Mining and Nuclear Sectors”. In our presentation, we emphasized our concerns with the growing environmental and financial liability of tailings sites across Canada. We made three key recommendations to eliminate this growing liability: 1) Develop a national strategy to reduce the mining of primary metals, 2) establish substantial and mandatory financial securities for site clean-up and mining spills, and 3) use regulations, policies and fiscal incentives to encourage certain practices and technologies while banning or penalizing others (eg. asbestos). We also insisted on 4) the need to respect and affirm the inherent, constitutional and international rights of Indigenous Peoples in Canada.

This is a how-to guide for resisting mining and other extractive operations. It provides strategies and tactics for preventing extraction, and for reducing damage if extraction is already underway. It guides community leaders in organizing and taking action locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally, to resist the devastating assault of extractive operations. This is a greatly expanded version, in two volumes, of the first edition published in 2009.

The Canadian government is not upholding its obligations to protect women against human rights abuses, according to this report by EarthRights International (ERI), MiningWatch Canada, and the Human Rights Research and Education Centre Human Rights Clinic at the University of Ottawa. The report, submitted to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), charges that Canada has been supporting and financing mining companies involved in discrimination, rape, and violence against women in their operations abroad, when it should be holding those companies accountable for the abuse.

In the context of the ongoing review of BC’s Health, Safety and Reclamation Code for Mines (the Code), MiningWatch Canada respectfully reiterates its recommendations set forth on day one of this review: “that the review needs to be broad enough to address the full range of necessary changes in mining policies and regulations in British-Columbia,” including, but not limited to:

MiningWatch Canada has joined 22 other groups in submitting these comments to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission's draft disclosure requirements. These comments cover two areas of interest affecting the financial viability of mining projects: technical disclosures of mineral reserves and estimates, and social and environmental risks associated with new mine projects and mine expansions. Generally, we are supportive of the technical disclosure requirements we believe represent a major step forward in the accuracy and level of detail during the exploration and investment phase of a mining project.

In this submission to the Canadian government’s review of its official development assistance policy, we make a number of recommendations, starting with "Global Affairs Canada should reconsider its stated intention to “better align” Canadian diplomacy, trade and international assistance. In recent years, as Canadian official development assistance was shackled to Canadian trade and economic diplomacy, it became subservient to corporate interests – frequently those of mining companies – at the cost of the wellbeing of Indigenous peoples and affected communities."

This report outlines the continuing struggle of the Honduran community of Azacualpa to defend the integrity of the town, including a 200-year old cemetery, against the expansion of a Canadian-owned open-pit gold mine. The report, published by MiningWatch Canada and the Honduras Solidarity Network, documents how the Canadian mining companies that have operated the San Andrés mine in western Honduras have continually violated the affected communities land rights and communally-held land tenure for the last 18 years.

This report documents the current activities of the El Dorado Foundation in El Salvador and the dangers they pose. The Foundation was originally established by Pacific Rim Mining in 2005, and is now operated by its successor company, OceanaGold. Its sole purpose appears to be to help the company obtain a permit for a disputed gold mining project in the department of Cabañas in northeastern El Salvador.

By: David Chambers, Ph.D., P. Geop. This report assesses the tailings dam designs at four mines in B.C. in light of the recommendations of the Mount Polley Expert Panel to examine whether regulatory agencies are applying best available technology to reduce the risk of catastrophic tailings dam failures, and where they aren’t, if changes could be made to do so.

In 2015, Barrick Gold hired consulting firm Enodo Rights to carry out a review of the company's controversial remedy mechanism for victims of rape by mine personnel at the Porgera Joint Venture mine in Papua New Guinea. MiningWatch Canada has researched and exposed sexual violence and other forms of excessive use of force by Porgera mine security and police guarding the mine for a decade. Our work on these issues started years before Barrick acknowledged any abuses by mine security and continued through Barrick’s implementation of a flawed remedy mechanism for rape victims. This review critiques Enodo Rights’ report and provides an independent assessment of key failures of Barrick’s remedy framework and its implementation at the Porgera mine in Papua New Guinea.

Presentation by Jamie Kneen to the newly created Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ESCR) Unit of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in Washington, D.C., as part of the Unit's consultations with civil society organisations regarding its priorities and workplan.

Here in Canada and throughout the Americas, many governments have embraced resource extraction as the key sector to fuel economic growth, neglecting other sectors – or even at their expense. This is creating unprecedented demand for land and other resources, such as water and energy. Increasingly, when Indigenous and Afro-descendent peoples, farmers, environmentalists, journalists, and other concerned citizens speak out against this model for economic growth, particular projects and/or their impacts, they become the targets of threats, accusations, and smears that attempt to label and punish them as enemies of the state, opponents of development, delinquents, criminals, and terrorists. In the worst cases, this leads to physical violence and murder.

Ontarians for a Just Accountable Mining Strategy (OJAMS) is made of people from diverse communities and interests in Ontario that want to see a mineral strategy that

This report, based on internal documents obtained from the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD), concludes that Canadian diplomats in Mexico were complicit in Toronto-based Excellon Resources Inc.’s efforts to avoid redressing a violated land use contract and poor working conditions, and supported repression against a peaceful protest. The report, from MiningWatch Canada and the United Steelworkers, is based on a careful review of nearly 250 pages obtained from DFATD during a period of heightened conflict and repression from July to November 2012.

A report prepared by MiningWatch Canada for the Canary Research Institute, with financial support from Mountain Equipment Co-op and the Salamander Foundation.

This brief was prepared by MiningWatch Canada and Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) to accompany a panel organized by both organizations titled “Privatized Remedy and Human Rights: Re-thinking Project-Level Grievance Mechanisms.” The panel was organized for the Third Annual UN Forum on Business and Human Rights held in Geneva on December 1, 2014.

This research paper was done by Stephen Aboagye-Amponsah as part of his studies for a Master's degree in Environmental Science from York University. We undertook this study to look at the issues of involuntary displacement and relocation, and the mechanisms that facilitate and foster it. The purpose of the study is to highlight the problems encountered by displaced people living in mining communities in Ghana where foreign mining companies operate. Using case studies – Canadian company Kinross Gold and US-based Newmont Mining – we look at the current practices of large-scale mining and the role of corporate interests, as well as practices of different levels of government and traditional authorities, on how issues such as land and resources, customary law, and compensation are addressed.

This brief presents data derived from field assessments by MiningWatch Canada and partners at the Porgera Joint Venture mine, Papua New Guinea, and by MiningWatch Canada with Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) at the North Mara gold mine, Tanzania. It was prepared for the Centre for Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility Workshop on Remedy, Ottawa, September 25, 2014, by Catherine Coumans.

MiningWatch Canada prepared this brief for Access Facility's expert meeting on practical solutions to the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights' “effectiveness criteria.” The data for this brief is derived from the work of MiningWatch Canada and our local and international partners on a project-level non-judicial

Together with RAID (Rights and Accountability in Development), the London Mining Network, and CORE (the Corporate Responsibility coalition of the UK) have put together a briefing note for investors in UK mining company African Barrick Gold and its majority shareholder Barrick Gold Corporation regarding human rights violations at the North Mara mine in Tanzania.

The President-elect of El Salvador has publicly committed to prohibit new mining during his administration, just as his predecessors have done since 2008. OceanaGold should respect the democratic process in El Salvador, abandon its acquisition of Vancouver-based Pacific Rim Mining, and drop its lawsuit against the government of El Salvador for not having permitted a mine, according to international civil society organizations. A new study debunks eight falsehoods the company has used to try to justify mining in El Salvador and undermine public debate and policymaking.

This paper is a reflection on the Framework for Responsible Mining and examines key areas of concern and notes where the industry norms and expectations of civil society have evolved. The paper focuses on developments in social issues related to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, new initiatives associated with financial transparency, and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The environmental components of the Framework that are revisited are waste management, biodiversity, energy and climate change, environmental assessment, mine closure, mercury and seabed mining.

Published jointly with IndustriALL, CFMEU Australia, United Steelworkers, and Earthworks, this report examines the scope of the Responsible Jewellery Council's certification system and analyzes its components: its governance, membership, standards, auditing, and system for dealing with complaints, among others. It concludes that the certification system cannot provide consumers with meaningful reassurance about the ethical antecedents of the jewelry and minerals produced by its member companies.

Documents released from the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) under an access to information request raise serious concerns about the conduct of the Canadian Embassy in Mexico. Throughout a conflict involving Blackfire Exploration’s mining activities in the municipality of Chicomuselo, Chiapas that saw an activist shot and ultimately triggered an RCMP investigation over corruption, it appears the Embassy provided instrumental and unconscionable support to the operations of a Canadian mining company in Mexico.

In 2006, a remote Ontario First Nation, Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI), said 'no' to a mining company, was sued for $10 billion, had its leaders found in contempt of court and jailed but eventually prevailed when, three years later, the Ontario government paid the company $5 million to go away. This 7-page e-book by KI's political advisor and former MiningWatch board member David Peerla tells how it all happened.

This report is a response to requests from community members, activists, and academics in Canada and abroad for information about how Canadian mining laws function. The document provides a non-technical overview of Canadian mining laws, selected ‘lessons learned’ and the outcomes of mining code reform projects. In order to keep the document accessible to a wide audience we have kept it brief but provide links to sources for more detailed information.

Jamie Kneen testified before a special subcommittee of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance looking specifially at section 3 of Bill C-38, the section of the budget implementation Act that repeals and replaces the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and makes serious changes to the Fisheries Act and numerous other environmental laws.

Cliffs Natural Resources is proposing to develop a large chromite deposit in a remote area of northern Ontario that has been dubbed the Ring of Fire. Recognising that chromium is a toxic metal that has never been mined in Canada, MiningWatch has conducted a literature review of environmental and human health issues associated with mining and processing the metal. The complete literature review and three summary fact sheets are available here.

Each year, mining companies dump more than 180 million tonnes of hazardous mine waste into rivers, lakes, and oceans worldwide, threatening vital bodies of water with toxic heavy metals and other chemicals poisonous to humans and wildlife, according to this report by Earthworks and MiningWatch Canada.

Canadians want strong environmental laws, and they deserve an environmental assessment process that delivers on core Canadian values related to the environment, democracy, and responsible development. This paper outlines our blueprint of what strong environmental assessment legislation must include, at a minimum, to protect those values and ensure wise decisions are made about proposed development through an effective, efficient, inclusive and robust decision making process. Strong environmental assessment (EA) laws should be based on and measured against the following key principles:

This brief was prepared for the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development’s Study on the Role of the Private Sector in Achieving Canada’s International Development Interests.

MiningWatch made two submissions to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment regarding the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, when Jamie Kneen testified before the Committee on November 24, 2011, and as a supplementary written submission in response to the Standing Committee's abrupt announcement of the deadline for submissions and the end of hearings.

By James Wilkes. This study was done as a Masters thesis at Trent University and is posted here at the request of the author. Canadian environmental management involving Indigenous communities is at a crossroads. First Nation communities in regions holding mineral and other natural resources are coping with legal, economic and political pressures to comply with government and industry demands for resource extraction and exploitation.

Regulators, investors, and communities are increasingly aware of the potential environmental and social harm associated with open-pit mining projects. Local-level conflict is now commonly associated with proposed and operating mines as community members struggle to protect economic and social values of importance to them, to assert the right to refuse a mine, or to advance claims on mining companies for damages. In response, mining companies seek partnerships to help them secure a so-called social licence to operate and manage risk to reputation.

This case study contends that Barrick Gold's Porgera Joint Venture Mine in Papua New Guinea is environmentally unsustainable and is severely undermining current food security, access to clean water, sustainable livelihood, and health, as well as the long-term development potential, of indigenous Ipili landowners living in the mine lease area. The mine is also eroding the sustainable development of surrounding Ipili and downstream communities. The mine is further implicated in serious human rights abuses.

Presentation: Canada is an important player in the global mining industry with important mineral holdings in Latin America. But the lack of an appropriate legislative and regulatory framework to hold our companies accountable for their operations abroad, means we are putting corporate rights over human rights. This presentation gives the example of Goldcorp's Marlin mine in Guatemala, with reference also to HudBay's Fénix nickel project.

Canada moves to support mining investment in Panama in the face of mounting human rights abuse by the Panamanian government and concerted opposition from Indigenous peoples, affected communities, and environmental groups. "The agreement as negotiated presents a very real risk of entrenching an ineffective and possibly irresponsible regulatory regime by protecting investments from tougher environmental or fiscal measures."

Canada’s economy is suffering right now. Did environmental assessment cause the recession? No, it did not. Will environmental assessment considerably delay economic recovery? No, it will not. It should, however, help us to transform the recovery into one that is based on more sustainable development alternatives.

The creation of large volumes of waste, including solids, liquid effluents, and air emissions, is a fact of life for mining and mineral processing operations. Depending on the minerals’ natural geology and how they are processed these wastes can often be hazardous to the environment and human health. Solid wastes including waste rock and tailings are, by volume, the most significant waste generated by mining and mineral processing. Solid wastes are typically in the tens to hundreds of millions of tons of waste for a single mine.

On October 8, 2009,  Catherine Coumans, Ph.D. appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development to testify on Bill C-300 - An Act respecting Corporate Accountability for the Activities of Mining, Oil or Gas in Developing Countries. Here is her presentation.

Published by the Canary Research Institute for Mining, Environment, and Health, this Community-Centred Health Assessment Toolkit will help members of mining-affected communities conduct their own assessment of the health of their community and guide them in taking steps towards supporting and improving the conditions for health in their communities.

The Toolkit is designed to be used by aboriginal and non-aboriginal communities where there is mining exploration or development or closed or abandoned mines. It can also be used by individuals, support groups, or institutions (academic, health) from outside the community that may be invited to help guide community members through parts, or all, of the health assessment and project planning process.

This report, researched by MiningWatch Canada, CENSAT-Agua Viva, and Inter Pares, looks at four case studies of Canadian extractive industry investment projects in Colombia, analyzing their associated potential human rights risks. Referring to principles developed by the UN Special Representative on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations, the report identifies issues and circumstances that clearly indicate that transparent and independent human rights impact assessments are necessary to avoid significant potential risk to human rights in existing and proposed extractive projects. Available from Inter Pares on request or download the PDF. Also available in French and coming soon in Spanish.

Presentation by Catherine Coumans at the Scottish Association for Marine Science’s Conference on Deep Sea Mine Tailings Placement, 4th-7th November 2008 at Madang Resort, Papua New Guinea.

Joint news release with Northwatch: A major new report highlights serious impacts on the Canadian boreal forest from all phases of mining activity, from exploration to closure. Two respected mining industry watchdogs – Northwatch and MiningWatch Canada – say they published The Boreal Below (an all-new and expanded version of a widely circulated 2001 report) in response to growing demand from communities across Canada for information and analysis to help understand the impacts of mining on their lives and livelihoods. It provides a carefully-documented analysis of the social, environmental, and cultural impacts of mining from prospecting to mine closure, as well as an overview of the current situation by province and territory.

Published by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Fertilizer Industry Association, this document is a bit optimistic about the impacts of potash mining, but provides a decent overview.

MiningWatch Presentation to Montreal Roundtable

Whether they bother with the Cyanide Code or the UN Global Compact or the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, or contract high-priced public relations consultants, or buy support from naïve NGOs and corrupt local officials, or actively divide communities, or rely on good old-fashioned intimidation, it is clear that most mining companies – from the largest global players to the smallest exploration juniors – are willing to do whatever they can get away with to reward their shareholders with juicy returns.

In 2006 independent hydrogological consultant Robert E. Moran undertook an assessment of Gabriel Resources' EIA report for its Rosia Montana project in Romania on behalf of Alburnus Maior and funded by Staples Trust, U.K. and the Open Society Foundation, Romania.