The Mining Injustice Solidarity Network grew out of an ad-hoc group that was formed around organizing an annual conference on mining issues, held at the University of Toronto. The first conference, on April 26th, 2009, was a 1-day event that gathered members of impacted communities from around Canada and around the world, alongside key environmental justice organizers in Toronto. It was MC’ed by Judy Rebick.
In 2010, the conference grew to a 2 day event, MCed by Clayton Thomas-Muller and with the participation of representatives from Honduras, Guatemala, Carrier Sekani First Nation, Papua New Guinea, El Salvador, Ardoch Algonquin, Northern Ontario, Fort Chipewan, and Mexico.
The 2011 conference included a keynote speech by Winona LaDuke and was MCed by Susana Deranger. It featured international and local struggles for mining justice. This year, MISN borrowed many of the speakers that Kairos was hosting for an large ecumenical conference they were hosting in Toronto, resulting in even more international struggles represented than at past conferences.
In 2012, the final conference from MISN was held, with keynotes by Avi Chomsky and Colombian Union leader Francisco Ramirez Cuellar. This conference featured speakers representing struggles in Tanzania, Argentina, Ecuador, Algonquin, Guatemala, Chile, Peru, Wahgoshig First Nation, Colombia and the Congo.
In 2013, instead of our normal mining conference, MISN decided to focus our efforts on actions. From mid April to Mid-May, we organized a month of events and protests that became our first “Spring into Action”.