Mainstream press in Canada is reporting on Canadian Mining abuses abroad
This week’s reporting in the Toronto Star included a series of important reports on Canadian mining companies operating abroad. The first report detailed allegations (backed with video evidence) that companies have used paramilitaries to violently trample their opposition to mines that threaten rainforests and their way of life in Ecuador. It also gives some context into Canada’s track record of ignoring a long history of similar allegations. The second article focused on Barrick’s Porgera mine in Papua New Guinea and particularly on Sarah Knuckey’s (Lawyer, Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, New York University School of Law) testimony before the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development (FAAE). There, she repeated personal accounts of gang rape and other mine security violence told to her during her time in Papua New Guinea. Finally, the third article told the story of Romina Picolotti, a former Argentine environment minister who testified to receiving threats against her and her family following a mining intervention.
John McKay, Liberal MP for Scarborough-Guildwood, has introduced a private member’s bill designed to put controls on mining companies overseas. Conservatives have vowed to kill the bill, which is opposed by Canada’s mining industry. MPs are debating it in a House of Commons committee this week.