Report by the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability (CNCA): Large-scale mining, oil and gas extraction is dirty business. Extractive projects often pit investors, extractive companies and national governments against communities and indigenous groups who seek to protect land and resources that support their livelihoods. In their quest for profit, some governments and extractive companies cut corners on environmental protection and are complicit in human rights violations.
Canadian extractive companies have been implicated in controversies around the world–from California to Sudan to Guatemala. Yet the Government of Canada provides support to the extractive sector, often without assurances to the public that a project will not harm the environment or violate human rights. In some cases, the government has supported projects after well-documented human rights and/or environmental abuses have been revealed.
Please see the full summary and download the report at www.halifaxinitiative.org/dirtypractices.
The Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability (CNCA) represents non-governmental organizations, churches, trade unions and other civil society organizations concerned with the detrimental human rights and environmental impacts of Canadian extractive industries. It calls for the Canadian Government to move beyond corporate social responsibility measures that are strictly voluntary; the Government must regulate practices of Canadian extractive companies operating overseas.