Vale Inco

At the invitation of Brazilian activists who are supporting communities struggling against multinational mining giant Vale (formerly Companhia Vale do Rio Doce) in Brazil, and with support from the Steelworkers Humanity Fund and the Canadian Auto Workers Social Justice Fund, MiningWatch’s Catherine Coumans attended the World Social Forum in Belem, Brazil in January 2009. Catherine was asked to provide local activists with information about relations between Vale and communities in Canada (Port Colborne and Sudbury in Ontario as well as Labrador), Indonesia and New Caledonia. In each of these places Inco (now owned by Vale and operating as a subsidiary, Vale Inco) is facing serious community concerns and criticism of its operations.

(Ottawa) MiningWatch Canada was shocked and saddened to hear of the passing of Innu leader Daniel Ashini Monday evening. Ashini, who had served as chief negotiator and president of the Innu Nation and as chief of the Sheshatshui Band Council, was involved in the creation of MiningWatch and was a member of its founding Board of Directors.

United Steel Worker Union members from Sudbury, Ontario, are on strike to protect important, hard-won benefits including pensions and the "nickel bonus". The bonus is a profit sharing mechanism paid  when nickel prices are high. Despite making substantial profits in recent years, the company is claiming that its Sudbury operations are not sustainable. Vale Inco staff are on record as saying they want to harmonize labour benefits across their global operations.

(Ottawa) The Newfoundland Department of Environment and Conservation has rejected Voisey’s Bay Nickel Company (VBNC)’s Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for a proposed nickel processing plant at Long Harbour in Newfoundland.

Over the past year, the Canary Institute and MiningWatch Canada have been honoured to work with Myths and Mirrors Community Arts in Sudbury on a project for youth called “Conversations with the Earth”. Myths and Mirrors hosted the Ontario Mining Action Network meeting in November 2007 and participants were treated to a tour of the project and the community art installations they have carried out over the years. The project involves youth and young parents in participatory research and public dialogue events on how mining has affected Sudbury’s environment. The research and discussions have led to youth’s collective creation of public artworks, videos, zines and other artforms, as well as other strategies for awareness and action.

We, the undersigned, write with deep concern over the recent conduct of Canadian ambassador to Guatemala, Kenneth Cook. Ambassador Cook has been misinforming people about the work of Canadian doctoral student Steven Schnoor, who has been in Central America for several months conducting CIDA-funded research, in collaboration with various Guatemalan organizations and communities. The ambassador's allegations also prejudice public perception of the territorial claims of indigenous Mayan Q'eqchi' communities affected by Canadian mining company Skye Resources.

A unique opportunity presented itself as a result of the Roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility and the Extractive Sector in Developing Countries. On November 13th, 2006, MiningWatch Canada brought together a panel in Montreal made up of community leaders from Indonesia, Guatemala, New Caledonia, and Canada who discussed their struggles against Inco (now CVRD-Inco, having been acquired by the Brazilian firm CVRD-Companhia Vale do Rio Doce).

On January 8th and 9th, 2007, hundreds of police and soldiers in Guatemala forcibly evicted the inhabitants of several communities who were living on lands that a Guatemalan military government had granted to Canadian mining company INCO in 1965. Local indigenous people claim the land to be theirs, and resent the exploitation of a foreign corporation. Canada's Skye Resources now lays claim to the land, and paid workers a nominal sum to destroy people's homes.

In the municipal jurisdiction of El Estor in northeastern Guatemala, Maya Q'eqchi' communities represent more than 90% of the population. They are scattered over an area of nearly 3,000 km² in more than 100 villages as well as the town of El Estor, totaling over 35,000 persons. The Guatemalan Ministry of Energy and Mines has granted more than 1,000 km² of the area of El Estor to international mining companies* for the purposes of exploration and exploitation of nickel using a strip mining process. Nearly all of these areas are lands on which indigenous communities live and work. Some have titles to their lands, but many are still in the process of collective titling of the lands they possess.

MiningWatch Canada learned today, through an application under the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act, that the two mining companies in Ontario with the largest environmental footprint have been allowed to "self-assure" their mining operations against closure and abandonment. The companies themselves estimate the cost of that clean-up as over $585 million.