Corporate Social Responsibility

This article appeared as an opinion piece in the Toronto Star, March 22, 2010: The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s (PDAC) annual convention is one of the largest gatherings of mining interests in the world. Much to the disappointment of those who are concerned about the impact of Canadian mining operations in developing countries, this year’s convention became a high-profile venue for launching a full-blown campaign against a bill aimed at improving the performance of Canadian mining, oil and gas operations operating internationally.

On February 9, 2009, Liberal Member of Parliament John McKay tabled a private member’s bill in the House of Commons. Bill C-300, titled An Act respecting Corporate Accountability for the Activities of Mining, Oil or Gas in Developing Countries, would codify a number of key recommendations on accountability for Canadian extractive companies operating in developing countries from the March 2007 Final Report of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Roundtables.

In March 2009 the Canadian government finally released its response to the March 2007 Advisory Group Report of the CSR Roundtables (see “Groundbreaking Report on Mining, Oil and Gas Companies Released: Civil Society and Industry Representatives Agree on Good Overseas Practices” on our web site at http://www.miningwatch.ca/en/groundbreaking-report-mining-oil-and-gas-companies-released).

Joint communiqué with CISPES (Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador): On December 26, 2009, Dora “Alicia” Recinos Sorto, age 32, was assassinated, the second anti-mining activist killed this week in the small community of Nueva Trinidad in the department of Cabañas. Recinos Sorto was eight months pregnant and carrying her two-year old child when she was shot on her way back from doing laundry at a nearby river. She and her husband, José Santos Rodríguez, were outspoken opponents of the proposed El Dorado mine which Pacific Rim, a Vancouver-based mining company, is desperate to open despite widespread community opposition.

Recently, Toronto-based Pinetree Capital bought a few million shares of Copper Mesa Mining Corporation, making it the largest share owner of a failing company currently embroiled in a lawsuit . The takeover raised the price of its penny stock upwards to between three and five cents. Copper Mesa, however, got a lot more than what it bargained for.

Joint news release with CAFOD, the Canadian Boreal Initiative, Earthworks, Great Basin Resource Watch, the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions, and the Western Shoshone Defense Project: A mining and jewelry industry trade association -- the Responsible Jewellery Council -- launched its certification scheme this week. The RJC is comprised of mining and jewelry companies -- the very entities the certification scheme would govern. Unfortunately, RJC's system primarily serves to illustrate the need for independent, third-party monitoring.

Joint news release with Common Frontiers-Canada, the Council of Canadians, and the United Steelworkers: Documents recently filed by the Mexican Network of People Affected by Mining (REMA, from the Spanish) with the Chiapas Attorney General’s Office have exposed Blackfire’s involvement in the corruption of local officials for the purpose of intimidating opponents to the company's open pit barite mine. “We have obtained documents – which Blackfire admits are genuine – that clearly show payments of US$1,000 a month going directly into the Mayor of Chicomuselo’s bank account on the understanding that municipal authorities would keep community members opposed to the mine under control,” explained Rick Arnold, coordinator for Common Frontiers-Canada.