Newsletter 27: Winter 2009-2010

MiningWatch Canada celebrated ten years of making the mining industry account for the true costs of its activities with an energizing social event on April 24, 2009. Supporters, partners, and allies joined current and former staff and directors to reflect and toast ten years of groundbreaking research and radical analysis, and to renew our collective commitment to end irresponsible mining practices and policies that sacrifice people and ecosystems in the quest for greater profits.

As MiningWatch celebrates our 10th anniversary we are pleased to also be celebrating the one year anniversary of Quebec’s new voice on the mining industry “La coalition pour que le Québec ait meilleure mine!”, roughly translated as “The Coalition to Put a Better Face on Quebec Mining.” (There’s a double-entendre in the name as mine means ‘appearance’ or ‘face’ as well as ‘mine’ in French.) MiningWatch is an active member providing our input, analysis and a small partner support grant to the Coalition.

On November 3, 2009, the Nova Scotia government passed a bill called the Uranium Exploration and Mining Prohibition Act. The purpose of the act is to “prohibit exploration for or mining of uranium in order to protect the health and safety of Nova Scotians and the quality of their environment.” MiningWatch commends the government of Nova Scotia for taking the initiative to legislate the moratorium that has been government policy since 1981.

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.