The urgency of abandoned mines clean-up is becoming increasingly obvious to federal decision-makers. This summer, MiningWatch Canada has been working with the Mining Association of Canada (MAC) and officials at Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) to come up with a plan that will:
In 1995, the federal government issued a "Guide to Green Government" and the Auditor General Act was amended to made sustainable development an integral part of federal policy. All 28 federal departments were asked to develop and table sustainable development strategies in accordance with the Act. T...
Gaining Ground: Women, Mining and the Environment was a two-day gathering held at Lake LaBerge, Yukon, September 15-17, 2000. It brought together women from Yukon communities affected by mining and women from elsewhere with experience in the health, science, and social science sectors. The gathering...
1. Sanctions do not include investment. Investment is not included in the sanctions imposed by Canada on Burma in 1997. The sanctions were restricted to imports and exports. According both the First Dynasty and Ivanhoe Mines Annual Information Returns 2000, "the...
Tiomin Resources has responded to some of the information presented by Action Aid and the Kenyatta University researchers. Matthew Edler, Vice President of Tiomin Resources, faxed us a letter on August 8, 2000, which you can view here.
Indonesian mining activists Arianto (Anto) Sangaji of the Free Earth Foundation and Andi Baso Am of KWAS, the indigenous peoples' organisation of Soroako on the island of Sulawesi, spent the last two weeks of April visiting communities in Canada that also have to deal with Inco.
The tour...
A submission by Entraide Missionaire, a Montréal-based human rights group, to the annual Foreign Affairs human rights consultation, got a lot more attention than such presentations usually receive when it was written up in the Globe and Mail. The report documents the way that the privatisation of...
On May 18, 2000, International Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew responded to the recommendations of a Parliamentary review of the Export Development Act, which is the Act governing the Export Development Corporation (EDC). According to Pettigrew, "The way the Corporation addresses these issues will...
This project should not go ahead. It has not had proper public consultation and review. It represents too great a potential cost to the environment on the area.
The applications of Canadian United Minerals for permits under the Quartz Mining Act to explore the "Horn claims" are of national significance. They attack the very basis of aboriginal title and interest. They fly in the face of commitments made by the Honourable Robert Nault to protect parks...
On January 11th, MiningWatch Canada presented a plan for dealing with Canada's abandoned mines crisis to the eight members of cabinet most responsible for finding solutions to this issue. The plan calls for:
When foreign investment is encouraged in the absence of adequate controls, the results can be very disturbing. This was one of the themes coming out of the "Mining, development, and social conflicts in Africa" conference held by the Third World Network (TWN) in Accra, Ghana on November 14-18, 1999...
April 14-16, 2000: MiningWatch Canada, together with the Canadian Consortium for International Co-operation (CCISD), is hosting a workshop in Ottawa of 25-30 community leaders from rural and indigenous communities affected by mining around the world.
Participants will share their experience in...
Five years after it came into force, it is time to look at the effectiveness of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA). Under the law, after five years the Minister of Environment must report to Parliament on the adequacy of the law and its implementation, and propose needed changes.
Thro...
MiningWatch Canada has initiated a small regional grants program. The goal of the program is to strengthen the capacity of people in communities affected by mining activities to assert their needs and rights. We will fund travel and exchange between community leaders and education and...