Unceded Anishinaabe Algonquin Territories (OTTAWA) As Canada’s largest network of climate, environmental, labour unions, faith groups and Indigenous organizations, Climate Action Network Canada is deeply alarmed at the proposals in Bill C-5’s Building Canada Act, announced today by Prime Minister Mark Carney.

Community and environmental groups have prepared an important report on the impacts of mining exploration activities by Nouveau Monde Graphite (NMG) in Matawinie. Following an independent community environmental monitoring campaign, the report identifies numerous cases of heavy metal concentrations in watercourses that exceed environmental protection criteria, likely attributable to exploration activities.

Saint-Michel-des-Saints, Montreal, June 4, 2025 - Today, community groups and environmental organizations are releasing the English version of a major report about the impacts of the mining company Nouveau Monde Graphite’s (NMG) exploration activities in Matawinie.

Our annual report provides some key impact stories from MiningWatch's work in 2024, with additional information about our financial position in 2024.

This year marked a milestone for MiningWatch. Celebrating our 25th anniversary provided an important opportunity for reflecting on the reasons MiningWatch formed when we first opened our doors in 1999, the struggles we’ve supported, the relationships we’ve built along the way, and the immense challenges that lie ahead. 

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), has been informed about the obstacles to freedom of expression and the intimidation and threats against the Mining Observatory, an independent investigative journalism center and think tank focused on the extractive sector in Brazil.

(xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil Waututh)/ Vancouver, B.C.) The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs and the Xinka Parliament of Guatemala call on the Canadian government and Pan American Silver to respect the Xinka People’s decision seeking the permanent closure of the Escobal mine in accord with their rights to self-determination under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN Declaration).

We find the Act as a whole to represent a disturbingly unaccountable and anti-democratic initiative, in that many of its provisions either bypass, undo, or override established processes, reserving decision-making authority to Ministers or Cabinet and removing those decisions from the purview of the Legislature or any other deliberative and publicly-accountable body or process.

The global steel, iron and metallurgical coal industry is emission intensive: the Canadian steel industry contributes to 2 percent of national emissions. Many emission-intensive Canadian steel mills either do not have plans in place, or are experiencing delays and a lack of clarity about the path to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050  – which is both a government and Canadian Steel Producers Association (CSPA) target.

We, the undersigned Canadian civil society organizations, wish to express our deep solidarity with the Xinka people and their struggle for self-determination concerning the future of the Escobal mine, owned by Vancouver-based Pan American Silver. The Indigenous Xinka people have denied consent for the restart of the mine in the culmination of a seven-year consultation process ordered by Guatemala’s Constitutional Court in September 2018.