No less than six Cabinet ministers stood in the foyer of the House of Commons yesterday to announce sweeping reviews of key environmental laws. The details are not clear yet – in fact, the government has (perhaps wisely) asked for public input before it finalizes the review processes – but it is clear that there is an opportunity to not only undo the damage that the Harper government had done to environmental assessment and the protection of fish and fish habitat, but to go much further and fundamentally change our approach to environmental planning and industrial development.

Join the call for #Justice4Berta/#JusticiaParaBerta, sign and share our petition here.

(Ottawa) New data released yesterday by the B.C. Crown Contaminated Sites Program (CCSP) has MiningWatch Canada to calling on the provincial government to “stop talking and start acting” to prevent future mine sites environmental disasters.

(Toronto/Ottawa) Today, during OceanaGold’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Toronto, company shareholders were asked to scrutinize company claims regarding supposed benefits for affected communities in El Salvador and the Philippines.

“It just doesn’t add up. OceanaGold is not acting in the interest of communities in El Salvador when it sues the country for USD $250 million over a mine permit that it has never met the regulatory requirements to obtain,” remarked Rachel Small from the Council of Canadians in Toronto.

(Ottawa) MiningWatch Canada today published a new analysis showing that British Columbia (BC) has the largest unsecured environmental liability for mine site clean-up costs when compared to the two other main mining jurisdictions in Canada: Ontario and Quebec.

BC’s total unsecured liability amounts to $1.5 billion, compared to $1.4 billion for Ontario and $1.2 billion for Quebec (see Table 1 in analysis, using provincial figures).

(Malartic, 26 May 2016) Local, provincial and national groups denounce Quebec Environment Minister David Heurtel for rushing into public hearings despite repeated demands by community members to postponed hearings until early fall. “The Minister’s haste contradicts his own government’s claim to prioritize community information and consultation prior to project approvals”, says Ugo Lapointe from MiningWatch and co-spokesperson for Coalition Quebec Meilleure Mine.

(Ottawa) Ahead of Ivanhoe Mines’ annual shareholders’ meeting tomorrow in Vancouver, community representatives and activists are asking if shareholders are prepared to condone the human rights abuses and illegal operations that they allege the company is responsible for as it pushes ahead with development of its Ivanplats (Platreefs) project in South Africa.

(Fredericton) The Sisson Mine should not be approved based on an expert review of the federal government’s Comprehensive Study Report of the project, says the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, a funded participant in the federal environmental review of the project.

(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, B.C.) The B.C. government is enabling a dangerous disregard for environmental monitoring, reporting and protection among mining companies by letting them off the hook for the full costs of environmental reclamation – leaving taxpayers liable for more than $1.5 billion, a new report shows.