On August 19^th, 2019 members of Mariano Abarca’s family, along with supporting Mexican organizations, held a press conference in San Cristobal de las Casas to denounce the 10^th anniversary of impunity for Mariano’s murder and announce their decision to use their right to appeal the Federal Court of Canada’s

August 19, 2019 (Ottawa/Mexico City/Tuxtla Gutiérrez) The family of Mariano Abarca, who was murdered nearly ten years ago for his leadership in community protests over the environmental and social impacts of a Canadian-owned mine in Chiapas, Mexico, have filed notice with the Federal Court of Appeal. They are appealing the July decision of Federal Court Judge Keith Boswell who conceded that “perhaps Mariano Abarca would not have been murdered” if the Canadian embassy in Mexico “[had] acted in a certain way,” and yet refused to order an investigation.  

(Halifax/K’jipuktuk) John Perkins has filed a lawsuit against Atlantic Gold Corporation and the RCMP stemming from his arrest at a public information session organized by the gold mining corporation at the Sherbrooke Fire Hall on May 23, 2019.

On August 9, Canadians in Ottawa and Vancouver took to the streets in solidarity with Indigenous peoples and other Filipinos protesting the environmental destruction and human rights abuses of Canadian-Australian mining company OceanaGold in the Philippines.

On July 18^th 2019, the Shuar Arutam President and Executive Council, representing over 12,000 inhabitants of the Indigenous Shuar Arutam territory, released a statement (below in full) pertaining to Solaris Copper’s “Warintza” project in Southern Ecuador.  

(Sydney, Ottawa) The Australian-Canadian mining company OceanaGold has been forced to cease mining for over a month at its Didipio copper-gold mine in Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines. The company faces a restraining order from municipal and provincial elected officials, a blockade of the site by Didipio villagers (most of whom are Indigenous peoples), a lapsed mining permit, and a renewal application that has not been approved by the President of the Philippines.

MiningWatch is one of eight leading environmental organizations that addressed this open letter to the Prime Minister regarding shortcomings in proposed regulations under the new federal Impact Assessment Act (the recently-passed bill C-69).

(Guatemala City/Ottawa/Washington D.C.) On Tuesday, lawyers representing four Guatemalan members of the peaceful resistance to the Escobal mine announced the conclusion of the precedent-setting lawsuit against Tahoe Resources, recently acquired by Pan American Silver.

(Chiapas, Mexico City, Ottawa, Toronto, Kamloops) In a decision published on July 18th, Federal Justice Keith Boswell conceded that “perhaps Mariano Abarca would not have been murdered” if the embassy “[had] acted in a certain way”. Mariano was a community leader from Chicomuselo, Chiapas, Mexico who was assasinated for his role in the struggle against the social and environmental impacts of Canadian mining company Blackfire Exploration’s barite mine on November 27, 2009. 

(Toronto) Last week, fourteen civil society organizations resigned from a federal advisory committee after the federal government took away powers to investigate from the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE).