Churches push for industry ethics rules
Canadians often 'the bad guys' in overseas mining operations
Kelly Patterson
The Ottawa Citizen
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Some of Canada's most powerful church leaders are demanding the government take action to ensure Canadian mining and oil firms behave ethically in their overseas operations.
"This is a fundamental ethical issue," says Roger Ebacher, archbishop of Gatineau.
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January 13, 2005.
PRESS RELEASE- ECA-Watch Campaign
December 03, 2001
Another one bites the dust :
OECD negotiations break down again
For the second time in three years, major international negotiations have broken down at the OECD. Then, it was the Multilateral Agreement on Investment, the “MAI”. This time, it is an attempt at negotiating common environmental guidelines for export credit agencies (ECAs), the world’s largest official financiers of environmentally and socially destructive projects in developing countries.
Oyu Tolgoi is an enormous copper and gold deposit in Mongolia. The project is jointly owned by Canadian company Turquoise Hill Resources and a state owned enterprise. According to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), estimated project cost is $12 billion. Project proponents seek financing from Export Development Canada, the IFC, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, among others. In this document, CSOs argue that the project does not comply with the IFC Performance Standards and provide a series of recommendations.
Government warned about risk of mining accidents overseas
Mining Abroad 'Morally Wrong': MPs
■ Alexa McDonough and British MP Steve Pound try to resurrect the call for Canada to enact social responsibility requirements.
By Chris Gillcash
NDP MP Alexa McDonough is calling on Canada to enact standards of corporate social responsibility in overseas mining operations following a trip to Honduras last week to investigate concerns that some Canadian companies working in Honduras are taking advantage of weak regulations and endangering local residents through environmental contamination.