June 18, 2003

CBC’s “The Current”
June 18, 2003
Damming Evidence: Canada and the World Commission on Dams  
It's the most expensive construction project in the history of the human race, and one of the largest.
 
The Three Gorges dam project in China won't be finished until 2009, but this month it passed a symbolic landmark. Engineers closed the dam's sluice gates and for the first time the mighty Yangtze was blocked. The enormous reservoir behind the dam is now starting to fill with water.

Alburnus Maior - Bankwatch CEE - Friends of the Earth Canada - Greenpeace Canada - NGO Working Group on EDC -

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For immediate release

Canada refuses to take responsibility for large dam disasters by ignoring World Commission recommendations

Ottawa, June 12, 2003 - Canada should implement the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams (WCD), rather than continuing to support such environmental and human rights debacles as China's Three Gorges dam and Colombia's Urra dam, argues a new report, released today by the NGO Working Group on the EDC.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Submission

Appendix A

May 16, 2003

The Hon. Bill Graham
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Lester B. Pearson Building
125 Sussex Drive,
Ottawa, ON  K1A 0G2
Fax: (613) 996-3443

Dear Minister Graham:

Thank you for your letter of March 17, in response to the human rights concerns we raised with regards to the Three Gorges Dam, and Canada’s involvement in the project through Export Development Canada. We also received a response from EDC.

You are right to acknowledge the energy needs of the Chinese population, and to observe that relative to the total project budget of USD$24 billion, Canada contribution was minor. But this should not diminish the significance of the USD$165.5 million in financing that EDC provided, nor should it downplay the fact that as the first export credit agency to become involved in the project, EDC set an example for others to follow.

Update on submergence

OTTAWA                 PLEASE QUOTE FILE # JW03-10488

May 15, 2003

May 13, 2003

Mr. Ian Gillespie
President and CEO
Export Development Canada
151 O’Connor
Ottawa, ON  K1A 1K3

Dear Mr. Gillespie:

Re: Reporting out of the Compliance Officer in the EDC 2002 Annual report

Yolanda Banks, Corporate Social Responsibility Advisor, kindly forwarded us two copies of Export Development Canada’s (EDC) 2002 Annual Report, which we read with great interest.

We appreciate that this year a principal focus of EDC’s public policy objectives was to highlight the existence of its new Compliance Officer (CO) position and increase awareness of the position among different groups at EDC, and among corporations and civil society. The meetings you held and the disclosure of information on EDC’s web site helped realize this goal.

April 22nd, 2003
 
The Hon. David Anderson
Minister of the Environment