November 8, 2005

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November 1, 2005

A leaked internal audit assessing the World Bank's involvement in a controversial Canadian gold mine in Guatemala has

Internal Review Slams World Bank over Lapses at Guatemala Mine - Backgrounder

August 22, 2005

A forthcoming report by the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO), a body responsible for conducting internal reviews at the World Bank’s private sector lending arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), identifies glaring deficiencies in the due diligence the institution conducted for a controversial new gold-mining project in Guatemala. The project, currently under construction by Canadian company Glamis Gold in Guatemala’s indigenous western highlands, has been surrounded by controversy and conflict since before the IFC approved $45 million in support for the project in June 2004. In January of this year, a forty-day protest by local villagers worried about the mine’s potential environmental impacts ended in bloodshed as security forces clashed with protesters, resulting in one death and dozens of injuries.

Leaked Review Slams World Bank over Canadian Mine

August 22, 2005 - A leaked internal audit assessing the World Bank's involvement in a controversial Canadian gold mine in Guatemala has exposed glaring deficiencies in the due diligence undertaken by the Bank prior to approving a $45 million loan for the mine.

Glamis Gold's Marlin mine in the Western Highlands of Guatemala has been plagued with controversy since the outset. In March, the Compliance Advisory Ombudsman (CAO), the internal auditor for the Bank's private sector lending arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), began an investigation after receiving local complaints about the mine.

July 6, 2004

The Honourable Ralph Goodale
Minister of Finance
L'Esplanade Laurier, East Tower, 21st Floor
140 O'Connor Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0G5

RE: Request for Canada to call for an extension of EIR Comment Period

Dear Minister Goodale,

On June 18, the World Bank Group Management released Draft Management Responses to the World Bank Group Extractive Industries Review, the OED/OEG/OEU Evaluation of Extractive Industries, and the Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman Report. We appreciate that the World Bank Board requested the release of these documents for public comments.

Unfortunately, these drafts were available only in English during almost half of the allotted comment period. Ironically, one of the key recommendations in all three reports is to continue to improve public participation and access to information on various different levels.

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.

December 12, 2002

Mr. James Wolfensohn
President
The World Bank Group
1818 H Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20433 U.S.A.

Dear Mr. Wolfensohn,

We are writing to express dismay at the recent Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman report on the MIGA guarantee of the Bulyanhulu gold mine and to request your urgent intervention.

The CAO is a mechanism that non-governmental organizations have pushed hard to establish. Your personal support for the initiative played a major role in ensuring that the CAO was established. As all parties have observed, the CAO's effectiveness rests on the respect and trust it enjoys amongst the public: integrity, transparency, even¬handedness and thoroughness are thus critical to all aspects of its work.

Comments and critiques of EDC’s Environmental Review Directive and recommendations by the Working Group - March 1, 2002