Prominent Canadians, in a letter to the Prime Minister today, called on the government to put a stop to human

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Background

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.

May 31, 2005

Canadian mine strikes lode of unrest

The debate over the presence of a gold mine in Guatemala has resulted in a call for 'urgent action' by Amnesty International.

Kelly Patterson
The Ottawa Citizen
Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Violence over a Canadian gold mine is threatening the fragile peace in Guatemala, which is still reeling in the aftermath of its 36-year civil war.

Clashes over Glamis Gold Ltd.'s fledgling project 130 kilometres northwest of Guatemala City have escalated recently, with a car bombing and two killings.

Amnesty International issued a call for "urgent action" last week after three opponents of the mine received death threats. Anti-mining activists have in turn menaced Glamis staff, the company says.

Canadian mine in eye of storm; Protests bring moratorium on licences for extraction of gold and silver

David Agren
The Ottawa Citizen

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

A Canadian mining company that struck a rich vein of gold in Transylvania has encountered strong opposition from environmental groups and local residents who are organizing an MTV-sponsored concert to try to thwart the development of a giant open-pit mine.

Organizers expect 2,000 protesters and fans to converge on Rosia Montana, a mineral-rich, but impoverished corner of western Romania this weekend for a concert headlined by hip-hop and alternative rock acts and a march to oppose to the project.

Corruption: Canada backs firm banned by World Bank

by Marty Logan, Inter Press Service (Johannesburg), July 30, 2004.

It is business as usual between Canadian government agencies and a local company barred from World Bank contracts after being convicted of bribery in Africa.

In September 2002, engineering firm Acres International was found guilty in the High Court in the southern African nation of Lesotho for trying to bribe the official responsible for the multi-billion-dollar World Bank-financed Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP).

Acres, based in Oakville in the province of Ontario, appealed and last year had one charge dropped. But the conviction was maintained on the second count and the firm was fined the equivalent of two million U.S. dollars.