Press Responses: April 1, 2009

Corporate Social Responsibility Rules for Mining Industry Blasted
by Lee Berthiaume
        
Published Apr. 1, 2009      

The Conservative government has rejected joint civil society-private sector calls to tie diplomatic and economic support for Canadian oil, gas and mining companies operating in developing countries to socially responsible conduct abroad.

CAO - Review of Marlin Mine - August, 22, 2005

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.

Letter to Minister Flaherty Re: New position and HI priorities- February 28, 2006

February 28, 2006

The Honourable James Flaherty
Minister of Finance
Department of Finance Canada
140 O’Connor Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0G5

Dear Minister Flaherty:

On behalf of the Halifax Initiative Coalition, I would like to congratulate you on your recent appointment as Minister of Finance. Over the past ten years, the Halifax Initiative has developed a good working relationship with the Department of Finance, and in the coming years we hope to strengthen this relationship.

Monday, November 10, 2003

European protests mount around Canadian gold-mine

Ottawa - Monday, November 10th, 2003, Today, in major cities across Europe, hundreds of people gathered outside Canadian embassies to protest Canadian Gabriel Resources proposed open cast gold mine in Rosia Montana, Romania.

The demonstrations took place in Budapest, Amsterdam, Vienna, Bratislava and Prague. In Bucharest, the protestors demanded that the Canadian Ambassador visit the site in the Apuseni Mountains to see the project's impacts for himself.

Press Responses: November 15, 2006

No digging up dirt at mine conference    
Closed-Door sessions are norm; Industry's behaviour in 3rd World discussed   
LYNN MOORE   
      
The Gazette   
      
A government-sponsored roundtable concerning corporate responsibility of Canadian mining companies operating in developing countries was subject to media restrictions yesterday, even as industry and watchdog groups urged "transparency and truth."  

Reporters could enter sessions open to the public during which seven-minute presentations were made by interested parties, but were "not welcome to report what is seen or heard," a Foreign Affairs spokesperson said yesterday as the Montreal roundtable opened.        

Press Response - November 16, 2003

FINANCE: Groups Fear Canadian Funding for Romanian Mine

Stephen Leahy

BROOKLIN, Canada, Nov 16 (IPS) - The World Bank's refusal to help fund a Canadian company's controversial development of a huge open pit gold mine in Romania has raised concerns the Canadian government will step in with money.

Last Monday hundreds of people gathered outside Canadian embassies in major European cities, including Budapest, Amsterdam, Vienna, Bratislava and Prague, to protest the 400-million-U.S.-dollar Rosia Montana gold mine in Romania. · Export Development Corporation· Romanian NGO Alburnus Maior· Gabriel Resources

''The Canadian government has to act to stop this mine. It will destroy the homes, churches and livelihoods of my people,” said Sorana Ciura, a member of Alburnus Maior, the Romanian group spearheading the protests, speaking at a news conference in Ottawa..

Desperately Seeking Sanction: Canadian Extractive Companies and their Public Partners

Article prepared for the 'Global Capital, Global Rights' workshop convened by SFU and UBC. The text discusses civil society efforts in support of Bill C-300, legislation that sought to create accountability mechanisms regarding the provision of government support to Canadian extractive companies that operate overseas.

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