Water Justice News
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UPDATE: Barlow to speak in support of challenge against Hudbay Minerals in Toronto, Nov. 28
Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow will be speaking at the OISE Auditorium in Toronto this Wednesday November 28 at 7 pm in support of five people from Guatemala challenging the Toronto-based mining company Hudbay Minerals. The CBC National News reported this week, “A group of indigenous people from Guatemala say a Canadian mining company…
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Bearing Witness to Community Struggles Against Dams and Mining in Mexico
Friends, I invite you to read my observations of my recent trip to Mexico here. “In November 2012, members of the Blue Planet Project team, including Maude Barlow, former Senior Advisor on Water to the 63rd President of the United Nations General Assembly and Blue Planet Project founder, and Claudia Campero, Blue Planet Project Organizer,…
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UPDATE: Chronology of the conflict over mining in San Jose del Progreso
The Blue Planet Project participated in a ‘Misión Civil de Observación’ in San Jose del Progreso, Mexico last week. The group of about 25 observers looked into the Canadian-owned Fortuna Silver mine (operating through its Mexican subsidiary Compañía Minera Cuzcatlan) near this community (ejido) of Indigenous Zapotec farmers near the city of Oaxaca. Pieced together…
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NEWS: Fantino signals new foreign aid policy that benefits mining companies
The Globe and Mail reports, “The federal government is signalling a profound shift in its approach to foreign aid… (On Friday), International Co-operation Minister Julian Fantino outlined his vision for the agency’s future in an address to the Economic Club of Canada… The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) funds humanitarian aid and long-term development […]
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NEWS: Anti-mine protesters march on Canadian consulate in Thessaloniki, Greece
The Associated Press reports, “About 3,000 protesters have marched in the northern Greek city (of Thessaloniki) in protest against what they claim are environment-threatening gold mining projects. Riot police barred the protesters’ intended route to the Canadian Consulate on Saturday, but no incidents were reported. Canadian company Eldorado Gold Corp. is involved in four gold…
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International human rights delegation investigates Canadian mine in Oaxaca
I have been in San Jose del Progreso in Oaxaca, Mexico this week on behalf of the Blue Planet Project with Brent Patterson as part of a human rights delegation called the “Mision Civil de Observacion Justicia para San Jose del Progreso.” The Mision is aimed at investigating tensions surrounding yet […]
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A plan to save the “Place Where the Sun Was Born”
I recently had the privilege of visiting Mexico as part of a pre-hearing on dams for the Permanent People’s Tribunal and while there, visited the Sierra de Catorce area of San Luis Potosi to see the impacts of mining on the Wixarika (Huichol) people and the local environment. Like many Canadians, I am increasingly alarmed…
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UPDATE: Blue Planet Project to visit San José del Progreso
On November 20-22, Blue Planet Project water campaigner Meera Karunananthan and I will join a human rights delegation looking into the situation in San José del Progreso in Mexico. While the Blue Planet Project team was in Marseille in mid-March protesting the World Water Forum, we received word that Bernardo Vásquez Sánchez, a Mexican civil…
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UPDATE: Corporate Knights list of ’sustainable’ mining companies ‘beyond pathetic’
Corporate Knights lists among the ‘Top 10 Most Sustainable Canadian Mining Companies’ – Barrick Gold Corp. (#1), Goldcorp Inc. (#4), Eldorado Gold Corp (#6), and New Gold Inc. (#8). In a Facebook post about this list, MiningWatch Canada says, “This is beyond pathetic. No consideration for human rights, labour, or actual environmental impact. Rape, murder,…
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UPDATE: Barlow in Mexico (days six to eight)
As intense as the first five days were, the next two took me on an amazing journey to the heart of an ancient people fighting to protect 4000 years of tradition and way of life. Day Six After leaving the press conference on November 9th, Claudia Campero and I flew to San Luis Potosi in…