Canadian mines, Canadian UN diplomats disappear in Niger

Groups fighting for the rights of ethnic Tuaregs understood that Mr. Fowler was trying to help them, Dr. Ahmed said, and he hinted that it might be Niger's government who had abducted him.

“Who has an interest in Mr. Fowler not doing his work?” he asked.

...

Tuareg rebel groups have accused uranium mining companies, including French firm Areva and Canadian company Global Uranium Corp., of being complicit in the Niger government's abuses in the country's north.

Conflicting claims deepen diplomat mystery

Rebel group's hasty about-face has UN officials wondering whether two missing Canadians were mixed up in factional infighting in Niger

• Article

CAMPBELL CLARK and BOUREIMA HAMA

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

December 16, 2008 at 10:42 PM EST

OTTAWA/NIAMEY — The disappearance of two Canadians on a high-level UN mission to Niger grew even murkier yesterday, when a rebel group claimed responsibility for abducting them but later denied any involvement.

The bizarre claims and counterclaims by the group of Tuareg rebels, who eventually sought to cast the blame on Niger's government, left United Nations officials trying to evaluate whether their envoys are embroiled in infighting between rebel factions, but seemed to provide no solid information on where they are.

The car carrying retired Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler, the UN special envoy to Niger, his colleague Louis Guay, and

a locally hired driver was found Sunday night 45 kilometres outside the capital, Niamey, with three cellphones, a camera and a jacket still inside.

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Niger's Communications Minister, Mohamed Ben Omar, said efforts to locate the three men had so far yielded nothing. And a UN spokesman in New York, Farhan Haq, said there has been no direct contacts from the diplomats or anyone claiming to hold them.

Canadian officials, meanwhile, said little about the case.

“Right now our focus is to work with the UN and Niger authorities to determine Ambassador Fowler's whereabouts as well as Mr. Guay's whereabouts and to ascertain their welfare,” said a Foreign Affairs spokeswoman, Lisa Monette.

The three disappeared in the country's relatively secure southwest, hundreds of kilometres from the northern regions where Tuareg rebels in the Niger Movement for Justice, or MNJ, have mounted an armed insurrection since 2007.

The rebels accuse Niger's government of “ethnocide,” saying they have been displaced from pastoral lands and excluded from a fair share of revenues from the uranium mines operated by French and Canadian firms.

Mr. Haq said that exploring ways to resolve the conflict with the rebels was part of Mr. Fowler's mandate. And Mr. Ben Omar revealed Mr. Fowler had twice sought permission – which had been denied – to travel to Niger's north to visit a planned uranium mine site.

Yesterday morning, a rebel splinter group formed in May, the Front des Forces de Redressement, or FFR, released a statement on its website saying it had abducted Mr. Fowler and three others in a “commando” operation.

That statement, attributed to its high-ranking “war commissioner,” Rhissa Ag Boula, said Canada is arming Niger's government, an assertion Ms. Monette denied.

But the FFR's president, Mohamed Awtchiki Kriska, quickly denied any involvement.

“We have no information. The person who put that information on our website was misled. This type of action is contrary to the vision and the approach of the FFR,” Mr. Kriska said. Mr. Ag Boula later told Radio France Internationale the group was not involved.

A second communiqué appeared on the group's website yesterday afternoon, saying the FFR was not involved, and if another group that shares the same goals had abducted the diplomats, the FFR is not responsible.

“We hope that Mr. Fowler will be rapidly returned to Canadian consular authorities, or representatives of the United Nations, because the Niger army could endanger his security to impede the mission he leads, and at the same time accuse rebel movements.”

Tuareg rebel groups have accused uranium mining companies, including French firm Areva and Canadian company Global Uranium Corp., of being complicit in the Niger government's abuses in the country's north.

But Dangana Ahmed, a spokesman for the main rebel group, the MNJ, said in a telephone interview that the group welcomed Mr. Fowler's efforts to find solutions to Niger's problems.

“His efforts went in the direction of more justice, more respect for human rights, more development for local populations, so more good governance,” Dr. Ahmed said. “We think people like him are needed.”

He said Mr. Fowler was expected to meet MNJ officials outside Niger at a later date.

Groups fighting for the rights of ethnic Tuaregs understood that Mr. Fowler was trying to help them, Dr. Ahmed said, and he hinted that it might be Niger's government who had abducted him.

“Who has an interest in Mr. Fowler not doing his work?” he asked.

Despite the international attention focused on the disappearance of the two diplomats, it remains unclear precisely why Mr. Fowler and Mr. Guay travelled outside the capital.

Mr. Ben Omar said Monday they had visited the Canadian-operated Samira Hill gold mine before their car was found. But Mr. Haq said the UN has yet to confirm a precise account of Mr. Fowler's travels that day.

Mr. Fowler, appointed special envoy in July by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, had visited Niger once earlier this year. He arrived for a second visit Thursday and was to meet government officials and others as part of “exploratory discussions” to help address “challenges to the country's stability,” Mr. Haq said.

Boureima Hama is a freelance reporter.

Fight for Public Involvement in Environmental Assessment Heads To Supreme Court

Thursday December 18, 2008 10:32 AM

First Time Environmental Group Granted Leave to Appeal to Supreme Court of Canada

(Ottawa/Vancouver) A long battle over the public’s right to be consulted on large mines and other industrial projects is now heading to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Supreme Court decided today to allow MiningWatch Canada to appeal a decision of the Federal Court of Appeal. The decision is being heralded as a significant milestone for environmentalists, as this is the first time an environmental group has been given leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.

“The Supreme Court has recognized the importance of environmental protection, and specifically the importance of public participation in the environmental assessment process, in deciding to hear this case,” said Jamie Kneen, Communications Coordinator for MiningWatch Canada. “Huge projects like this, with significant environmental impacts, are not supposed to proceed without public involvement.”

The case revolves around the contentious Red Chris mine, a proposed open-pit copper and gold mine that poses a serious threat to the headwaters of the Stikine, Nass, and Skeena rivers in northern British Columbia – known to First Nations as the “Sacred Headwaters” region. The project’s proponent, Imperial Metals, proposes to destroy fish-bearing streams by damming them and using these natural waters to dump toxic mine waste.

Under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and its regulations, metal mines processing more than 3,000 tonnes of ore per day must undergo comprehensive assessments, including public participation. The proposed Red Chris mine would process 30,000 tonnes of ore every day. However, the federal departments of Fisheries and Oceans and Natural Resources Canada conducted a simple screening-level assessment – excluding public participation – before approving the project in May 2006.

Ecojustice (formerly Sierra Legal Defence Fund) launched a lawsuit on behalf of MiningWatch in June 2006. The groups asked the Federal Court to overturn the federal government’s screening assessment. In September 2007, the Federal Court sided with the environmentalists, ruling that the federal government had unlawfully evaded a comprehensive review of the Red Chris mine project. But in 2008, Imperial Metals and the federal government successfully appealed that decision to the Federal Court of Appeal.

“The Supreme Court’s willingness to hear our appeal indicates that public consultation on major mines and other industrial projects is a significant issue nationwide,” said Lara Tessaro, staff lawyer with Ecojustice. “I look forward to fighting for the public’s right to participate in environmental assessments.”

For more information, please contact:

• Lara Tessaro, Staff Lawyer, Ecojustice, phone (604) 685-5618 x245, cell (604) 313-3132
• Jamie Kneen, Communications Coordinator, MiningWatch Canada, phone (613) 569-3439, cell (613) 761-2273

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MINING WATCH CANADA

Mining takes place in many parts of Canada, mostly on Aboriginal lands, and causing a range of impacts - environmental, economic, social, and health-related.

Sub-topics:

• Alberta
• British Columbia
• Labrador
• Manitoba
• Newfoundland & Labrador
• Northwest Territories
• Nova Scotia
• Nunavut
• Ontario Ontario has the largest metal mining sector of all the provinces in Canada, and accounts for one-third of Canada's mineral production.
• Québec
• Saskatchewan
• Yukon

Unreleased Report Forecasts Water Troubles

News Release: The Council of Canadians and MiningWatch Canada have made public a report drafted by Environment Canada in December 2007 revealing that the agency had documented crucial information regarding the looming freshwater crisis in Canada. [October 20, 2008 08:54 AM]

Federal government denies need to consult public on major mining projects: Ruling will test strength of revised environmental assessment law

Joint news release with Ecojustice, with background: Do citizens have a right to be consulted about proposed large industrial developments? This question is at the heart of a major appeal to be heard by the Federal Court, May 15th – the ruling will profoundly influence efforts to protect Canada’s environment. [May 13, 2008 11:37 PM]

Lawsuit exposes Canada’s toxic tailings secret: Groups say feds flouting law, hiding mining pollution from public

(Joint news release with Ecojustice and Great Lakes United, with background) Ecojustice filed a lawsuit on behalf of MiningWatch Canada and Great Lakes United against Canada’s Minister of Environment to ensure that the hundreds of millions of kilograms of toxic mining waste being kept secret from the Canadian public are reported. It alleges that the Minister broke the law when he directed mining companies to ignore their legal responsibility to report millions of kilograms of pollution from their operations under the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI). [November 7, 2007 09:32 AM]

Government to Sacrifice More Canadian Lakes to the Mining Industry

MiningWatch has learned from Environment Canada that together with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans they now maintain a list of some twenty lakes that are slated for destruction by mine waste over the next few years. This amounts to a massive public subsidy to the global mining industry in the form of healthy Canadian lakes. [June 25, 2007 03:33 PM]

There Are No Clean Diamonds: What You Need to Know About Canadian Diamonds

There are no clean diamonds. Exploring for them, digging them out of the ground and selling them requires sacrifices from the natural environment, from the wildlife and fish that live on it, and from the Aboriginal people who depend on it. We want to ensure that the public understands that Canada’s Aboriginal communities are engaged in a daily power struggle to ensure that the mines benefit their people, and to ensure that these mines do not irreversibly damage the intricate web of life on which we all depend. [December 6, 2006 11:35 PM]

Green Budget Coalition Recommends Strategic Spending Cuts

News Release: The Green Budget Coalition urges the Government of Canada to seize the unique opportunities available to cut spending while improving Canada's long-term environmental, economic, and health status. [March 29, 2006 02:10 PM]

More Precious Than Gold: Mineral Development and the Protection of Biological Diversity in Canada

This discussion paper lays out some of the primary issues and concerns related to mining in protected areas from a biodiversity-protection perspective. It provides an overview for those concerned about mining and environment conflicts, and raises questions about future directions. Prepared by the Environmental Mining Council of British Columbia for the World Wildlife Federation. (PDF, 1.9 MB) [May 23, 1998 12:20 PM]

Annual Day for Industry to Mine Canadians’ Pockets: Mining Association of Canada Takes to the Hill Amidst Growing Criticism

Joint news release with Friends of the Earth Canada. “It is no longer enough for the industry to simply show up with its hands out and plead for more taxpayers’ dollars,” says Graham Saul, Friends of the Earth Canada’s International Program Director. “Canadian mining companies have to be willing to subject themselves to standards of behaviour of which Canadians can be proud.” [November 22, 2005 07:34 AM]

North American Indigenous Peoples Mining Summit, July 27-30, 2005

The North American Indigenous Peoples' Mining Summit brought Indigenous Peoples together from throughout North America to share their stories about how the mining industry has affected their communities and to discuss strategies and solutions. The concluding resolution they passed is included. [September 7, 2005 12:36 PM]

Understanding Mining Taxation in Canada

The astonishing cost of the minerals we take for granted must be respected and accounted for in government policy and industry practice. [August 24, 2004 02:55 PM]

No Rock Unturned: Revitalizing the Economies of Mining Dependent Communities

This document, which includes a literature review and bibliography, provides an overview of current research and information on problems faced by mining-dependent communities and the ways and means by which Canadian communities that are dependent on mining have been able to revitalize their economies in the face of industry down-sizing and closure. [May 31, 2004 11:18 AM]

"Looking Beneath the Surface" — Report Released on Real Costs of Mining

On October 29, MiningWatch Canada and the Pembina Institute for Appropriate Development launched our long-awaited report on public subsidies to the mining industry in Canada. The full report, a summary, and a summary and an abridged version in French (covering Québec) are available for download as PDF files. [November 30, 2002 10:34 AM]

Auditor-General Exposes Abandoned Mines/Contaminated Sites Crisis

On October 22, 2002, Sheila Fraser, the Auditor-General of Canada, released her report on Abandoned Mines in the North. The report lends enormous credibility to everything we have been saying about these toxic time-bombs. [November 30, 2002 10:33 AM]

Canada's mining industry strikes gold - in the taxpayers' wallet: Federal taxpayers spend $13,000 for each mining job

"Looking Beneath the Surface: An Assessment of the Value of Public Support for the Metal Mining Industry in Canada" shows that the cost to federal taxpayers for the care and feeding of the metal mining industry has increased to $383 million a year, while the industry is delivering in return fewer jobs and reduced economic activity. [October 29, 2002 11:07 AM]

The Boreal Below: Mining Issues and Activities in Canada’s Boreal Forest Region

This report provides an overview and general analysis of mining activities and impacts in the Boreal Forest Region of Canada. The report provides a solid and reliable overview and refers the reader to additional resources and information sources. [September 25, 2002 02:39 PM]

Mining Operations Under Residential Areas

In response to TVX Gold's assertion to the Greek group Hellenic Mining Watch that no subsidence problems have arisen from mining under residential areas in Canada, we retained WOM Geological Associates Inc. to conduct a review of Canadian policies and practices with respect to mining under residential areas. [April 25, 2002 12:06 PM]

Canada's Auditor-General Takes On Northern Abandoned Mines

The Auditor-General of Canada's office is looking into abandoned mines in Canada's north, as a follow-up on their contaminated sites recommendations in 1996. [March 15, 2002 11:50 AM]

Report to Mines Ministers from MiningWatch Canada, Quebec, September 10, 2001

This report focuses on three major issues: accounting for the full costs and benefits of mining; regulatory compliance concerns; and mine closure and abandoned mines [September 10, 2001 12:12 PM]

Mining in Remote Areas: Issues and Impacts -- A Community Primer

To respond effectively to the challenges of mineral development, communities need the context and information necessary to understand and weigh the issues. This booklet profiles major impacts associated with mines developed in remote areas. (PDF, 1.2 MB) [May 11, 2001 03:25 PM]

On the Ground Research: A Workshop to Identify the Research Needs of Communities Affected by Large-Scale Mining

Workshop report prepared by MiningWatch Canada and the Canadian Consortium for International Social Development (CCISD). Also in Spanish. [September 1, 2000 11:29 AM]

MiningWatch hosts workshop for communities affected by large scale mining

On April 14-16, MiningWatch Canada hosted thirty participants from eleven different countries at a participatory workshop to look at the research needs of communities affected by mining. We had local community representatives and on-the-ground NGOs from Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Colombia, Suriname, Guyana, Mexico, Peru, Ghana, the United States and Canada. [May 23, 2000 03:36 PM]

Acid Mine Drainage Sites in Canada

Test drive these maps of Acid Mine Drainage sites in Canada. [July 23, 2005 09:05 AM]

Balancing the Books: The Hidden Costs of Mining

In response to the annual Mining Industry Lobby Day, MiningWatch Canada explores the real social, environmental, and human costs of mining. [November 30, 1999 02:56 PM]

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Aboriginal Communities and Mining

Summary of the workshop held in Ottawa, Ontario by the Innu Nation and MiningWatch Canada, September 10-12, 1999. [September 13, 1999 09:35 AM]

Related links

• Polaris Institute To enable citizen movements to re-skill and re-tool themselves to fight for democratic social change in an age of corporate driven globalization.
• Impact and Benefit Agreement (IBA) Research Network Aims to connect IBA-focused researchers, IBA signatories, and Northern governmental organizations.
• The First Perspective Published monthly by Taiga Communications Inc. at Brokenhead First Nation, Manitoba.
• Google Earth "Fly" wherever you like over the planet in 3-D. Requires a broadband internet connection and a downloadable application.
• Google Maps 2-dimensional satellite and map images that you can view without any special software, zooming in to any part of the globe.
• Western Mining Action Network (WMAN) WMAN works to foster a strong network that protects communities, land, water, air, and wildlife by encouraging reform of mining practices and holding government and corporations accountable.
• Mining Association of Canada
• Ecojustice Formerly Sierra Legal Defence Fund (SLDF). Environmental law advocacy organization.
• Indigenous Environmental Network - Indigenous Mining Campaign The Indigenous Environmental Network is an alliance of Indigenous Nations and communities towards sustainable livelihoods, environmental protection of our lands, water and air, and maintaining the sacred Fire of our traditions.
• Mines and Communities Information and analysis to support communities affected by mining around the world. Much material in Spanish. An excellent resource.
• Environmental Mining Council of BC The Environmental Mining Council of British Columbia (EMCBC) was formed to address the serious gap in information and action on the environmental impacts of mining in BC.

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AUSTRALIA: Claims of child abuse pretext for land grab, uranium mining This is a very horrible act of aggression by the Australian government, under a particularly egregious pretext. This is today ... now ... 2008 ... not 1908. Canada is no less guilty of continuing land grabs, under various guises. Mining and forestry alone consume billions and billions of acres of land worldwide, and total destruction and contamination is inherent in the business: Corporations have a way of sucking out the resources and then going 'bankrupt', thus unaccountable for human and environmental destruction in their wake. But I digress ... again ... This is a gem of a quote (from below), and it is EXACTLY true in Canada: OVER HALF of the budget of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada never leaves Ottawa. 'Canada' (INAC) uses it to pay the cost of defending itself from Aboriginal 'land claims'.

A pervasive white myth, that Aborigines leech off the state, serves to conceal the disgrace that money the federal government says it spends on indigenous affairs actually goes towards opposing native land rights. In 2006, some A$3bn was underspent "or the result of creative accounting", reported the Sydney Morning Herald. Like the children of apartheid, the Aboriginal children of Thamarrurr in the Northern Territory receive less than half the educational resources allotted to white children.

And that is also true in Canada. Do the math: Half the funding leads to half the graduating. nobrainer. Here's the full story from Australia ... http://www.abibitumikasa.com/forums/oppression-afrikans-generally/38400-australian-aboriginees-face-extinction-genocide.html Under cover of racist myth, a new land grab in Australia By John Pilger The Guardian, Friday October 24 2008 Claims of child abuse are proving a fertile pretext to menace the Aboriginal communities lying in the way of uranium mining Its banks secured in the warmth of the southern spring, Australia is not news. It ought to be. An epic scandal of racism, injustice and brutality is being covered up in the manner of apartheid South Africa. Many Australians conspire in this silence, wishing never to reflect upon the truth about their society's Untermenschen, the Aboriginal people. The facts are not in dispute: thousands of black Australians never reach the age of 40; an entirely preventable disease, trachoma, blinds black children as epidemics of rheumatic fever ravage their communities; suicide among the despairing young is common. No other developed country has such a record. A pervasive white myth, that Aborigines leech off the state, serves to conceal the disgrace that money the federal government says it spends on indigenous affairs actually goes towards opposing native land rights. In 2006, some A$3bn was underspent "or the result of creative accounting", reported the Sydney Morning Herald. Like the children of apartheid, the Aboriginal children of Thamarrurr in the Northern Territory receive less than half the educational resources allotted to white children. In 2005, the UN committee on the elimination of racial discrimination described the racism of the Australian state, a distinction afforded no other developed country. This was in the decade-long rule of the conservative coalition of John Howard, whose coterie of white supremacist academics and journalists assaulted the truth of recorded genocide in Australia, especially the horrific separations of Aboriginal children from their families. They deployed arguments not dissimilar to those David Irving used to promote Holocaust denial. Smear by media as a precursor to the latest round of repression is long familiar to black Australians. In 2006, the flagship current affairs programme of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Lateline, broadcast lurid allegations of "sex slavery" among the Mutitjulu people in the Northern Territory. The programme's source, described as an "anonymous youth worker", was later exposed as a federal government official whose "evidence" was discredited by the Northern Territory chief minister and the police. The ABC has never retracted its allegations, claiming it has been "exonerated by an internal inquiry". Shortly before last year's election, Howard declared a "national emergency" and sent the army to the Northern Territory to "protect the children" who, said his minister for indigenous affairs, were being abused in "unthinkable numbers". Last February, with much sentimental fanfare, the new prime minister, Labor's Kevin Rudd, made a formal apology to the first Australians. Australia was said to be finally coming to terms with its rapacious past and present. Was it? "The Rudd government," noted a Sydney Morning Herald editorial, "has moved quickly to clear away this piece of political wreckage in a way that responds to some of its own supporters' emotional needs, yet it changes nothing. It is a shrewd manoeuvre." In May, barely reported government statistics revealed that of the 7,433 Aboriginal children examined by doctors as part of the "national emergency", 39 had been referred to the authorities for suspected abuse. Of those, a maximum of just four possible cases of abuse were identified. Such were the "unthinkable numbers". They were little different from those of child abuse in white Australia. What was different was that no soldiers invaded the beachside suburbs, no white parents were swept aside, no white welfare was "quarantined". Marion Scrymgour, an Aboriginal minister in the Northern Territory, said: "To see decent, caring [Aboriginal] fathers, uncles, brothers and grandfathers, who are undoubtedly innocent of the horrific charges being bandied about, reduced to helplessness and tears, speaks to me of widespread social damage." What the doctors found they already knew - children at risk from a spectrum of extreme poverty and the denial of resources in one of the world's richest countries. Having let a few crumbs fall, Rudd is picking up where Howard left off. His indigenous affairs minister, Jenny Macklin, has threatened to withdraw government support from remote communities that are "economically unviable". The Northern Territory is the only region where Aborigines have comprehensive land rights, granted almost by accident 30 years ago. Here lie some of the world's biggest uranium deposits. Canberra wants to mine and sell it. Foreign governments, especially the US, want the Northern Territory as a toxic dump. The Adelaide to Darwin railway that runs adjacent to Olympic Dam, the world's largest uranium mine, was built with the help of Kellogg, Brown & Root - a subsidiary of American giant Halliburton, the alma mater of Dick Cheney, Howard's "mate". "The land grab of Aboriginal tribal land has nothing to do with child sexual abuse," says the Australian scientist Helen Caldicott, "but all to do with open slather uranium mining and converting the Northern Territory to a global nuclear dump." What is unique about Australia is not its sun-baked, derivative society, clinging to the sea, but its first people, the oldest on earth, whose skill and courage in surviving invasion, of which the current onslaught is merely the latest, deserve humanity's support. John Pilger: Under cover of racist myth, a new land grab in Australia | Comment is free | The Guardian

Postponement to Mining Act revisions good for industry Currently, mining is the only cash cow left of the province's four main industries so tampering with it would be more than foolhardy, it would be economic suicide.

Postponement to Act revisions good for Ontario's mining industry

Posted By

Posted 17 hours ago

When it comes to timing mining cycles or stock movements, when everyone believes something it usually turns out that they are wrong.

The 10-year boom in commodities turned out to be less than four years and no one knows when it will resume.

Yet, there is a bright side for the Canadian mining industry, and especially the Ontario segment. The provincial government has postponed its planned revisions to the Ontario Mining Act.

Bowing to several pressure groups, the McGuinty government had intended to ram through major changes before the new year. The world-wide meltdown in credit facilities brought the Liberals to their senses.

Ontario has four major industries -- new vehicle and parts manufacturing, mining, forestry and tourism. Even before the housing crisis in the United States spread into every sector of the world economy, the forest industry was written off by Queen's Park.

Tourism was in a slump and asking for McGuinty to spend millions of dollars to get our southern neighbours crossing the border again.

The culprit was basically the high Canadian dollar in terms of the U. S. dollar but still the tourist industry was expecting help, the kind of help that the forestry industry was refused.

With the new vehicle sector seeking billions of dollars in assistance and the parts sector lined up behind it for help, Ontario faces a sharp decline in tax revenues.

McGuinty in early November was projecting a $500 million deficit but the final figure is likely to be much higher.

So, the situation is this: the only major industry still pouring tax revenues into Queen's Park is mining and its allied supply and services operations. And we must not forget the personal taxes paid by the workers.

Canada is not as heavily dependent on consumer spending as is the U. S. but it still plays a significant role in keeping the national economy healthy.Miners spend their pay cheques where they live and therefore firms from coffee shops to department stores maintain their workforces and pay taxes.

When the province announced in August a short consultation period for the Mining Act changes, industry spokespersons were loud in their complaints but the major noise came from Aboriginal groups.

They were certainly correct that this would be their first opportunity to have real input into a piece of legislation that touches on so many of their concerns, ranging from a piece of the royalty pie to infringements on their legal rights and use of their traditional lands.

The Oct. 15 deadline was first moved to Nov. 15 to give Aboriginal organizations more time to consider the province's suggested areas of consultation (although nonnative groups were bound by the original date) and on Nov. 13 it became Jan. 15 for everyone.

There is no doubt that the auto industry is Ontario's most important industry, employing 400,000 people and generating $28 billion in economic activity annually.

That it is important to Canada is also beyond question. Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty notes 90 per cent of our vehicle production goes to the U. S. What the bureaucrats in the Ontario finance ministry must have realized in recent weeks is the importance of the mining industry.

This province produces 28 per cent of the nation's minerals, with an approximate value of $10.8 billion and employs 100,000 Ontarians directly and indirectly.

Also important is the fact that mining pays higher wages than any other industrial sector.

Mining will not be immune if the world slips from recession status into a depression but industry executives know mining is cyclical in nature and good times are always followed by bad ones.

Currently, mining is the only cash cow left of the province's four main industries so tampering with it would be more than foolhardy, it would be economic suicide.

As for the new deadline for the Mining Act changes, it is a safe bet that it will be extended well past Jan. 15. There are three key factors in the setting of a realistic timetable: two are political and one is based on economics.

The first and most important political reason is the fact that the U. S. got the world into the present economic mess and it will have to lead it out of the swamp.

President George Bush is a lame duck Republican president who will be out of office on Jan. 20 but has even less power than previous lame ducks in that the Democratic Party now controls both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

What in-coming Democratic president Barack Obama will do is not known but whatever steps he eventually takes are months, even years, away from being effective.

Since at this time the full effects of the world-wide financial crunch are not known and world leaders are hesitant to take concrete action until they can see the full picture, Ontario should not take any moves to harm its mining industry.

The second political reason is the request by some Ontario Aboriginal leaders to have the consultative deadline extended.

Chief Donny Morris wants at least one year for native groups to consult and to reach a consensus on their position.

By extending the deadline well into 2009, McGuinty will build up political capital with native groups and buy time to see if some of the drastic measures being proposed to revive confidence in financial institutions succeed.

The economic reason is that achieving an end to financial forces battering the Ontario economy are basically beyond its control.

The federal government has some say in any eventual success but it must be repeated that Canadians must await action by the U. S. and the other major industrialized nations.

The U. S. is willing to spend trillions of dollars, Canada billions of dollars and the rest of the industrialized nations more trillions but first clear objectives must be established to restore economic stability.

To his credit, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, an economist by profession, has stated he will allow Canada to fall into a deficit position, but only if it becomes necessary.

Uncertainty abounds and in such times governments must move cautiously.

In today's world everything is interconnected; think of breaking a single strand of a spider's web without being able to discern the importance of that strand to the integrity of the entire web.

Article ID# 1322633

Barrick Gold (CDN) Carves up Mount Tenabo Spiritual Area Thanksgiving the “Cortez” Way - U.S. Ignores Western Shoshone Objections – Barrick Gold Readies Itself to Carve up Mount Tenabo Spiritual Area By Timbisha Shoshone, Western Shoshone and Great Basin Resource Watch Photo by Erin Hetherington/Oxfam http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/ November 20, 2008 RENO and CRESCENT VALLEY, Nev. -- Last week, after years of determined opposition from Western Shoshone, the U.S. Department of Interior, through its Bureau of Land Management (BLM), approved one of the largest open pit cyanide heap leach gold mines in the United States on the flank of Mount Tenabo – an area well-known for its spiritual and cultural importance to the Western Shoshone. The area is home to local Shoshone creation stories, spirit life, medicinal, food and ceremonial plants and items and continues to be used to this day by Shoshone for spiritual and cultural practices. Over the years, tens of thousands of individuals and organizations from across the United States and around the world have joined with the Shoshone and voiced their opposition to this mine. The mine has been referred to as one of the most opposed mines in the world and indeed the level of public opposition is unprecedented for the BLM. With the threat of mine construction beginning as early as this week, the South Fork Band Council of Western Shoshone, the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe, the Western Shoshone Defense Project, and Great Basin Resource Watch, today filed a complaint in the Reno Federal District Court seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to stop the mine. Barrick Gold Corporation, the world’s largest gold mining company, headquartered in Toronto, Canada, plans to construct and operate the mine, known as the Cortez Hills Expansion Project. The Project area is located entirely within the territory of the Western Shoshone Nation, recognized in the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley. The Mine would blast and excavate a new massive open pit on Mount Tenabo over 900 acres in size, with a depth of over 2,000 feet. It would include several new waste disposal and processing facilities (including a cyanide heap-leaching facility), consisting of approximately 1,577 million tons of waste rock, 53 million tons of tailings material, and 112 million tons of spent heap leach material. The Mine would include an extensive groundwater pumping system to dewater Mount Tenabo (in order to keep the open pit and mine workings dry during mining) and associated water pipelines that will transport the pumped water away from Mount Tenabo. In total, the mine would permanently destroy approximately 6,800 acres land on and around Mount Tenabo, over 90% of which is classified as federal “public” land. “How are we, as a nation, showing our values, if we allow a transnational corporation to destroy this ‘church’ for all time, just to get 10 years worth of gold.” Says Larson Bill, Vice-Chairman of the South Fork Band Council. “There are dozens of active gold mines on Western Shoshone lands already, there is no need for this one, which is clearly immoral and irresponsible. The public should be aware that Nevada is not a waste land, but is the home of ranchers, sportsmen, fishermen and homesteaders that have enjoyed the lands alongside the Shoshone people for generations. We have been clear in our opposition to this mine and while Barrick tries to cloud the real issues with gifts and money, we continue to oppose this project – they have not bought our people, the traditions nor the lands of the Shoshone.” he adds. The proposed mine area has been found by the BLM, in repeated ethnographic studies, as being of extreme spiritual and cultural importance to the Western Shoshone. One report says: “Mt. Tenabo is … considered a traditional locus of power and source of life, and figures in creation stories and world renewal. As the tallest mountain in the area – the most likely to capture snow and generate water to grow piñon and nourish life – it is literally a life-giver. Water is to earth what blood is to the body, and these subterranean waterways are likened to the earth’s arteries and veins.” Carrie Dann, a world renowned Western Shoshone elder, and recipient of the Right Livelihood Award (known as the “alternative Nobel Peace Prize”) has been among those to lead the fight to protect Mount Tenabo from mining for over 15 years. “Mount Tenabo should be left alone – no further disturbance. This mine will drain the water from Mount Tenabo. They will be sucking the water out of the mountain forever. The destruction of the water is like the destruction of the blood of the earth; you are destroying life of the earth and the people and wildlife that depend on it. Dewatering is taking the life of future generations. Water is sacred, all life depends on it,” says Carrie Dann. “Next week we celebrate Thanksgiving - The question that the courts and the people of this country need to ask themselves is will we continue to tolerate these violations against the First Peoples of this land or will we finally turn the tide of injustice and protect these sacred areas?” Says Julie Cavanaugh-Bill, Consultant to the Western Shoshone Defense Project. “None of us are opposed to mining, if it is done responsibly, however this project is as irresponsible as it gets. The BLM has a legal responsibility to protect the air, water, and ecological values of the area as well as the religious freedom of Western Shoshone, and to fully analyze the impacts of a proposed project. In each case, this mine would clearly violate the law.” Says Dan Randolph, Executive Director of Great Basin Resource Watch. “This is an example of how the Bush Administration is rushing to protect their corporate friends in their last few months in power. The BLM denied requests to extend the comment period on the Environmental Impact Statement not only from us, but also from several Western Shoshone tribal governments. Therefore, we are forced to now turn to the courts to stop this project. We know that Barrick will begin work on the mine as soon as they can, to cause enough harm in an attempt to make the religious rights arguments moot, and the BLM and Bush Administration appear to be more than willing to help them in every way possible.” The plaintiffs are being represented in court by Roger Flynn of the non-profit legal firm, the Western Mining Action Project, which specializes in mining, public land, and environmental law. For more information on the Cortez Hills Project, Mount Tenabo, and the legal challenge go to http://www.gbrw.org/ and http://www.wsdp.org/ For Immediate Release: Contacts: Larson Bill, South Fork Band Council of Western Shoshone, 775-744-2565/775-397-6726 Dan Randolph, Great Basin Resource Watch, 775-722-4056 Julie Cavanaugh-Bill, Western Shoshone Defense Project, 775-397-1371 Reno Gazette: Western Shoshone file suit to stop gold mine

Western Shoshone v Barrick Gold (Cdn)

Caretakers of the Land

Western Shoshone wage battle against modern gold rush

by Meg Hewings The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca

The Cortez Mine on Shoshone territory. The Shoshone have long accused the US, and now the Canadian government, of systematically ignoring their territorial rights in favour of multi-national corporations. Photo: Sandra Cuffe

MONTRÉAL–All is not quiet on the western front.

For the Western Shoshone, an indigenous nation with an unceded Treaty covering a large swath of 60 million acres of ancestral territory stretching across Nevada, California, Idaho and Utah, their traditional homeland is better described as a war zone.

Not only has the US government used Shoshone lands to test hundreds of nuclear weapons, dispose of thousands of metric tonnes of radioactive waste, and proposed Yucca Mountain as a national dumpsite for (even more) deadly nuclear waste; modern corporate gold mining, including many Canadian operations, now threatens to gouge the heart right out of Western Shoshone territory.

“Two years ago they counted over 260,000 abandoned mines in Nevada – and that’s not counting new ones opening up,” says Larson Bill, Vice-Chairman for the South Fork Shoshone community and Community Organizer for the Western Shoshone Defense Project (WSDP), established to protect, preserve and restore Shoshone – or as they are also known, Newe – rights and lands for present and future generations.

Despite their small staff, the Defense Project’s office is abuzz with activity, work and noise on this day, as most. Even so, Bill manages to remain measured and thoughtful on the phone as he explains the tribe’s latest struggle.

These days he and the WSDP are busy trying to stop the Federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the US government from permitting Canadian-owned Barrick Gold Corporation, now the world’s largest gold-mining company, from mining on or any nearer to Mt. Tenabo, a sacred mountain to the Western Shoshone and fundamental to Newe worship.

“Mt. Tenabo, the proposed site for Barrick’s latest expansion project, is home to Shoshone creation stories,” says Julie Cavanaugh-Bill (formerly Fishel), lawyer for the WSDP. What the mining company is planning is akin to razing churches or mosques, according to the WSDP.

The structure for a sweat lodge sitting at the base of sacred Mt Tenabo, threatened by Cortez expansion proposed by Canadian-owned Barrick Gold. Photo: Sandra Cuffe

The Shoshone, who consider themselves caretakers of their land, have long accused the US, and now the Canadian government, of systematically ignoring their case in favour of multinational corporations whose interests, they argue, lie in bottom lines and not the environment.

“Proposed mining operations and expansions are trying to make northeastern Nevada – which is Shoshone country – a land with holes in it over a mile deep. This will expose nature to acid drainage. Nothing will survive in it for thousands of years. They are pretty much going to ruin the land,” says Bill.

While Barrick Gold is slated to advance their project in the Cortez Hills in late 2008, a 30-day comment period, during which Shoshone and non-natives who live in affected areas can raise grievances, closed at the end of October. It kept Cavanaugh-Bill and the Defense project busy.

If history dictates, however, chances are slim the Shoshone will be able to halt Barrick’s new open-pit gold mining and processing operation, despite the environmental impacts, which are almost unimaginable in scope. The new plant will destroy 5,000 acres of Pinyon Forest, a staple Newe food source, create a new open-pit cyanide heap leach mine on the southern flank of the mountain, and include new heap leach pads. It will increase dewatering and underground detonations. The Betze mine, also operated by Barrick Gold, already threatens the Rock Creek area, with a dewatering rate that has reached upwards of 70,000 gallons per minute – consistent with other mining activities in the area. Mt. Tenabo is worth $8 billion to the gold-mining industries.

While Barrick admits that its projects have an environmental impact, the company maintains that it has put in place environmental protection and management systems to deal with waste, and held frequent dialogue meetings with members of Nevada’s Western Shoshone communities.

This is not enough, according to Newe leader, revered activist and grandmother, Carrie Dann. “Land is sacred to Western Shoshone – it represents life. To take our land is to take our life,” says Dann in the 2007 documentary Our Land Our Life. “I look at that as spiritual genocide against the Shoshone who think of Earth as their mother ... It's a spiritual death.”

The fallout from years of fighting to protect Shoshone land has been a physical and real death too, resulting in loss of land, animals, identity and place.

Dann has often claimed she became an activist by default, when the US accused her and her sister Mary, both Newe grandmothers, of “trespassing” on “federal land.” For decades, Dann and the Western Shoshone have maintained that the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley, supreme law of the land, clearly recognized Shoshone title over these ancestral lands and that federal agencies have simply ignored and violated their rights ever since.

One morning in September 2002, the BLM (under orders from Washington) mounted an operation in which helicopters, trucks and a cavalcade of armed agents in bulletproof vests rounded up and confiscated some 200 head of cattle and 400 wild horses on the Dann's property. While the US argued the grandmothers’ horses were “degrading the land” by “overgrazing,” a more likely reason, as Cavanaugh-Bill argues in Our Land, Our Life, was that their range sat squarely on some of the world’s most valuable real estate. Crescent Valley is the second-largest gold producing region on Earth. Only a few months after the roundup, Cortez Gold declared it had “struck gold” in the area. Cavanaugh-Bill calls this one of the biggest “land swindles” in modern history.

It’s also why the existence of mining companies on the territories, many of which are Canadian-owned, seems all the more egregious to Dann and the WSDP.

At the time of the 2002 raid – one of three such raids – on the Dann’s ranch, the Newe had exhausted all domestic legal options to prevent the US government from continuing their systematic land grabs. Exasperated by being bullied, Carrie Dann, Cavanaugh-Bill and other Shoshone leaders finally decided to take their fight to an international court. The case was brought before an 18-member panel of experts at the UN, set up to monitor global compliance with the 1969 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD).

In what became a precedent-setting case for aboriginal land claim rights the world over, the Shoshone proved their moral high-ground: the UN committee condemned the US government for violating the tribe’s rights and urged the US to immediately stop any further actions against the Western Shoshone, including legislative efforts to privatize their land.

The US government has flatly refused to act, rejecting the concerns raised by the UN CERD. As a consequence, corporate activity in Nevada is only growing and many of the companies in operation, including Nevada Pacific Bond, Barrick Gold, Bravo Venture Group, Great Basin Gold and GoldCorp, as well as smaller junior companies that do prospecting, are now registered in Canada.

When the Shoshone returned in early 2007 to issue a second plea to CERD--this time accusing Canadian corporations of being unlawfully involved in exploiting indigenous lands in the US--the UN again sided with the Shoshone. The UN committee ruled that Canadian corporations were involved in illegal exploitation and human rights violations and demanded immediate legal steps be taken to regulate Canadian transnational activities and their effects on indigenous peoples abroad.

Despite this berating, Canada too has failed to regulate transnational mining companies in violation of human rights. Instead, adding insult to injury last year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s minority Conservative government refused to endorse the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

“How can a foreign country come into another nation and start tearing up their lands without their approval or consent? This has been a practice since colonial days. [Canada] still believes in the rape of resources,” says Bill, adding that outdated legislation such as the 1872 General Mining Law, regulating hard rock mining on public lands, facilitates the resource exploitation and the distortion of the Newe Treaty with the US.

“The US and Canada say they don’t need to abide by these rules. Even though they portray themselves as [democracies and] protectors of human rights, they did not sign [the UN Declaration]. We hold this against Canada. They are still practising colonial ways of acquiring land and taking indigenous people’s resources,” says Bill, who also argues there’s been scant reporting on the subject of Barrick Gold in Canada.

In May 2007, Bill took formal statements to Barrick Gold’s shareholders, including over 18,000 signatures from people who oppose mining on Mt. Tenabo and in Horse Canyon. He hoped to paint the devastating picture of environmental damage Barrick mines have wreaked on Newe land, resources and customary uses.

As Cavanaugh-Bill said to Oxfam America, prior to the meeting: “We want to ask if they have an official corporate position on mining in areas of known and existing human rights violations. ... What we want to do with these questions is to encourage the company to recognize the pressing need for reform in the way it does business on Shoshone lands.”

While the AGM was beamed around the world via a live webcast, when the indigenous delegates who had spoken checked the Internet they found that the webcast ended with the speech by Peter Munk, the company’s Chairman, and that their statements and questions had been censored – including the voice of Larson Bill.

Without stricter regulatory standards and government intervention, Bill argues, Canadian mining operations will continue to operate in the area with impunity. He adds that the “dialogue process” the company established with members of the Western Shoshone has only proved frustrating.

“[Barrick] buy[s] up all the ranches in the Shoshone area near their mines, so they don’t have to deal with public.” The company uses other persuasive tactics to weaken local opposition too, he says, like offering donations to certain communities and individuals in return for “signed consent.” In other words, they are “buying approval,” says Bill. “They said they wanted to start a dialogue with Shoshone communities, [but in the end] they made their own agenda and only wanted to talk about how much money they could give our communities when the real issues are the religious values of our land, our resources, and our treaty. They didn’t want to talk about that.”

His argument to shareholders who continue to invest in Barrick stock is simple: While mining isn’t all bad, a company that pollutes without paying a penalty operates on a flawed economic and ecological principle, and is a bad investment. “One single gold ring produces 20 tonnes of waste material and squanders fresh water resources. ... We have deer, antelope, birds and insects… There are water pockets and those springs are there for the animals. [Companies] come and pollute these springs and the animals have no place to go. They don’t think about the animals…”

Even while independent environmental studies and science now confirm what Shoshone traditional leaders have known all along – that poisons have infiltrated traditional water sources and are adversely affecting the health of the land, animals and humans – Barrick’s website continues to laud the company’s “Commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility.”

Bill blames instincts that have been around since the days of early expansionism: unchecked greed and a retrograde notion that resources are somehow limitless.

“Gold is an epidemic. That disease we think of from the 1800s – where you’d kill your own brother for gold – it still exists today. It’s happening in different forms now: through the law and manipulation. But everyone comes out here to Nevada to line their pockets… Then they’re gone and we are left with the devastation and the cleanup.”

While the fate of the Shoshone and their ancestral lands still hangs in the balance, thanks to strong traditional leadership, the WSDP is now on the offensive. They have led what is quickly becoming a growing paradigm shift to make ecological sustainability the new essence of the planet’s economic engine.

This past July, the Defense project hosted the 15th Indigenous Environmental Network Protecting Mother Earth conference, an international seminar, on Western Shoshone territory. The conference tackled head-on the issue of Barrick and other corporations’ alleged gross violations of human rights perpetrated in indigenous communities around the globe. But it also involved strategizing about how to convince world leaders and their governments to act in the best interest of the planet’s health.

It’s a complex and urgent question for our global collective times, and one Shoshone traditional leadership has long held close to their heart.

“The earth is dying because of the way people act,” says Carrie Dann in Our Land, Our Life, her voice catching as she pleads: “You are killing the earth... Consumers are producers of gold. We as indigenous people are yelling: ‘Stop that – you are killing the earth. You are killing the mother of all life – for God’s sake. Will you wake up and listen to what we are saying and that is treat her with tender loving care because she is our only mother.’”

Meg Hewings is Assistant Editor, News, at the Hour in Montréal.

Duty to Consult: Cree remove roadblock after drivers “blast through” June 23, 2008 http://intercontinentalcry.org/cree-remove-roadblock-after-drivers-blast-through/ Members of the Kelly Lake Cree Nation (KLCN) took down a roadblock on Saturday because “angry and dangerous drivers” began blasting through, almost running over four people in separate incidents. One of the People that almost got hit was KLCN spokesman Clayton Anderson. According to the CBC, Anderson said he was walking toward a vehicle at the blockade on Highway 52, about 180 kilometres southeast of Chetwynd, in northeastern B.C., when “this guy just steps on the gas and practically runs me over.” He was nicked, Anderson said, and then “these two big rigs and a pickup sped through here and literally just about running over my people.” [SEE COMMENTS ON CBC ARTICLE. PEOPLE ARE APPLAUDING IT] The KLCN had set up the roadblock a day earlier, hoping to raise awareness about a number of health and safety concerns brought on by oil and gas exploration on their traditional lands. The roadblock was set up in conjunction with a three-day “emergency disaster preparedness drill” they organized for themselves. Anderson explained earlier this month that the KLCN have been holding land claim negotiations with the federal government since 1994 - during which they’ve repeatedly talked about their concerns: “about the effect drilling is having on water quality in the area, as well as the heavy volume of industrial traffic roaring through the community every day.” “Vehicles are transporting dangerous and toxic materials used in oil and gas exploration, but no one seems to have an evacuation or disaster preparedness plan in place for the community in the event of an explosion or toxic leak,” Anderson said. “It is incredibly disturbing,” comments Green Party leader Elizabeth May, “that thus far, their concerns over water quality, industrial traffic and the transport of dangerous substances through their community have been ignored.” “The Kelly Lake Cree should not bear the burden of negative environmental impacts or health and safety risks due to exploration,” adds Lorraine Rekmans, the Green Party Critic on Aboriginal Affairs. “Kelly Lake still relies on subsistence hunting and fishing and infringing on this activity is unconstitutional. Putting the community in harm’s way is irresponsible.” One could even say criminally negligent. *********************************** In other news ....

B28755 / Wed, 2 Jul 2008 08:46:31 / International

There were multiple offensives against indigenous people throughout the month of June. A Canadian court paved the way to reclassify 16 lakes as mine waste dumps; The US Supreme court issued at least three rulings against indigenous rights; Police in Australia barred a group of Indigenous People from visiting a scared site; and there was state-sanctioned violence against people in Guatemala, India, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru.

In other news, the O’odham of Gila River became the first Indigenous Community in the US (perhaps in the world) to ratify the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; The Anishinabek launched a campaign to abolish the term “Aboriginal;” a call for an independent government was established in the CHT; and finally, in northeastern India, Indigenous communities gathered for the first ever convention on peace and unity.

You will find these stories and more in this month’s edition of Underreported struggles.

http://ahniwanika.gnn.tv/blogs/28755/Underreported_Struggles_15

RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES: CROWN'S DUTY TO CONSULT AND TO ACCOMMODATE "EXISTING ABORIGINAL AND TREATY RIGHTS" [T]he Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that the Crown has a legal duty to consult, and where appropriate to accommodate, when the Crown has real or constructive knowledge of the potential existence of Aboriginal rights or title, and the Crown contemplates conduct that might adversely affect those rights ― whether those rights have been established (proven in court or agreed to in treaties) or whether there is the potential for rights to exist New Brunswick http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/opinion/article/342446

The First Peoples of New Brunswick are being conspicuously ignored, and their rights flagrantly violated and infringed as result of this new-drive to modernize and expand. Government "correspondence" now substitutes for "consultation"; industry pays "lip service" to aboriginal concerns and hopes to be left alone by First Nations in exchange for a donation to a sporting event or a modest scholarship allocation. ... Indian land title to New Brunswick remains unextinguished. ... we are reaching a point of no return in terms our exclusion from consultation with the province's self-sufficiency agenda.

First Nations are about to walk away from industries who do not take us seriously. We may have to revisit them in other forums in other ways. Currently New Brunswick has no consultation policy with First Nations sufficient to discharge its lawful obligations to discuss and, if required, accommodate, our concerns. Nor are there meaningful talks under way to fashion such a policy.

June 21, 2008

Gravel and Gold

In the Quinte Detention Centre, Indigenous spokespeople compare stories of resistance

by Sandra Cuffe The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca Note: See longer version here:

http://thistidehasnoheartbeat.wordpress.com/2008/05/29/prison-notes-they-came-first-for-the-mohawks-and-i-didnt-speak-up-because-i-wasnt-mohawk/

The gravel quarry recently reclaimed by Tyendinega Mohawks. Photo: Dru Oja Jay

At noon on Monday, May 19, I walked through several doors of State security into the Quinte Detention Centre in Napanee, Ontario, to visit Shawn Brant, a spokesperson for the Mohawk community of Tyendinaga. I was accompanied by Sergio Campusano, chief of the indigenous Diaguita of the Huasco Valley in northern Chile.

Sergio had spent the last month in Turtle Island ("North America") along with Wiradjuri ("Australian"), Ipili ("Papua New Guinean") and Western Shoshone ("American") indigenous leaders, all speaking out against the destructive and repressive operations of Toronto-based Barrick Gold , the biggest gold mining company in the world.

Shawn Brant, on the other hand, had spent the last month in the Quinte Detention Centre. Shawn was arrested on April 25, 2008 for charges tied to his involvement in resistance to a gravel quarry on Native land. Government prosecutors are seeking a minimum sentence of 12 years in federal prison.

Shawn's current circumstance and recent incidents at Tyendinaga cannot be properly understood without knowing some of the history. In 1832, the Culberston Tract was stolen from Tyendinaga. In 2003, the federal government acknowledged that the Tract belongs to the Mohawk community, but has yet to give it back. While land negotiations were ongoing, the government granted a mining license to Thurlow Aggregates, a non-native business that developed a gravel quarry within the Culberston Tract.

Both before and after Tyendinaga physically reclaimed the gravel quarry in March 2007, the Mohawk community and others have led a series of actions including economic disruption in order to raise awareness about the situation and pressure the provincial and federal governments to act. Shawn Brant has been repeatedly targeted and arrested for a series of charges.

In late April 2008, after a series of road blockades against Kingston realtor Emile Nibourg in response to plans for construction within the Culberston Tract, Shawn was once again arrested on April 25. The charges included various counts of uttering death threats and possession of a dangerous weapon (a fishing spear during fishing season) related to his peaceful intervention to protect the women and children of his community from a racist attack on April 21.

Sergio and I approached the prison with some caution, apprehensive of the high fences surrounding the detention centre in the small Ontario city of Napanee, only one highway exit away from Tyendinaga. Never having visited any prisons except for in Central America, I had no idea what to expect, especially since we were visiting Shawn.

After we identified ourselves over the intercom as visitors, the large fenced gate slowly opened, reminding me of a cattle entrance. The old building and indirect interactions through intercoms, glass and metal reminded me, as do most bureaucratic institutions, of something straight out of Kafka's stories. We filled out a registration form and left behind our passports and belongings, and Sergio and I were instructed to enter the visitors' side of the visiting room, separated from the detainees by thick plastic, with booths on either side.

Shawn had already been escorted into the detainees' side of the visiting room and was calmly waiting for us in his florescent orange jumpsuit. Since we were the first visitors to arrive at noon sharp, we had no trouble hearing each other for the first little while. When others piled into the booths beside us, however, the telephones generally depicted in prison visit scenes in Hollywood movies would have been extremely helpful: we had to lean down and press our ears against the metal grating below the plastic windows in order to hear each other.

"We're not prepared to simply stand by," Shawn told Sergio through the metal grating, "We feel that our very existence is depending on it."

Before Tyendinaga blockaded and reclaimed what everyone acknowledges is unceded territory, trucks were carrying 10,000 loads of newly crushed gravel out of the pit every year - an estimated 100,000 tonnes.

The Huasco Valley, in Chile. [cc2.0] Photo: Carolina Velis

Sergio's community is facing something similar in Chile, where Barrick has fenced off some 50,000 hectares of traditional Diaguita territory and claims it as company private property, off limits to the indigenous people who have lived there for centuries, herding animals, and gathering medicinal plants and firewood in the mountains.

"They put up a gate..." Sergio began saying a few days before, as he showed slides from his home community of 1500 Diaguita at an event held at the Ottawa Public Library. He broke down in tears and had to take a moment to collect himself before he could continue.

"They don't let us go onto our land," he explained. "This hurts me very much."

The Diaguita community erected their own brightly painted sign at the entrance to Barrick Gold's installations: "Home of the Huasco Altinos since 1903. Private."

"We won't trade this for anything. There is no money in the world to buy this." As Sergio spoke, he showed the audience a series of slides: a mural painted on the church belltower in the town of Alto de Carmen, messages of resistance painted on banners carried in marches and protests, and the faces of some of the 260 Diaguita elders. Most of the Diaguita elders proposed Sergio as a candidate for Chief of the Diaguita community of the Huasco Valley. He has been elected twice with their blessing.

"Why don't they let us be what we want to be?" he asked the Ottawa audience.

At the detention centre, Shawn said: "It is about more than mining." "Mining is just a symptom," Shawn explained. "Until we're gone," he continued, the miners, developers, governments, and others cannot come into indigenous territory and do what they please. Shawn's ancestors fought the same struggle for the chance to exist as Peoples and he believes the current generation must make the same sacrifice for the future generations.

A few years ago, faced with the onslaught of mining in their territory, the Huasco Valley Diaguita community put out a call for international solidarity and especially for global indigenous solidarity. They received a response from the Manitoba Assembly of First Nations. Ron Evans, Grand Chief of the MAFN, flew down to Chile and was welcomed in a ceremony in which the Diaguita and MAFN signed an International Agreement of Mutual Aid.

Later, however, the Diaguita learned that the MAFN had used their agreement to propose a multi-million dollar project to Barrick Gold. The Diaguita community sent word to the MAFN that they were to come immediately to the Huasco Valley to explain themselves to the Diaguita community. When Ron Evans did not return to Chile to clarify the situation, the Diaguita informed all involved that the agreement was null and void.

The visit of the MAFN to Diaguita territory for this pro-mining purpose is not an isolated incident. Ron Evans has reportedly traveled to several Latin American countries on similar missions. The use of First Nations Band Council leaders by Canadian mining corporations and the Canadian government to convince indigenous communities in other countries to accept mining is not uncommon.

"We consider them traitors in our midst," said Shawn, with regards to Evans and the Assembly of First Nations in general, explaining that the Mohawk traditional system of governance - founded on values of sovereignty, honesty and integrity - has existed for thousands of years and still exists alongside the Band Council system that was imposed by the Canadian government.

"The Assembly of First Nations is a Government of Canada Indian organization that supports the government of Canada and does nothing to support the Mohawk and other nations," Shawn explained to Sergio.

Mohawk communities and leaders have long been singled out and targeted by government and mainstream media for their militant resistance and defense of their territory. While many remember the images of armed Mohawks in fatigues and balaclavas defending their territory during the Oka stand-off in 1990, fewer remember the images of heavily armed Canadian soldiers and police forcibly trying to remove blockades and enter sovereign First Nations territory at Oka, Ipperwash, Gustafsen Lake, Grassy Narrows, Six Nations, Tyendinaga, and many others.

The Mohawk Warrior Society was the only domestic organization singled out in a 2005 draft version of the Canadian Armed Forces' Counterinsurgency Field Manual, identified along with the Tamil Tigers, Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Taliban.

After Shawn's arrest on April 25, the Mohawk community of Tyendinaga responded with blockades and actions. The police crackdown in response to these actions was severe.

"We were at gunpoint for four days. We were not allowed to leave the quarry," said community member Arosen. He explained that for those four days, from April 26-29, the Mohawk occupation of the gravel quarry was effectively under siege by over 300 police officers and no one was allowed to leave or enter for food, water, or any other reason. "It was terrifying," he said.

Another Mohawk community member recalled the siege: "There were rifles, machine guns, snipers, helicopters, undercover police agents sneaking around at night."

A SWAT team even detained a school bus full of Tyendinaga high school students who must travel off the reservation in order to continue their studies after elementary school.

"They were pulled over by a SWAT team and searched," said Mohawk community activist Niki Storms. When a Mohawk youth at the back of the bus asked what they were looking for, a police officer responded: "Terrorists."

"All we ever wanted was a safe and healthy community to raise our babies, and clean drinking water," remarked Shawn during our visit. "Sadly, we share the same issues and the same efforts to wipe us out," he told Sergio Campusano through the prison glass back at the Quinte Detention Centre.

"I came from very far away," said Sergio. "My eyes have been opened here."

In South America, he said, even indigenous leaders have the idea that indigenous peoples are treated very well in Canada. One of his missions upon his return to Chile, said Sergio, would be to spread the word about Shawn Brant's case and more generally about repression against First Nations in Canada.

For more information, or to get involved, contact the Tyendinaga Support Committee

Related articles:

• What's Mine Is Theirs
• Corporate SLAPP
• Land Claims and the People of the Great River
• Refusing to be Silent
• Consultation Not Consent
• Home On Native Land
• Freezing Death of Robert Maurice (OCAP advisory)
• The "Reputational Imperative" of ILO 169
• "...where a son cannot work for his father"

Lakes across Canada to be turned into mine dump sites

Mon Jun 16, 6:37 PM

CBC News has learned that 16 Canadian lakes are slated to be officially but quietly "reclassified" as toxic dump sites for mines. The lakes include prime wilderness fishing lakes from B.C. to Newfoundland.

Environmentalists say the process amounts to a "hidden subsidy" to mining companies, allowing them to get around laws against the destruction of fish habitat.

(AT A HUGE COST TO US AND OUR FUTURE GENERATIONS !!! - end rant)

Under the Fisheries Act, it's illegal to put harmful substances into fish-bearing waters. But, under a little-known subsection known as "Schedule Two" of the mining effluent regulations, federal bureaucrats can redefine lakes as "tailings impoundment areas."

That means mining companies don't need to build containment ponds for toxic mine tailings.

CBC News visited two examples of "Schedule Two" lakes. In Newfoundland, the Vale Inco company wants to use a prime destination for fishermen known as Sandy Pond to hold tailings from a nickel processing plant.

In northern B.C., Imperial Metals plans to enclose a remote watershed valley to hold tailings from a gold and copper mine. The valley lies in what the native Tahltan people call the "Sacred Headwaters" of three major salmon rivers. It also serves as spawning grounds for the rainbow trout of Kluela Lake, which is downstream from the dump site.

Lakes 'safest option': mining association

Vale Inco's proposal was the subject of a public meeting on June 10 in Long Harbour, N.L. Billed as a "public consultation" on the proposal, the meeting was attended by government officials, mining executives, environmentalists and fishermen.

Lakes are often the best way for mine tailings to be contained, said Elizabeth Gardiner, vice-president for technical affairs for the Mining Association of Canada.

“In some cases, particularly in Canada, with this kind of topography and this number of natural lakes and depressions and ponds ... in the end it's really the safest option for human health and for the environment," she said.

(GEE ... I wonder what other options they've considered? Because just dumping it in the watersheds ISN'T SAFE. How could it possibly be less safe than that?)

But Catherine Coumans, spokeswoman for the environmental group Mining Watch, said the federal government is making it too easy. She said federal officials are increasingly using the obscure “Schedule Two” regulations to quietly reclassify lakes and other waters as tailings dumps.

(Bold added. This ramping up is happening in mining, logging and housing development, as Canada tries to spread tentacles as far and wide as possible for as long and far as possible, destroying everything in its path, trying to stay ahead of the Indigenous land rights judgments that Canada has to make against itself ... someday.)

“Something that used to be a lake - or a river, in fact, they can use rivers - by being put on this section two of this regulation is no longer a river or a lake," she said. "It's a tailings impoundment area. It's a waste disposal site. It's an industrial waste dump."

Coumans said the procedure amounts to a subsidy to the industry and enables mines to get around the Fisheries Act.

"What Canadians need to know is that this year, from March 2008 to March of 2009, eight lakes are going to be subject to being put on Schedule Two, which is just about every mine that is going ahead this year is looking around, looking for the nearest lake to dump its waste into.”

A local environmentalist who attended the Long Harbour meeting, Chad Griffiths, said of Sandy Pond: “It's easy enough to consider just one lake as just one lake, as a needed sacrifice, right? But it's not one lake ... It's a trend. It's an open season on Canadian water.”

'Open season on Canadian water': environmentalist

A test case: the Red Chris Mine in northwestern B.C.

Last fall, a Federal Court judge ruled that federal bureaucrats acted illegally in trying to fast-track the Red Chris copper and gold mine without a full and public environmental review.

The decision put the project on hold, but late last week, the Federal Appeals Court reversed the decision, paving the way for federal officials to declare lakes to be dumps without public consultation.

Imperial Metals said in a release Monday that federal authorities "are now authorized to issue regulatory approvals for the Red Chris project to proceed," although the matter could still be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada.

In the earlier decision, Justice Luc Martineau overturned the decision by federal officials to skip a public review, saying it "has all the characteristics of a capricious and arbitrary decision which was taken for an improper purpose."

He also found those officials "committed a reviewable error by deciding to forgo the public consultation process which the project was statutorily mandated to undergo."

The dump site includes two small lakes in a Y-shaped valley. Imperial Metals plans to build three dams to contain mine tailings within the valley. But environmentalists say there is no way to stop effluent leaking downstream in groundwater.

Jim Bourquin of the Cassiar Watch Society, a conservation group, said Kluela Lake, immediately downstream from the site, is “one of the best trout fishing lakes in northern B.C.”

“This is a precedent-setting decision by the federal government to start using fish-bearing habitat as a waste management area," Bourquin said. "It's totally bizarre for the federal government to come here and say that this Y-shaped valley up here is no longer fish habitat, it's no longer sacred headwaters, it's just a waste dump site.”

But Steve Robertson, exploration manager for Imperial Metals, told CBC News the dump site will be sealed and that the economic benefits of the planned Red Chris mine will be enormous.

“This is a project that can bring a lot of good jobs, long-term jobs, well-paying jobs to a community that desperately needs it,” Robertson said.

He added that the total investment over the 25-year life of the mine would be about half a billion dollars and that the risk to the environment will be carefully managed.

“Tailings are part of the mining process,” Robertson said, “and, if treated properly, if they're built into a proper structure and kept submerged, they should be able to withstand the test of time and actually not pose a detriment to the environment.”

But James Dennis, a 76-year-old elder of the local Tahltan people, told CBC News he doesn’t buy that.

“We want it stopped,” said Dennis, who lives in the native village of Iskut, 18 kilometres northwest of the mine site. “We want to stop the mine ... The animals will be drinking that water and they'll all be polluted too.

"Once they do the mine, they’re going to leave, and we're the people who are going to live with that. Not me, but my grandchildren, the small little kids like this. That's who's going to live with the pollution.”

************************************************************************ Has a mining corporation ever said that their actions would cause pollution problems? NEVER!!! Have they ever caused pollution problems? Always. Time to stop listening to them. http://www.miningwatch.ca/