Oyu Tolgoi is an enormous copper and gold deposit in Mongolia. The project is jointly owned by Canadian company Turquoise Hill Resources and a state owned enterprise. According to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), estimated project cost is $12 billion. Project proponents seek financing from Export Development Canada, the IFC, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, among others. In this document, CSOs argue that the project does not comply with the IFC Performance Standards and provide a series of recommendations.

Statement by the Halifax Initiative, the Latin American Observatory of Environmental Conflicts and MiningWatch Canada concerning Barrick Gold's disasterous second quarter results and its 'star' project, Pascua Lama.

Return of the financial transactions tax

Embassy Magazine, Feb. 16, 2011

By John Jacobs

In spite of Canada's attempt to bury it at the Toronto G20 meeting, a tax on financial transactions is back on the global agenda and gaining momentum.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has pledged to use his term as chair of the G20 to reform the global financial system and curb the speculation that contributed to the economic crisis. At the top of his agenda is an international financial transactions tax (FTT) to fund the fight against poverty and climate change.

Bill C-300: Narrow Defeat despite Widespread Support for Mining Accountability and Human Rights

Ottawa, October 28th, 2010 - The Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability (CNCA) deeply regrets the defeat of Private Member’s Bill C-300, The Responsible Mining Bill, at third and final reading in the House of Commons. The Bill lost by a narrow margin of 140 to 134.

Robin Hood Tax: Canada misses a chance for Leadership

OTTAWA – The Canadian Government is missing an historic opportunity to offer constructive global leadership by refusing to consider any kind of levy on the global financial sector.

“There are two proposals on the table here,” said Fraser Reilly-King of the Halifax Initiative. “One would save the banks, the other would save the world. At a time when global poverty is rising, along with sea levels, and European economies are crashing, the Harper government is actively campaigning against both.”

A Bank Tax would apply broadly and ensure future bailout funds would come from banks themselves, not the public. Canada’s counterproposal involves “embedded contingent capital,” which would shift the burden to shareholders, turning [contingent] bonds to equity if the banks run into trouble.

Three ways to pay for aid commitments
EMBASSY – Canada’s Foreign Policy Newspaper

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Stephen Harper’s announcement that child and maternal health will be the signature theme of June’s G8 meeting is certainly timely.

Every day 1,400 women die of pregnancy-related causes.  Every day 24,000 children under the age of five die of what are largely preventable causes. Progress on improving child and maternal health is the furthest off-track of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) UN member states committed to in 2000. This focus gives MDGs four and five, on child and maternal health, the push they need ahead of September’s United Nations High Level Meeting and ten year review of the MDGs.

But funding the initiative comes during difficult days – a global crisis and a budget deficit. Resources are tight.

EDC Legislative Review Riles Rights Groups

Embassy - Canada's Foreign Policy Newspaper
http://embassymag.ca/page/printpage/edc-4-15-2009

by Michelle Collins

Leading civil society advocates are fuming that a review of Export Development Canada's business activities did little to advance the agency's obligations to human rights and transparency, and they are calling on the government to act.

KAIROS Debt E-Bulletin January 2009

Ecuador Has Every Right to Refuse to Pay Illegitimate Debts

President Rafael's Correa's decision to default on payments on a portion of Ecuador's external debts has received enthusiastic approval from social justice advocates amidst warnings of retribution from private financiers. London's /Financial Times/ accuses Correa of halting payments "on ideological grounds".

In fact, Ecuador made this decision for solid moral, legal and financial reasons that have been ignored by media reports. The default followed an exhaustive audit of Ecuador's debts that uncovered extensive irregularities and illegalities in the way the debts in question were contracted. Moreover, the decision is based on a strong moral case for repudiating illegitimate debts as affirmed by many church and civil society organizations

New undemocratic “Washington Consensus” won’t fix global crisis, state over 630 groups from 104 countries
International, October 29th, 2008 – The day before the United Nations (UN) meets to discuss its new high-level taskforce on the global financial crisis, chaired by Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, and two weeks before the US hosts members of the Group of 20 to address the same issue, a coalition of 630 organizations from 104 countries have issued a statement demanding a truly global response to the global crisis and laying out a set of principles for doing so.

EDC Gives Nod to Human Rights Considerations
But the Jury is still out on whether the Crown Corporation has gone far enough.

By Lee Berthiaume

http://www.freedominfo.org/ifti/20080516a.htm

16 MAY 2008

Canadian Government Reports on IFI Activity Get Good Grade
The Canadian government’s annual reporting on its activities at international financial institutions is getting better, according to the authors, and to a Canadian civil society group which recently gave the latest report its best grade ever.

The Halifax Initiative said the report on 2007 activities merited a B+, up from last year’s rating of B-, and way up from the D grades of 2001-2005.

CANADA: Gov't Urged to Rein in Mining Sector
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40353

by Am Johal, IPS News
December 7th, 2007

Canadian mining companies continue to come under scrutiny from civil society organisations for international human rights violations and environmental damage that critics say the Canadian government has done little to check.

Canada is a leader in the global mining industry, with almost 60 percent of the world's listed exploration and mining companies. The government supports some foreign mining activity through Export Development Canada, a federal agency.

Members of the Export Credit Group
OECD
2, rue André Pascal
F-75775 Paris Cedex 16
Fax: c/o 01 44 30 61 58
Email: c/o Xcred.Secretariat@oecd.org

Paris, 5 November 2007

Dear Sir/Madam,

Stop 'rogue' Canadian mining operations abroad, MP urges

Mike De Souza
CanWest News Service

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

OTTAWA - The federal government should immediately crack down on the unethical and destructive practices of Canadian mineral extraction companies that profit from weak laws and regulations in developing companies, NDP foreign affairs critic Alexa McDonough said Wednesday.

Click here for pdf

Action contre l’impunité pour les droits humains (ACIDH)
Association Africaine de Défense des Droits de l’Homme/Katanga (ASADHO/Katanga)
Global Witness
Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID)

For immediate release:

Victims of Kilwa massacre denied justice by Congolese military court

London, UK/Lubumbashi, DRC (17 July 2007):

Four Congolese and international non¬governmental organisations (NGOs) today published a new report documenting serious flaws and irregularities in the trial of nine Congolese soldiers for war crimes, and three employees of Anvil Mining for complicity in war crimes, committed in Kilwa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The trial, held before a military court, ended on 28 June 2007 with the acquittal of all the defendants on war crimes charges in relation to events in Kilwa.(1)

 Plans by US, Canada and EU to finance massive copper mine in DRC disregard Congolese government review of mining deals

On July 12, the US government’s Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) is set to give its backing to mining major Phelps Dodge/Freeport McMoRan for the company’s Tenke Fungurume copper project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Other public lenders such as Export Development Canada (EDC) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) are expected to follow suit. These financing plans are proceeding in spite of the fact that the Tenke deal is among 60 contracts currently under review by the Congolese government.

http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/230187

Canada's Responsibility
by Gerry Barr, President-CEO Canadian Council for International Co-operation
June 28, 2007
PM sees payoff in adding Americas to foreign agenda

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has decided Canada should "re-engage" with the Americas, and in July he's visiting four states in the region to start up his new foreign policy direction. In a world where the majority of the population lives in underdevelopment, Harper rightly says of the Americas, "We also have countries that have development challenges." But will Canada lessen those challenges or add to them?

Curb mining abuses, say church leaders - Coalition urges binding legislation on human rights, environment

Art Babych, Anglican Journal - http://www.anglicanjournal.com/100/article/curb-mining-abuses-say-church...

May 30, 2007

Canada's reputation as a human rights leader is being damaged by environmental and human rights abuses of Canadian mining companies overseas, say church leaders and activists from the Philippines and South Africa.

Canada's Mining Companies: It's the Government's Turn

Embassy Magazine Editorial -
http://www.embassymag.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=/2007/may/23

An investment newsletter offers the advice that there are still vast profits to be made from extraction investment in the Toronto Stock Exchange "because more and more mining companies are heading to Canada."

http://www.wcr.ab.ca/news/2007/0409/mining040907.shtml

Catholics call mining companies to a roundtable
Environment, human rights targeted by groups
Catholic organizations working to ensure Canadian mining companies operating overseas respect the environment and human rights can celebrate a small victory.

Social responsibility

On March 29, the National Roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility advisory group released a ground-breaking report endorsed by industry and civil society representatives that could make Canada a leader in this area if its recommendations are adopted.

Adopt New Mining Guidelines:Report

Canada should adopt guidelines to improve transparency as well as the environmental and human rights practices of Canadian companies involved in extractive industries in the developing world, says a government-appointed advisory group. It says if these measures are adopted, Canada could become a world leader in Corporate Social Responsibility.

Report targets secrecy in foreign mine, oil operations

Canada should revamp everything from its pension plans to its securities regulations, says a groundbreaking joint report by Canadian industry leaders in the mining and oil sectors and environmental and human rights advocates.

The proposed changes aim to force more disclosure from companies and large investors on how they deal with environmental and rights issues.

The report also aims to bring further transparency to corporate governance issues, such as executive compensation and accounting practices.

The changes would position Canada as a world leader in the field of socially responsible investment, the report says.

As it Happens, CBC, March 29th, 2007
http://www.cbc.ca/radioshows/AS_IT_HAPPENS/20070329.shtml

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070329.wcomment0329/BNStory/Business

Breaking new ground on corporate social responsibility

GERRY BARR and GORDON PEELING AND ROBERT WALKER

Special to Globe and Mail Update

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/business/story.html?id=05cd5ae9-deb2-473b-91a8-e1ddea06cb47&k=32338

Canadian accord sets ethical mining norms

In a move that could revolutionize global mining, Canadian mining representatives have struck an unprecedented accord with environmentalists and human-rights advocates on ways to ensure mining and oil companies act ethically in their overseas operations.

The pact would create the world's first independent mining ombudsman and sketches out environmental and social standards for projects in the developing world, where standards are often lax or poorly enforced.

It also calls on government to withdraw services, such as diplomatic support and tax breaks, if companies fail to uphold those standards.

http://www.northernminer.com/article.asp?id=67156&issue=03292007&ref=rss

Industry, NGOs agree on good practices for Canadian miners abroad

Concluding a 10-month process that saw input from NGOs, mining, oil and gas companies and academia, a report released today outlines a raft of recommendations that aim to address concerns over the social and environmental effects of resource extraction by Canadian companies in the developing world.

Civil Society and Industry Representatives Agree on Good Overseas Practices

What: Groundbreaking Report on Canadian Mining, Oil and Gas Companies Released

Who:
Tony Andrews – Executive Director, Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada
Gerry Barr – President-CEO, Canadian Council for International Co-operation
Catherine Coumans – Research Coordinator, MiningWatch Canada
Gordon Peeling – President-CEO, Mining Association of Canada

When: Thursday, March 29th at 10.00 am

Where: Charles Lynch Room, Centre Block, Parliament Hill

The final report from the National Roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility and the Canadian Extractive Industry in Developing Countries will be released at a press conference on Thursday, March 29 at 10:00 am.

Mining Firms, Fearful of Prosecution, Taking Social Responsibility More Seriously

Embassy, November 22nd, 2006
FEATURE
By Lee Berthiaume

Canadian mining companies must respect human rights
We need rights-impact assessments for direct investment in foreign countries

JEAN-LOUIS ROY

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

For many developing countries, Canadian mining companies are their first and often only encounter with Canada. As a country with a proud reputation of promoting international human rights, Canada must ensure this heritage is reflected in the activities of its corporate citizens abroad.

Press Conference: Regulating the Activities of Canadian Mining Companies

Who?

• José De Echave, CooperAcción, Peru
• Thomas Akabzaa, Coordinator, Africa Initiative on Mining, Environment and Society, Ghana
• Jacques Saramin Boengkih, Director, Agence Kanak de développement, New Caledonia

When?
Monday, November 13 at 12:45

Where?
Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Amphitheatre SH-2800 200 Sherbrooke Street West

Canadian mineral industry abroad lawless

Human rights activists want regulations to replace voluntary standards

by Amy Steel for FastForward

When Canadian oil and gas and mining companies operate overseas they are often subject to much weaker local environmental, human rights and labour regulations than they would be if they operated at home.

In some cases that can mean that the rights of local people are trampled upon and the environment is damaged because local governments don’t require Canadian companies to meet higher standards.

The federal government has convened a series of round table forums with industry, activists and members of the general public to discuss what kind of standards should be in place for Canadian companies operating overseas. One of the forums was held in Calgary this week.

Canadian miners, explorers taken to task by African NGOs

By: Rodrick Mukumbira
Posted: '09-OCT-06 10:00' GMT © Mineweb 1997-2006

WINDHOEK (Mineweb.com) --A call has been made to the Canadian government by African civil society organisations for it to regulate Canadian mining companies operating internationally.

Fondo Mundial de Alternativas - http://www.forumdesalternatives.org/articulo.php?id=1620

Activists Push for Sustainable Mining

Stephen Leahy | IPS

Publicado el 01/10/2006

Civil society activists want the Canadian government to impose mandatory human rights and environmental standards on Canadian mining and oil companies operating in Latin America and other developing regions.

Mine Your Own Business
Should Canadian mining companies operating abroad abide by Canadian law?

http://dominionpaper.ca/foreign_policy/2006/09/25/mine_your_.html

by Hillary Bain Lindsay

Mind the (Growing) Gap – Debt, Aid, and Trade
1.2 billion people are still living in abject poverty as Prime Minister Stephen Harper heads to St. Petersburg for the annual Group of Eight (G8) meetings. With new promises on energy and security waiting in the wings, it is timely to reflect on how far the G8 has moved on its pledges since last year’s Gleneagles Summit.

According to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, 2005 was to be “the year for Africa”. The Africa Commission report, the Make Poverty History campaign and the Live 8 concerts focused attention on full debt cancellation, more and better aid, fairer trade and tackling poverty. Progress on these fronts, among others, was to help Africa “make serious inroads into poverty”, and towards achieving the United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goals.

Government warned about risk of mining accidents overseas
Ministry briefing highlighted danger, but prompted no changes in rules
SIMON TUCK (Globe & Mail)

OTTAWA -- Senior government officials were warned more than two years ago that Canadian mining companies with overseas operations could "seriously embarrass Canada" if they didn't take steps to reduce the risk of a major environmental accident.

The warning, contained in a June, 2004, briefing note to the top bureaucrat at the Department of Natural Resources, also includes a suggestion that the government prepare a communications plan to deal with the possibility of an overseas accident involving a Canadian mining company.

The warning, however, has not led to any real changes in legislation or to the rules that govern Canadian mining companies operating in developing countries.

Time for the mining industry to clean up its act

Science Matters by David Suzuki

Science Matters is published weekly in newspapers across Canada.

From metals to minerals, we all need natural resources brought up from the earth through mining. But mining can have a huge environmental impact, and some companies are giving the industry a bad name around the world - with Canadian firms being some of the biggest offenders.

For Immediate Release

National Debate Opens on Human Rights and Environmental Standards for Mining and Energy Companies.

Canadian civil society organizations are calling on the government to move beyond voluntary measures to ensure that Canadian mining, oil and gas companies uphold international human rights and environmental standards while operating abroad.

This Wednesday, the Canadian government will be launching a series of national roundtables on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the extractives sector. The first roundtable, to take place in Vancouver on June 14-15, will focus on standards and benchmarks. The government is bringing Canadian and international experts together to participate in the discussions.

IMF, World Bank control damaging Guyana programmes
Guyana Chronicle

A NEW study from the Social Justice Committee in Montreal, Canada, shows World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) control of economic and anti-poverty programmes in Guyana to be damaging to government and citizen efforts, the group said yesterday.

A statement said two new studies from the committee and Halifax Initiative Coalition, Canada show that tight control by the World Bank and IMF resulted in ineffective economic reform and poverty reduction programmes here.

Control of the policy process by these institutions tended to stir resentment in the societies the programmes were supposed to help, because of low level of country ownership and civil society participation in programme design and implementation, it said.

Urgently Needed: Mining Ethics

Also available at http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/media/statements/opedMiningEthics051021.asp

Prominent Canadians, in a letter to the Prime Minister today, called on the government to put a stop to human rights and environmental abuses by Canadian companies overseas.

In recent years, allegations of forced re-settlement, contamination of lands and waters, support for repressive regimes, violations of workers and indigenous rights, assaults and even killings by security forces, have been associated with specific Canadian companies.

"The voluntary approach to corporate social responsibility has failed in many cases," says Dr. David Suzuki, geneticist, broadcaster and environmental activist.

The joint letter to Prime Minister Paul Martin calls for legislation making Canadian companies accountable for their conduct abroad and urges the government to condition financial and political support for companies on stringent human rights and environmental criteria.

New agreement for financing renewable technology a Trojan horse for environmental destruction, NGOs say

September 7, 2005 Brussels, Belgium - A new agreement to finance renewable energy projects could be a Trojan horse that will lead to environmental destruction rather than environmental sustainability, warns a new NGO report. NGOs say the inclusion of large dams under the agreement is a betrayal of an otherwise positive effort to promote sustainable energy technologies like wind, solar, and geothermal.

"By extending special export subsidies to large dam projects, the OECD governments are turning an environment initiative into a Trojan horse for environmental destruction," said Peter Bosshard, Policy Director of International Rivers Network and co-author of the report.

G8 Debt Cancellation a Major Step - But G8 Leaders Still Have a Lot of Unfinished Business

June 15, 2005 - The Make Poverty History campaign applauds the weekend announcements by G8 Finance Ministers on a debt cancellation package as a key step forward for many of the world's poorest countries.

This decision marks acceptance, by rich countries, of outright debt cancellation as a strategy for management of the debt stock held by the world's multilateral institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The proposed deal will cover 18 countries initially and could eventually free up $US 40 to 50 billion in resources for qualifying poor countries.

Dams Could Win OECD Support
Sanjay Suri

BONN , May 13 (IPS) - The OECD took a controversial decision Friday to consider loans for large dams on favourable terms.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a grouping of 30 rich nations, took a provisional decision to consider loans for hydropower projects that could be repaid over 15 years in place of the present ceiling of eight-and-a-half years.

The OECD at present allows 15-year repayment for nuclear power projects. The decision Friday brings hydro projects on a par with repayment terms for nuclear projects.

The provisional decision is subject to discussions between OECD officials and experts from several disciplines over the next six months.

Non-governmental organisations want the experts and officials to particularly consider the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams (WCD).

New Report to Parliament on Relations between Canada and the Bretton Woods Institutions Comes up Short

Ottawa - On the eve of the annual spring meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC, the Halifax Initiative Coalition released a new report analyzing how the federal government publicly accounts to Canadians on its relations with these powerful multilateral institutions.

Parliament is informed of the activities and operations of the Bretton Woods Institutions through the tabling of the annual report entitled the Report on the Operations Under the Bretton Woods and Related Agreements Act, which is released annually at the end of March.

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

Celeste Mackenzie. Toronto Star, Mar 27, 2005. pg. A.14

A handful of huge front-loaders and their complement of dump trucks are moving earth high on a desolate Guatemalan mountain that has become a site of controversy in the last few months.

One of the machine operators is Patricio Orlando de Paz Ramirez, a Mayan from a nearby hamlet and one of about 800 Guatemalans employed during the construction phase of a gold and silver mine owned by Canada's Glamis Gold Ltd.

Sporting a hard hat and fluorescent safety vest, de Paz Ramirez says it's sad to see the mountain transformed this way, but in impoverished San Marcos state, he's happy to have the job and the training that went with it.

PDF available here

NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release

Coalition of Canadian CSOs Highlight the Weaknesses of Canadian Debt Proposal

Ottawa, Febuary 2, 2005 – A coalition of Canadian civil society organizations criticized the Government of Canada’s proposal for debt relief noting it actually doesn’t cancel any debts and only starts to address the needs of the poorest countries.

“The package announced by the Government of Canada this morning won't fully meet the needs of the poorest countries because it only covers debt servicing for a maximum of ten years up to 2015 and doesn’t lead to full debt cancellation at all,” says John Mihevc, of KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives and Chair of the Halifax Initiative Coalition.

Report Card Flunks Crown Corp on Transparency

Ottawa, October 25, 2004 – A Canadian coalition of groups hammered Export Development Canada (EDC) for poor transparency on the most controversial and risky projects it funds, the day before the Auditor General is set to release a report on the environmental and disclosure policies of the crown corporation.

“Three years ago the Auditor General identified public consultation and disclosure of environmental information as being essential to a credible review process”, said Fraser Reilly-King, Coordinator of the NGO Working Group on EDC, the coalition that released the report.

“Yet EDC still has no requirements to do either, and has not released a single environmental impact assessment for the potentially most harmful projects. Without greater transparency, EDC’s environmental review lacks credibility.”

Canadian Civil Society Groups Disappointed in G-7 Failure to Bridge Differences  to Provide Debt Relief to the Poorest Countries.

Ottawa – Canadian civil society groups in the Halifax Initiative Coalition expressed disappointment with G-7 Finance Ministers for failing to show the political will to bridge differences and cancel the debts of the poorest countries, but highlight that 100% debt cancellation is now universally acknowledged to be necessary for the poorest countries.

"Even though it is a real disappointment, the momentum is building for full debt cancellation," says Derek MacCuish, Coordinator of the Social Justice Committee. "The G-7 has now recognized what civil society organizations in Canada and around the world have been saying for decades - that the debt of the poorest countries needs to be cancelled."

Coalition Welcomes EDC Report, Warns Only First Step for Crown Corporation

Ottawa, September 16 – A Canadian coalition of development, environment, faith-based, human rights, and labour groups today welcomed the release of Export Development Canada’s Second Annual Chief Environmental Adviser’s Report, but warned that this is only a small step towards ensuring greater public accountability for the Crown Corporation.

“We are definitely encouraged that EDC chose to release this report for a second year running, and responded to earlier feedback by shedding a little more light on EDC’s internal workings”, said Fraser Reilly-King, Coordinator of the NGO Working Group on EDC. “But when you have to wait a year to get any substantive information relating to EDC’s environmental transactions, it becomes obvious how far they still have to go.”

Business as usual in more ways than one: NGOs say World Bank looks set to miss an historic moment to show that it can learn from its mistakes

Ottawa -  As World Bank staff return to work for the second day under the chilling new terrorist alert in the U.S., all efforts are being made to ensure that their work carries forward as it normally would. But NGOs are concerned that the World Bank will today decide to carry on with “business as usual” in its oil, gas and mining operations even though a World Bank commissioned report called for significant changes to how the Bank invests in mining and oil projects.

World Bank Sanctions Acres International Limited

World Bank News Release No: 2005/33/S

WASHINGTON, Jul. 23, 2004 – The World Bank has sanctioned Acres International Limited (Acres), a Canadian company, as a result of corrupt activities related to its Bank financed contract associated with the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP). Acres was declared ineligible to receive any new Bank financed contracts for a period of three years. This action is part of the Bank’s broad anticorruption efforts initiated by President James Wolfensohn in 1996. More information on the World Bank’s overall anticorruption policies and activities can be found at: http://www.worldbank.org/anticorruption.

Belgium clears path to developing world prosperity

David Hillman
Monday July 5, 2004
The Guardian

Tony Blair calls Africa a scar on the conscience of the world. Gordon Brown has a means for healing that scar through a doubling of aid. The chancellor says his international financing facility (IFF) is the only game in town, but so far the teams are still stuck in the dressing room.

NEWS RELEASE

National Post  

Martin's problem: Corruption at home and abroad

High Level World Bank Review calls for the phase out of World Bank involvement in oil exploitation and coal mining

Bank Management to ignore recommendations says leaked report

EDC ranks poorly in Anti-Corruption Index

Crown Corporation says it is satisfied with safeguards in place, new Report indicates it should not be.

U.S., Allies Set Environment Pact; Boon Is Seen to Overseas Business

By MICHAEL M. PHILLIPS

Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Africa: The struggle against privatization

by Paul Beaulieu

The Cobwebs on Credit

 

 

World Press Review correspondent

Paris, France

Nov. 11, 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.

Orange Farm says no to water meters

The struggle against water privatization in a South Africa township

by Bricks Makolo
 

They came in the name of development to bring free and clean water by means of pre-paid meters. The decision to install the meters had already been made. They never consulted the residents as to the type of water services the community would prefer.

The case against Candu, if only Parliament would talk about it

Susan Riley
The Ottawa Citizen
Wednesday, October 15, 2003

Prime Minister Jean Chrétien will be trying to sell more Candu nuclear reactors to China when he travels abroad next week. Which raises the question: When did we have the national debate on whether we should be continuing to promote nuclear power?

Canada’s position on Third World debt

The government of Canada supports 100 percent cancellation of sovereign debt, including commercial sovereign debt, for the “poorest eligible countries.” To prevent future crisis, the government supports greater transparency in lending and fair lending practices.

The government of Canada supports the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Initiative program, coordinated by the World Bank and IMF, and has pushed for faster and deeper debt relief, and debt relief for a larger number of countries.

Canadian Business Journal

BY MATTHEW McCLEARN

COVER DATE: Sept. 2, 2003

Many Canadians cannot point to Lesotho on a map. Some have never heard of it. In the cruel calculus of world politics, business, trade and finance, it is almost completely irrelevant. And yet, this tiny nation landlocked by South Africa must loom large on the minds of executives at Acres International Ltd., an engineering consulting firm based in Oakville, Ont. Its legal representatives are now in the capital, Maseru, for what could be the endgame of the most important battle in the company's 79-year history.

Acres loses appeal on bribery charge in Lesotho
Canadian engineering firm convicted of bribing top official has fine reduced

By KAREN MacGREGOR
Special to The Globe and Mail
Monday, August 18, 2003 - Page B3
 
DURBAN -- Canadian engineering firm Acres International Ltd. lost an appeal against conviction on a charge of bribery in a high-profile corruption case in Lesotho on Friday -- but won its fight against a second graft conviction and had a whopping fine of $4.2-million reduced to $2.8-million.
 
The Oakville, Ont., firm -- the first of three multinationals charged with bribing a top official to win lucrative contracts in the $3.3-billion Lesotho Highlands Water Project, which delivers water to Lesotho and South Africa -- was convicted last year of two counts of corruption.
It was the first conviction by a developing country of a bribe-giving western company.

Now they tell us: Privatization is no panacea
By MADELAINE DROHAN
Wednesday, August 6, 2003 - Page A13
Finally, someone has come to their senses at the World Bank and admitted that letting the private sector run things does not always produce better results than leaving them in public hands.
For an organization that has spent two decades pushing privatization with something akin to religious zeal, this amounts to a crisis of faith.

G7 Response to Financial Crises – Another Band-Aid

The frequent financial crises of recent years has exposed the systemic instability of global finance and resulted in devastating impacts on human development. Financial liberalization has meant that governments have lost their ability to control the global flow of capital, thereby surrendering monetary and economic policy sovereignty to investment firms and large banks.

These financial crises revealed the degree to which financial markets are under-governed in the global economy. An enormous discrepancy exists between an increasingly sophisticated international financial world and the lack of proper institutional frameworks to regulate it at the national and multilateral levels. The inevitability of future crises makes the re-regulation of capital a global imperative.

CBC’s “The Current”
June 18, 2003
Damming Evidence: Canada and the World Commission on Dams  
It's the most expensive construction project in the history of the human race, and one of the largest.
 
The Three Gorges dam project in China won't be finished until 2009, but this month it passed a symbolic landmark. Engineers closed the dam's sluice gates and for the first time the mighty Yangtze was blocked. The enormous reservoir behind the dam is now starting to fill with water.

MEDIA RELEASE

For immediate release

Canada refuses to take responsibility for large dam disasters by ignoring World Commission recommendations

Ottawa, June 12, 2003 - Canada should implement the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams (WCD), rather than continuing to support such environmental and human rights debacles as China's Three Gorges dam and Colombia's Urra dam, argues a new report, released today by the NGO Working Group on the EDC.

Currency Tax site launched today
Today, Halifax Initiative, a Canadian coalition for economic democracy, launches its new website: www.currencytax.org . In the interest of contributing to the building a global public constituency and assisting researchers worldwide, our site aims, to the extent possible, to be a comprehensive information warehouse on the currency transactions tax issue.
The site provides a comprehensive range of education materials including:

Acres Int'l convicted in African bribery case
Engineering firm shocked; plans appeal

NGOs respond to G8 Action Plan for Africa
NGOs are looking for commitments and follow-through in the following areas:
Bring NEPAD Home for Democratic Debate

Travelling Road Show helps raise public knowledge of G-8
(PDF file) - [Lethbridge Heald]

Commentator barred from G8 media site
Coalition leader can't imagine what threat she presents to RCMP
The Ottawa Citizen
The Ottawa Citizen Pam Foster says she has participated in anti-globalization protests and spoken out against particular policies and practices of government. 'It is now apparent to me that the government has equated these democratic acts as being a threat to security.'

Saturday, June 15, 2002, The Halifax Herald
 
Poor suffocating under debt - activists
Lack of food, water, health care killing 19,000 African children daily

Ted Pritchard / Herald Photo
Social activists Njoki Njoroge Njehu, front, and Thandiwe Nkomo speak at a news conference Friday criticizing the G-7 financial leaders' inaction on World Bank reform.
 

Civil society in G7 countries charge finance ministers with saying little and doing even less to support the poor
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Activist criticizes funding for Third World projects (PDF file)

Activist links farm woes, globalization
Privatization seen as failing farmers
 
David Finlayson, Journal Staff Writer
The Edmonton Journal

Monday, May 27, 2002 The same global policies that make African countries economic slaves are hurting Canadian farmers, Ottawa activist and educator Pamela Foster said Sunday.
 

Travelling speakers present G8 perspective (PDF file) - [The St. Paul Journal]

Paul Martin on the International Bankrupty Court and Response by Halifax Initiative (PDF file) [ The Globe and Mail ]

MEDIA RELEASE
Canada behind leaders in Export Credit Agency reform EDC continues to operate in secret
For immediate release.
Ottawa, March 31, 2002. Export Development Canada (EDC), Canada's export credit agency, released environmental and disclosure practices yesterday that fall far behind the leaders in export credit agency reform.

MEDIA RELEASE
EDC criticized on International Day of Action Against Dams and for Rivers
Canadian organizations call on Export Development Canada to change new, weak environmental policy
For Immediate Release

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

SIERRA CLUB OF CANADA
NEWS RELEASE -- Wednesday December 12, 2001
INTERNATIONAL OPPOSITION TO ROMANIAN REACTOR
The Sierra Club of Canada has denounced a risky request for 390 million dollars in Canadian taxpayer funds to finance a second CANDU reactor in Romania. Public interest groups in Europe are also calling on their respective governments, export credit agencies and the European Commission to oppose loans for the Cernavoda-2 CANDU reactor in Romania.

Leaked Documents Show OECD Export Credit Group Fails to Meet Environmental Demands of its Own Ministers, G-8 Leaders

MEDIA ADVISORY
November 8, 2001
Leaders against World Bank and IMF policies converge in Ottawa mid-November.
Ottawa – Civil society leaders from around the world who are active proposing alternatives to the World Bank and IMF approach to global issues will be in Ottawa to protest the IMF and World Bank meetings of November 17th and 18th. 

Government Cahnges to Export Development Act Too Minor - Leaves Bad Driver in Driver’s Seat
Coalition Urges for More Accountability

G8’s IMPOTENCE IN REFORMING THEIR EXPORT CREDIT AGENCIES
NGOs call on G8 governments to soon adopt high level binding common environmental guidelines for their Export Credit Agencies.

Sierra Club of Canada Nuclear Campaign
c/o Box 104
Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada  L9P 1M6
tel/fax: 905-852-0571
e-mail: nucaware@web.ca
News Release -- For Release: Tuesday July 17, 2001
Canada supports nuclear power, opposes renewables at G8...
NGOs SAY STOP FINANCING NUCLEAR EXPORTS

Why do the world banks insist on their hurricane cut?

The international financial institutions aren't letting a disaster stand in the way of debt repayment.

Derek MacCuish, Social Justice Committee of Montreal
 
As efforts get under way to rebuild the Central American countries hit by Hurricane Mitch, the international community faces an old dilemma. Should one deal with the devil, if there is some good in the outcome?

Thousands of people were killed in the hurricane. disaster, and most of the rest are now trying to patch their lives together in a context of profound poverty. They need food and medicine, clothing and shelter. People around the world understand this need, and are sending as much as they can, without hesitation.

Extracted from "Who killed Ken Saro-Wiwa?"
"Suit against Shell points to corporate responsibility" by Elizabeth Neuffer(Boston Globe)[ Source : "The Gazette, Montreal, Tuesday, June 26, 2001" ]

World Bank okays loan to Nigeria

The World Bank last week approved a $15-million loan to Nigeria to provide funding for Nigerian companies working for Shell.

Toronto Star
Jun. 15, 01:00 EDT
 
Manley blasts U.S. on farm-aid
Finance minister denounces $190 billion deal
Kelly Toughill
Atlantic Canada Bureau
 
HALIFAX — Deputy Prime Minister John Manley came out swinging in his international debut as finance minister yesterday, chastising a top U.S. official for helping the drug trade and hurting the poor.
 

MEDIA RELEASE
Coalition of NGOs Welcomes Auditor General's Report on the Export Development Corporation’s Environmental Review Framework --Calls for EDC’s exemption from the Calls for EDC’s exemption from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act to be removed.

MEDIA RELEASE
NGO Report Demonstrates
the Export Development Corporation
Risks the Environment
For immediate release May 14, 2001

Regulate or devastate? That is the question
March 22, 2001 - Today non-governmental organizations call on Finance Minister Martin to act immediately to control financial market behavior.
“With stock markets crashing around us, the need to control the rollercoaster of international finance has never been more urgent”, said Gord Walker of Halifax Initiative member organization RESULTS Canada, "Parliamentarians voted overwhelmingly to do so two years ago, but the federal government has dropped the ball."

Canada cuts debt of poorest countries
Third World owes up to $1-billion
 
HEATHER SCOFFIELD
The Globe and Mail
Tuesday, 19 December, 2000
 

CANADIAN AND INTERNATIONAL CIVIL SOCIETY LEADERS CALL ON G20 MINISTERS TO FOCUS ON REAL PROBLEMS

They demand action to cancel debt, control currency speculation and end poverty

The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and finance ministers and central bankers from 19 of the world's most powerful countries met behind closed doors in Montreal, October 24 and 25th, 2000. Created by the Group of Seven industrialized countries in response to recent financial crises in Asia, Russia and Latin America, the Group of Twenty (G20) discussed a narrow range of proposals to reform the international financial system.

The public was not invited, but...

Groups call on Canada to pull the plug on the Akkuyu Nuclear Reactor as Turkey a

MEDIA RELEASE
Hundreds of environment, human rights and development groups call for immediate reform of export credit agencies
For immediate release
20 June, 2000
Ottawa - International NGOs call for a fundamental reform of export credit agency policies, in a declaration adopted at a meeting in Jakarta. The declaration was endorsed by 340 NGOs from 45 countries, and is targeted at the OECD Ministerial Meeting of 26/27 June in Paris.

INSTITUTE FOR POLICY STUDIES (USA) * URGEWALD (GERMANY) * REFORM THE WORLD BANK CAMPAIGN (ITALY) * GREEN GROUP (ITALIAN SENATE) * HALIFAX INITIATIVE (CANADA) * SIERRA CLUB (USA) * PROJECT UNDERGROUND (USA) * CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW (USA) * ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE (USA)* RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK (USA) * AMIS DE LA TERRE (FRANCE) * BANK INFORMATION CENTER (U

Liberals plan watchdog for EDC: Ombudsman would try to keep
controversial Crown corporation `accountable'
PUBLICATION The Ottawa Citizen
DATE Fri 19 May 2000 
EDITION FINAL
SECTION/CATEGORY News
PAGE NUMBER A1/Front
BYLINE Jack Aubry 
STORY LENGTH 733
The government is looking at establishing an ombudsman for the Export Development Corporation as part of an effort to improve the much-criticized Crown corporation's ``accountability, compliance and access to information.''

Ottawa Citizen, April 22 2000, A15
 
A day after the protests in Washington D.C., a senior Canadian official at the International Monetary Fund told me and the groups of activists that I was with, that he was not quite sure why we had protested. He felt the demonstrations lacked a coherent message and therefore, the institutions, both the IMF and the World Bank, did not know what to make of the mobilization.
 

 
Agency accused of ignoring environment:
PUBLICATION The Edmonton Journal
DATE Tue 04 Apr 2000
EDITION FINAL
SECTION/CATEGORY Canada
PAGE NUMBER A6
BYLINE Dennis Bueckert
STORY LENGTH 321

PUBLICATION The Ottawa Citizen
DATE Sun 19 Mar 2000
EDITION FINAL
SECTION/CATEGORY News
PAGE NUMBER A1 / Front
BYLINE Paul McKay

STORY LENGTH 1308

 
HEADLINE: `This is a race to the bottom': Crown agency spends billions secretly backing environmentally destructive projects others won't touch Export Development Corp. `will do anything,' critic says; EDC VP insists agency `routinely' turns down projects that are environmentally `risky'

PUBLICATION The Ottawa Citizen
DATE Sat 18 Mar 2000
EDITION FINAL
SECTION/CATEGORY News
PAGE NUMBER A1 / Front
BYLINE Paul McKay

Tuesday, November 16, 1999

Canadian NGOs Launch Campaign to Make EDC Responsible to People and the Environment

HIPC Initiative will not serve the world’s poorest with the IMF in control
28 Sept. 1999
The Halifax Initiative coalition of development, labour, human rights and environment organizations is deeply concerned that debt relief is still inappropriately conditioned on compliance with IMF-directed programs. The debt crisis continues to be used as a lever to force open economies, an inexcusable manipulation of poverty and human tragedy. The heart of the problem is that final control of the program remains in the hands of an unreformed IMF.

HIPC Initiative will not serve the world’s poorest with the IMF in control
September 18, 1999
 

The Köln Debt Initiative: An Initial Response
 
In many ways, it can be seen as the end of the beginning, rather than the beginning of the end.
-Roy Culpeper, President the North-South Institute
 
The Köln Initiative, measured by its rhetoric, is two steps forward, one step backwards. In reality we may not have moved much at all.

Halifax Initiative condemns debt relief conditioned on IMF austerity programs
April 27, 1999
Washington - The Halifax Initiative, a Canadian coalition of social justice, development, faith and environment oganizations, is dismayed by the failure of the international financial institutions to remove structural adjustment conditionality as a requirement for implementation of their debt reduction program.

Bank bashing ( PDF file )

Community solutions to world debt crisis - Montral Gazette
( PDF file )

Bail out the people of Central America, not the banks, says NGO coalition 

Canadian organizations and individuals today called for an immediate stop on debt payments coming out of Nicaragua and Honduras.

4 November 1998 - In letters to the heads of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Finance Minister Paul Martin and External Affairs Minster Lloyd Axworthy, they asked that a freeze on debt payments be enacted for 90 days, in light of the disaster affecting the people in Central America.

Both Nicaragua and Honduras are considered heavily indebted poor countries by the international financial institutions, and pay out millions of dollars each month to outside creditors. Much of this money goes to the IMF, World Bank, and IDB. The two countries sent out US$888 million dollars last year - or $2.43 million per day.

MEDIA RELEASE
CITIZENS ANNOUNCE 6 POINT PLAN TO DEAL WITH GLOBAL FINANCIAL TURMOIL

For immediate release - September 30, 1998

Ottawa - Today, citizens from across Canada and the Commonwealth outlined a six-point plan designed to prevent future financial crisis and respond to the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable nations in the world.

After two days of intense discussion, some of the most innovative thinkers from North and South in the Commonwealth, as well as NGOs, university students and Canadian citizens urged the international community to take immediate action on six fronts:

Multilateral debt initiative, a cruel hoax!
For Release: October 2, 1996
Ministers gathered at this year's annual World Bank/IMF meetings are patting themselves on the back for a debt relief agreement for the poorest countries that will not even begin to address the enormity of the debt crisis. The initiative is not so much a debt relief package as a means to continue harsh economic adjustment measures.