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Welcome to the Halifax Initiative's Press Room!
Here you can read news stories featuring our perspectives on various issues, read our latest press releases, or sign up to receive our releases.
Feel free to contact us if you are looking for a Canadian perspective on issues related to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund or Export Credit Agencies.
http://www.embassymag.ca/page/view/tax-06-09-2010
Financial transaction tax is no bank tax
By Fraser Reilly-King
Published June 9, 2010
Big banks can finally breathe a sigh of relief.
This past weekend, Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty managed to rally China, Brazil and South Korea behind him at G20 meetings in Busan, South Korea, and put those pesky discussions about a global bank tax to rest.
Instead of discussing a bank tax at this month's summit, the G20 agreed to "develop principles reflecting the need to protect taxpayers, reduce risks from the financial system, protect the flow of credit in good times and bad, taking into account individual country's circumstances and options."
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.
In "Alternatives", April 1, 2010
http://www.alterinter.org/article3457.html?lang=en
T-A-X. Such a simple three letter word, and yet it elicits responses from people out of all proportion to its size. Perhaps it isn’t surprising. Taxes are scary.
But let’s not forget, as much as you may hate them, without them, we wouldn’t have public health care, education, infrastructure, police and ambulances, government, politicians…(OK, maybe scratch that one). You get the idea. Boring and controversial as they are, taxes are essential.
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.
Corporate Social Responsibility Rules for Mining Industry Blasted
by Lee Berthiaume
Published Apr. 1, 2009
The Conservative government has rejected joint civil society-private sector calls to tie diplomatic and economic support for Canadian oil, gas and mining companies operating in developing countries to socially responsible conduct abroad.
Government Squanders Opportunity to Hold Extractive Companies to Account
(Ottawa- March 26, 2009) Today’s government announcement on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has squandered the important consensus reached by industry and civil society organizations on how to ensure that the overseas operations of Canadian extractive companies adhere to international environmental and human rights standards. Almost two years ago, the multi-stakeholder Advisory Group to the National Roundtables on CSR in the Extractive Sector submitted its consensus report to the Canadian government. Today’s long-awaited response ignores the report’s central recommendations.
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
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44504
FINANCE: NGOs Call for Radical Reforms as IMF Offers New Loans
By Jim Lobe
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.
Letter to the Editor - Embassy, July 9, 2008
World Bank’s CSR Praise Met with Cynicism in Light of Gov’t Stalling
The World Bank and the Canadian government are not unalike (RE: “World Bank Applauds Canada’s Americas Focus,” June 25). Both initiated a process to respond to complaints from civil society and communities about the negative human rights, environmental and economic impacts of publicly-funded extractive projects. In the World Bank’s case, it was the Extractive Industries Review (EIR). In the Canadian case, it was the National Roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the Canadian Extractive Industry in Developing Countries.
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.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080627.ROB7PG66/TPStory/TPBusiness/?pageRequested=all&print=true
The Globe and Mail - Report on Business
The Kindness of Corporations
From the World Economic Forum to undergrad business courses, corporate social responsibility is now a priority. There are just two problems. CSR can be disingenuous. And it’s dangerous
KONRAD YAKABUSKI
June 27, 2008
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.
Government’s Response to Mining Report Still Underground
By Michelle Collins, Embassy Newspaper
It has been just over a year since a highly anticipated report recommending significant steps to ensure Canadian mining companies operating abroad adhere to socially responsible standards was submitted to the government.
Yet despite indications from Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the G8 leaders’ summit last June that Canada—which has the world’s largest number of extractive companies—was poised to take the lead, nothing more has emerged, and observers and critics say they have no idea what to expect, or when.
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.
For Immediate Release – November 7, 2007
International Appeal for the Publication of the Final Report of the Ministerial Commission on the Review of Mining Contracts in the Democratic Republic of Congo
2b rue Jules Ferry,
93100 Montreuil, France
Tel. +33 1 48 51 18 90,
Fax +33 1 48 51 95 12
Email: facilitator@eca-watch.org
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,
Tapping the Veins of the World
McGill Daily
Thursday, October 4th, 2007 | Volume 97, Number 10
By Arthur Phillips and Dave Schecter
In a recent speech at McGill University, former Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark proclaimed that the world needs more Canada. Which version of Canada was he talking about - the romantic view of Canada as a benevolent force in international affairs, or the overseas extractive industry?
Mining Abroad 'Morally Wrong': MPs
■ Alexa McDonough and British MP Steve Pound try to resurrect the call for Canada to enact social responsibility requirements.
By Chris Gillcash
NDP MP Alexa McDonough is calling on Canada to enact standards of corporate social responsibility in overseas mining operations following a trip to Honduras last week to investigate concerns that some Canadian companies working in Honduras are taking advantage of weak regulations and endangering local residents through environmental contamination.
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)
Trade talks to start soon with Columbia
Observers say Canada should wait until Uribe government has better human rights record
Jul 12, 2007 04:30 AM
Allan Woods
Ottawa Bureau
OTTAWA–A free trade deal likely to be launched between Canada and Colombia next week will go beyond the usual focus on dollars and cents to spell out the ethical responsibilities of Canadian companies seeking to exploit the South American country's untapped resources.
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.
Embassy, July 11th, 2007
NEWS STORY
Chamber says PM Broke Promise at G8
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce is frustrated Stephen Harper mentioned a corporate responsibility report during the G8, but mining groups are pleased their study is being taken seriously.
By Lee Berthiaume
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce says Prime Minister Stephen Harper was premature in promoting a recent report on corporate social responsibility at the Group of Eight nations summit in June.
Karyn Keenan, of the Halifax Initiative, was featured on Avi Lewis' "On the Map" on June 20 talking about the National Roundtables on Extractive Industries. The focus was on a controversial mining project in Guatemala being operated by Skye Resources.
Focus on Skye Resources (Part 1)
Focus on the National Roundtables (Part 2)
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.
Churches push for industry ethics rules
Canadians often 'the bad guys' in overseas mining operations
Kelly Patterson
The Ottawa Citizen
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Some of Canada's most powerful church leaders are demanding the government take action to ensure Canadian mining and oil firms behave ethically in their overseas operations.
"This is a fundamental ethical issue," says Roger Ebacher, archbishop of Gatineau.
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."
May 15, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Urgent Recommendation to World Bank and IMF Executive Directors on the Leadership Selection Reform at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund is backed by 170 signatures!
Contact: Jo Marie Griesgraber ♦ (202) 277-9390 ♦ jgriesgraber@new-rules.org
Colin Bradford ♦ (301) 580-9132 ♦ CBRADFORD@brookings.edu
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.
http://www.northernminer.com/issues/ISarticle.asp?id=185400&story_id=13416112030&issue=04092007
Industry, NGOs recommend CSR framework to govern Canadian miners abroad
Concluding a 10-month process that saw input from NGOs, mining, oil and gas companies and other groups, a recent report 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.
The process, which involved roundtables hosted in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal and was overseen by a multi-sector advisory group, was initiated by the federal government's foreign affairs committee to respond to concerns about Canadian extractive industries and a perceived lack of oversight on their operations abroad.
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.
Mining Responsibility
Canadians like to think that our international image is of a flag on a backpack or a blue beret. The real image we've created in some parts of the world is of toxic waste and thugs with guns.
The behaviour of some of our mining companies abroad has been to Canada's shame. It has made this country a party to environmental destruction, corruption, displacement of poor people, child labour, oppression and war. At last, the industry has smartened up and is working with its critics to create rules for 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.
http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=30424
Report aims to make Canada global leader of overseas practices
According to a report, Canada could become a global leader of good overseas practices if it follows the recommendations of the Corporate Social Responsibility Advisory Group.
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
Canadian mining firms agree to clean up global act
Activists block the entrance to the Canadian embassy in Mexico City last month to protest against a mining project planned by Minera San Javier, a subsidiary of Canadian company Metallica Resources Inc. It wants to extract gold and silver in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosi, which protesters claim will damage the environment. The sign reads: Canada: Don't Pollute Mexico.
OTTAWA - 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.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Groundbreaking Report on Mining, Oil and Gas Companies Released:
Civil Society and Industry Representatives Agree on Good Overseas Practices
Ottawa, March 29, 2007. Canada could become a world leader on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) if the federal government and other stakeholders accept and act on the recommendations of a groundbreaking report released today.
The report comes out of a ten month government-led roundtable process that included representatives from civil society organizations, industry, academia, labour, and socially responsible investors acting as an Advisory Group, as well as representatives from communities affected by Canadian mining, oil and gas operations in the developing world.
The Advisory Group report lays out recommendations for a CSR framework of good conduct for Canadian mining, oil and gas companies operating abroad.
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.
Canadian mining firms agree to clean up global act
Activists block the entrance to the Canadian embassy in Mexico City last month to protest against a mining project planned by Minera San Javier, a subsidiary of Canadian company Metallica Resources Inc. It wants to extract gold and silver in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosi, which protesters claim will damage the environment. The sign reads: Canada: Don't Pollute Mexico.
OTTAWA - 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.
As it Happens, CBC, March 29th, 2007
http://www.cbc.ca/radioshows/AS_IT_HAPPENS/20070329.shtml
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.
Report seeks penalties against unethical Canadian mining operations abroad
OTTAWA (CP) _ Canadian mining and oil companies should have their government financing and other benefits withdrawn if they are found to have acted unethically or committed human rights violations while operating abroad, a government-led committee on corporate social responsibility says.
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.
http://www.northernminer.com/issues/ISArticle.asp?id=62873&issue=11292006.
Northern Miner: Daily News
Editorial: Mining and CSR, part I
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.
Overseas accountability remains issue - Activities by canadian mining firms.
Greater transparency of foreign operations emerges as key point at roundtable
LYNN MOORE
The Gazette
Friday, November 17, 2006
Cross-country roundtables concerning the corporate responsibility of Canadian mining companies operating in developing countries could well translate into "greater transparency" of their foreign operations, key participants said yesterday.
No digging up dirt at mine conference
Closed-Door sessions are norm; Industry's behaviour in 3rd World discussed
LYNN MOORE
The Gazette
A government-sponsored roundtable concerning corporate responsibility of Canadian mining companies operating in developing countries was subject to media restrictions yesterday, even as industry and watchdog groups urged "transparency and truth."
Reporters could enter sessions open to the public during which seven-minute presentations were made by interested parties, but were "not welcome to report what is seen or heard," a Foreign Affairs spokesperson said yesterday as the Montreal roundtable opened.
Press 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
Voluntary Measures Have Failed - Canada Must Regulate Its Mining Companies in Developing Countries
THE GALLON ENVIRONMENT LETTER
Canadian Institute for Business and the Environment
Fisherville, Ontario, Canada
Tel. 416 410-0432, Fax: 416 362-5231
Editorial: mailto:editor@gallonletter.ca>editor@gallonletter.ca
Subscriptions: mailto:subscriptions@gallonletter.ca>subscriptions@gallonletter.ca
Vol. 11, No. 12, October 16, 2006
MINING CONSULTATION A VERY STRANGE EXERCISE
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.
Struggle at the top of the Andes
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=9ed53eb0-b0bf-4f9a-ac4b-5b1bf24c3684
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?
African Civic Groups Urge Canada Government To Rein In Mine Cos
09-25-06 08:17 AM EST
http://news.morningstar.com/news/DJ/M09/D25/200609250817DOWJONESDJONLINE000259.html?Cat=AfrMidEast
LONDON -(Dow Jones)- The African Civil Societies Organizations, representative of all national civil societies on the continent, have called on the Canadian government to adopt mandatory mechanisms to regulate the overseas activities of its mining companies.
It issued a memorandum after a meeting at which several mining companies were seriously implicated in cases of human rights violations and environmental abuses such as destruction of farmlands, water resources, protected forests, injuries and threats to death, African CSOs said.
Mandatory NOT Voluntary
Human rights and environmental standards for Canadian mining and energy companies operating abroad needed NOW
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.
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 8 (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.
http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/6-6-30/43333.html
By Joan Delaney
Epoch Times Victoria Staff
Picture this: a fertile valley at the foot of the Chilean Andes, bathed in pristine water from three massive glaciers which nourish the grape, avocado and olive groves below. Now imagine if this scene included a huge open-pit mine built to extract 17.6 million ounces of gold and silver deposits that are buried beneath the glaciers—a first in the annals of mining.
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.
EMBASSY REPORT
By Jonathan Montpetit
Ottawa Pressured to Crackdown on Canada's International Bad Boys
Extractive firms behaving well in the community where they do business isn?t just an exercise in public relations. It can have a lasting effect on their bottom line when acts of vigilante justice draw attention to abuses and consumers take notice.
Last December, a medical facility in northern Ecuador owned by a Canadian mining company was torched, literally sending more than $20,000 worth of equipment up in smoke.
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.
http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2006-06-08/news_story7.php
GOLD IN THEM GLACIERS
WILL NOTHING STOP CANUCK MINING DISASTERS ABROAD?
By JORGE FERNANDO GARRETON
Santiago, Chile -- T.O.-based mining giant Barrick Gold will move mountains - literally - to get to buried treasures of silver and gold. But three glaciers?
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.
NGOs welcome changes to policies at Export Development Canada - Implementation still a concern
Tuesday, November 8, 2005 (Ottawa) - A coalition of 23 non-governmental organizations today welcomed the changes Export Development Canada made to its revised policies for taking account of the environment and disclosing information to the public. Five years ago the Halifax Initiative Coalition exposed countless environmentally devastating projects being financed by the Crown Corporation. At that time, EDC had no environmental policies in place.
"EDC has taken some positive steps forward in terms of transparency and addressing the environment over the past six years," said Catherine Coumans of MiningWatch Canada, a member of the Halifax Initiative, "and they should be congratulated for those changes."
Urgently Needed: Mining Ethics
Also available at http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/media/statements/opedMiningEthics051021.asp
Government fails to take action: Human rights and environmental abuses abroad go unchecked
Ottawa - The government failed today to take action to end human rights and environmental abuses committed by Canadian mining companies abroad. In Mining in Developing Countries: Corporate Social Responsibility, released today, the government dismissed recommendations proposed by the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade (SCFAIT) to adopt concrete regulatory measures. Instead, it continued to rely on voluntary codes of conduct.
"Voluntary codes of conduct don't work. It's time the government got serious and passed legislation that holds Canadian mining companies accountable for the environmental and human rights violations they commit in other countries," says Ian Thomson of KAIROS. "Anything less is tacit support for business as usual."
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.
World Bank, International Monetary Fund write off some debts
Debt cancellation too late, for too few, but at last, not too little
September 26, 2005 -In a historic move, the World Bank and IMF agreed, yesterday in Washington, to write off debts owed them by some of the world's poorest countries. The plan to write off the debts of countries that go through the World Bank and IMF minimum 6 year debt program was called for by the G8 earlier in the year, but had been resisted by other governments and the institutions themselves. Last minute pressure by Canada and others led to the adoption of the G8 plan.
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.
Leaked Review Slams World Bank over Canadian Mine
August 22, 2005 - A leaked internal audit assessing the World Bank's involvement in a controversial Canadian gold mine in Guatemala has exposed glaring deficiencies in the due diligence undertaken by the Bank prior to approving a $45 million loan for the mine.
Glamis Gold's Marlin mine in the Western Highlands of Guatemala has been plagued with controversy since the outset. In March, the Compliance Advisory Ombudsman (CAO), the internal auditor for the Bank's private sector lending arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), began an investigation after receiving local complaints about the mine.
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.
The New President's Challenges ' Who's Going to Reform the World Bank?
This Wednesday Paul Wolfowitz will walk into an imposing glass and steel building on 18th Street in Washington, D.C. and start his first day in what could be the most challenging job he has ever held. As the 10th President in the 60-year history of the World Bank, Mr. Wolfowitz will have an unprecedented opportunity to help steer the direction of development as we rapidly move towards the Millennium Development Goal targets.
His new position could allow him to help to truly bring opportunity, choice and prosperity to the poorest areas of the globe. But to do so he will have to confound his critics, defy skeptics and dramatically change both his approach to the international community and more importantly the attitude and engagement of the institution he now heads.
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).
Canadian mine strikes lode of unrest
The debate over the presence of a gold mine in Guatemala has resulted in a call for 'urgent action' by Amnesty International.
Kelly Patterson
The Ottawa Citizen
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Violence over a Canadian gold mine is threatening the fragile peace in Guatemala, which is still reeling in the aftermath of its 36-year civil war.
Clashes over Glamis Gold Ltd.'s fledgling project 130 kilometres northwest of Guatemala City have escalated recently, with a car bombing and two killings.
Amnesty International issued a call for "urgent action" last week after three opponents of the mine received death threats. Anti-mining activists have in turn menaced Glamis staff, the company says.
April 14, 2005- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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.
Commercial Confidentiality Needlessly Trumps Transparency at Crown Corp, Report Finds
Ottawa, March 29, 2005 'Export Development Canada (EDC) can play a more proactive role in shedding light on key environmental information for the projects it supports, while still balancing company demands for confidentiality, argues a new report by Sierra Legal Defense Fund. The report lays out a framework for enhancing access to information within the financial institution.
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.
Find out more information about the campaign at the website www.makepovertyhistory.ca
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.
Calling for a "Made in Canada" Proposal Percent Debt Cancellation
By Michael Bassett
This weekend Finance Minister Ralph Goodale will join his counterparts from 20 developed, emerging and developing countries at the regular G20 Finance Ministers meeting. Prime Minister Paul Martin created this grouping of countries in 1999. It stands as an example of the Canadian leadership on the international stage that Mr. Martin has often spoken of, but little delivered since becoming Prime Minister last year.
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.”
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.
NEWS RELEASE OCTOBER 5, 2004 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Canadian Civil Society Groups Disappointed in G-7 Failure to Bridge Differences
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.
David Agren
The Ottawa Citizen
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
A Canadian mining company that struck a rich vein of gold in Transylvania has encountered strong opposition from environmental groups and local residents who are organizing an MTV-sponsored concert to try to thwart the development of a giant open-pit mine.
Organizers expect 2,000 protesters and fans to converge on Rosia Montana, a mineral-rich, but impoverished corner of western Romania this weekend for a concert headlined by hip-hop and alternative rock acts and a march to oppose to the project.
For Immediate Release
BUSINESS AS USUAL IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE:
Corruption: Canada backs firm banned by World Bank
by Marty Logan, Inter Press Service (Johannesburg), July 30, 2004.
World Bank Sanctions Acres International Limited
Questioning the value of the World Bank: Can it change?
Today the World Bank and the IMF (International Monetary Fund) will turn sixty.
Created at a conference of twenty-nine countries held in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire in nineteen forty-four they were originally focused on helping rebuild Europe but have since taken on an increasingly global role. But from their creation, both organizations have been undermined by ideological tunnel vision about how the world, its countries and its peoples should function.
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
World Bank Plan Protects Oil and Mining Industry, but not the Poor:
Canadian NGOs ask, “Where Does Canada Stand?”
National Post
Martin's problem: Corruption at home and abroad
Amandla! Awethu! Africans Fight Corporate Greed
With fist in the air, Virginia Setshedi shouts “Amandla!” The crowd gathered in a University of Alberta classroom raises fists in the air and responds “Awethu!” – “Power to the People,” the cry of South Africa’s liberation movement. But this cry is in opposition to a new form of oppression – privatization.
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
(Ottawa) February 9th, 2004 -- Conforming to industry’s desires, the World Bank management is pushing to have its Board of Directors reject the recommendations of an independent review of its performance in the oil, coal, and mining sectors, according to a leaked report. The World Bank’s Management Response to the Extractive Industries Review (EIR) was leaked last week.
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
Export Agency Must Stiffen Bribery Sanctions - Report (IPS)
by Mark Bourrie
OTTAWA, Dec 16 (IPS) - The Canadian agency that underwrites large-scale export projects must adopt tougher rules against bribery by client companies, says a report by a trade union anti-corruption group affiliated with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
EDC ranks poorly in Anti-Corruption Index
Crown Corporation says it is satisfied with safeguards in place, new Report indicates it should not be.
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
Group blasts weak OECD agreement on environment
Loopholes allow export credit support for harmful projects to continue.
Africa: The struggle against privatization
by Paul Beaulieu
Rights award calls attention to the plight of abducted -There are more than 40,000 'disappeared' in more than 50 countries, the UN reports
By MARINA JIMENEZ
FINANCE: Groups Fear Canadian Funding for Romanian Mine
Stephen Leahy
BROOKLIN, Canada, Nov 16 (IPS) - The World Bank's refusal to help fund a Canadian company's controversial development of a huge open pit gold mine in Romania has raised concerns the Canadian government will step in with money.
Last Monday hundreds of people gathered outside Canadian embassies in major European cities, including Budapest, Amsterdam, Vienna, Bratislava and Prague, to protest the 400-million-U.S.-dollar Rosia Montana gold mine in Romania. · Export Development Corporation· Romanian NGO Alburnus Maior· Gabriel Resources
''The Canadian government has to act to stop this mine. It will destroy the homes, churches and livelihoods of my people,” said Sorana Ciura, a member of Alburnus Maior, the Romanian group spearheading the protests, speaking at a news conference in Ottawa..
The Cobwebs on Credit
World Press Review correspondent
Paris, France
Nov. 11, 2003
European protests mount around Canadian gold-mine
Ottawa -Â 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.
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.
Navigation Tips for a trade storm
With two-fifths of global trade falling under preferential trade agreements and numerous trade disputes hampering export flows in various parts of the world , plotting a secure route through the storms is not easy. Post the failure of WTO negotiations in Cancun, David Clarke examines the scene and assesses which path global trade is moving along and what impact this is having on financing.
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?
Private Interest and the Public Good
Tela sits astride a slow, meandering river of the same name. It looks out over a rim of white-sand beaches onto Tela Bay. A warm Caribbean sun forces you to lather up with sunscreen,and nolch back your pace a couple of strides per minute as you stroll around this small Honduran town.
A mixed population of Garifuna -or more properly Garinagu - a people with a unique blend of Carib Indian and African roots, and folk of Spanish ancestry call this century- old, clapboard,. tin-roofed port town home. It holds about the same population as the whole of the Yukon.
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.
The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec)
September 2, 2003 Tuesday Final Edition
By Michelle Lalonde
HEADLINE:
Noranda puts off aluminum smelter in Chile's Patagonia region: Company cites economic factors but environmentalists claim victory
Noranda Inc. has put on ice a proposed aluminum smelter in the pristine Patagonia region of Chile, blaming a lack of investors and a prolonged downturn in world aluminum markets.
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.
Noranda faces tough opposition: Chilean President against company’s proposed aluminum smelter in Patagonia
For immediate release
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.
153 Chapel Street, Ste 104
Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 1H5
Tel: 613-789-4447
www.halifaxinitiative.org
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.
Alburnus Maior - Bankwatch CEE - Friends of the Earth Canada - Greenpeace Canada - NGO Working Group on EDC - Mineral Policy Center - MiningWatch Canada
Controversial Romanian gold mine plagued by troubles - Canadian company involved
Toronto - June 17, 2003: Gabriel Resources, a Canadian junior mining company that is developing the largest open-pit gold mine in Europe, may have to answer to both public and shareholder scrutiny at its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Toronto on June 17th.
GLOBE AND MAIL, JUNE 12, 2003
Dam promotion draws fire
Canadian support ignores environment, homelessness concerns, coalition says
By GEOFFREY YORK
Thursday, June 12, 2003 - Page A14
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:
Wall Street Journal (10/11)
World Bank Chief Blocks Romanian Gold-Mine Loan
By Neil King Jr.
Acres Int'l convicted in African bribery case
Engineering firm shocked; plans appeal
International financial institutions need injection of democracy
Coalition calls on Canadian government to take up UNDP recommendations at the Annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF governors
For immediate release
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
For immediate release: July 10, 2002
CEE BANKWATCH HUNGARY * HUMAN DEVELOPMENT CENTER OF KYRGYZSTAN * MINERAL POLICY CENTER * MININGWATCH CANADA
*** FATALITY AT TROUBLED KUMTOR GOLD MINE
*** Kyrgyz and International NGOs Renew Call for Independent Environmental/Safety Audit
*** Coalition to Assemble Audit Team
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.'
As next week's summit looms, activists find a 'perimeter of fear' keeps them far away from the action
G8 leaders bring differing priorities to the table. Activists, meantime, aren't even being allowed in
By DAWN WALTON
Friday, June 21, 2002 Print Edition, Page A6
CALGARY -- While African development is supposed to be the central focus at next week's meeting of world leaders, access denial is becoming a major theme for globalization opponents.
Calgary Herald June 15, 2002
Give Africa more of a say in its own future: coalition
By Allison Auld - The Canadian Press
Group of Seven countries must cancel soaring debts that impoverish African nations and revise aid programs to better suit the needs of people in countries that languish under heavy financial burdens, a coalition of activists said yesterday.
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
- Roadshow travels to the Hat with answers
- Wondering about the G8?
( PDF file ) - [ Medicine Hat News ]
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.
The Zimbabwe Independent, 17 May, 2002: Nepad's Zim quarantine a false start
Remarks by the Canadian High Commissioner to South Africa and shuttle diplomacy this week by South Africa's Thabo Mbeki reveal a worrying trend:
The G8 countries are preparing to swallow the deception that African leaders have the Zimbabwe crisis "in hand" and thereby qualify for the US$64 billion on offer for trade and investment under the Nepad plan.
Paul Martin on the International Bankrupty Court and Response by Halifax Initiative (PDF file) [ The Globe and Mail ]
MEDIA RELEASE
Export Development Canada -backed mine leaves a sea of cyanide
Groups call on G8 Environment Ministers to Improve Environmental Standards of Export Credit Agencies
For immediate release
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.
US scuttles Tobin tax - and hope for the world's poor
American omnipotence wilts when faced with projects that could actually do some good
Dateline: Friday, March 29, 2002
By Linda McQuaig
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
Comments and critiques of EDC’s Environmental Review Directive and recommendations by the Working Group - March 1, 2002
MEDIA RELEASE
EXPORT DEVELOPMENT CANADA’S NEW ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY WILL NOT STOP IT FROM FINANCING ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS
NGO Coalition calls for policy to be re-drafted following a public comment period
For immediate release
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.
PRESS RELEASE- ECA-Watch Campaign
December 03, 2001
Another one bites the dust :
OECD negotiations break down again
For the second time in three years, major international negotiations have broken down at the OECD. Then, it was the Multilateral Agreement on Investment, the “MAI”. This time, it is an attempt at negotiating common environmental guidelines for export credit agencies (ECAs), the world’s largest official financiers of environmentally and socially destructive projects in developing countries.
Leaked Documents Show OECD Export Credit Group Fails to Meet Environmental Demands of its Own Ministers, G-8 Leaders
Movement criticizes irresponsibility of IMF and World Bank
Activists Issue 4 Demands & Rebuttal to World Bank’s Defense
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 Changes to Export Development Act Disappointing – Coalition Urges for More Accountability
Government Cahnges to Export Development Act Too Minor - Leaves Bad Driver in Driver’s Seat
Coalition Urges for More Accountability
MEDIA RELEASE
NGOS CONDEMN THE EXPORT DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION FOR FAILING TO RELEASE BASIC INFORMATION
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
Coalition calls on the G8 to address the causes of unfair globalization, not just the symptoms.
Cancel the debt, curb speculative capital, reform the international financial institutions
"Taxing Currency Transactions – From Feasibility to Implementation"
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.
June 29, 2001
Response to the Export Development Corporation’s
Draft Disclosure Policy
by the
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.
MEDIA RELEASE
GOVERNMENT AVOIDS BRINGING EDC UNDER CANADA’S ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION
Changes to EDC’s Policy are good, but not enough
(Ottawa, June 26, 2001). Long-awaited changes to the Export Development Corporation’s Act will increase EDC’s accountability, however, the government has failed to use the best tools available, existing legislation which EDC is currently exempted from. EDC is exempted from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and the Access to Information Act.
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.
Export agency to open books
Mark MacKinnon, Globe and Mail
Tuesday, May 15, 2001
Group wants Crown-owned bank to follow environmental act when dealing loans
STEPHEN THORNE
Tuesday, May 15, 2001
OTTAWA (CP) - A coalition of non-governmental organizations wants Ottawa to force the federally owned Export Development Corp. to apply the Environmental Assessment Act when deciding to fund foreign projects.
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
EXPORT DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION TRADE FINANCING
130,000 Canadians sign letters addressed to Minister Pettigrew calling for tighter regulation of the Export Development Corporation
For immediate release
(Ottawa, April 3, 2001) – Representatives of indigenous peoples in Chile and Colombia are in Ottawa to speak about the devastating impacts of Export Development Corporation (EDC) trade-financing.
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."
NGO Coalition accuses Government of having a double standard on trade, human rights and environment
Monday, February 20, 2001
Canada cuts debt of poorest countries
Third World owes up to $1-billion
HEATHER SCOFFIELD
The Globe and Mail
Tuesday, 19 December, 2000
MEDIA RELEASE
The Export Development Corporation support for dams
criticized in new report by World Commission Report on Dams
Coalition demands EDC place a moratorium on dam-building
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...
MEDIA RELEASE
Canadian churches launch national campaign
to reform the Export Development Corporation
(Oct. 4, 2000 – OTTAWA) Members of the Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative (CEJI) concerned about the negative impact that EDC-supported projects have had on people and the environment, launched a campaign today to reform the Export Development Act, the statute governing the Export Development Corporation (EDC).
Groups call on Canada to pull the plug on the Akkuyu Nuclear Reactor as Turkey a
WORLD BANK REPUTATION ON THE LINE OVER TIBET PROJECT
Activists look to Canada for leadership to uphold Bank policies and protect Tibetans
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.
Secrecy surrounds EDC’s Plans to Decrease Secrecy
Coalition calls EDC Consultations Fatally Flawed
June 15, 2000
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
EDC needs more accountability, critics say: Rights, protection issues
PUBLICATION The National Post
DATE Mon 22 May 2000
EDITION National
SECTION/CATEGORY Canada
PAGE NUMBER A7
BYLINE Paul Waldie
STORY LENGTH 246
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.''
Coalition and Prominent Canadians call on Minister Pettigrew to legislate the Export Development Corporation to Protect People and the Environment
May 19, 2000
Ottawa - Minister Pettigrew failed to recommend changes to increase the Export Development Development Corporation's public transparency and accountability to internationally upheld standards, in his response to a Standing Committee report, "Reviewing the Export Development Act", presented to the House of Commons yesterday.
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
EDC projects damaged environment: report: NGO group attacks lending body's environmental review standards
PUBLICATION The Ottawa Citizen
DATE Tue 04 Apr 2000
EDITION FINAL
SECTION/CATEGORY News
PAGE NUMBER A5
BYLINE Jack Aubry
STORY LENGTH 632
PUBLICATION The Ottawa Citizen
DATE Sun 19 Mar 2000
EDITION FINAL
SECTION/CATEGORY News
PAGE NUMBER A5
BYLINE Jack Aubry
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
Canada is being less than charitable: Debt-cancellation policy means less than it might seem. ( PDF file )
Tuesday, November 16, 1999
Canadian NGOs Launch Campaign to Make EDC Responsible to People and the Environment
Agency under fire over dam
PAUL KNOX
The Globe and Mail, November 16, 1999
The photos look idyllic -- a broad river, forested shorelines, thatch-roofed houses here and there along the bank.
Kimy Pernia Domico, an Embera- Katio Indian from northwestern Colombia, lived in one of the houses. He used to fish, until the fish stopped running. He still plants corn, rice, plantains and manioc.
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.
Export credit agencies seek to improve environmental standards
Thursday, September 23, 1999
By The Canadian Press
OTTAWA (CP) -- Export credit agencies, which finance many of the world's biggest industrial projects, are trying to agree on stricter standards for environmental assessment. Officials from about 20 government-owned credit agencies, including Canada's Export Development Corp., met here Thursday to discuss the environment issue, while activists denounced the record to date.
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.
MEDIA RELEASE
"Civil Society Takes Initiative on Reform of Global Financial Architecture"
For immediate release June 7, 1999
Halifax Initiative condemns debt relief conditioned on IMF austerity programs
27 April 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.
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.
Government action on debts of poorest countries a progressive move
says Halifax Initiative Coalition, and backs Canada to take a stronger position at the World Bank, IMF.
For immediate release 28 March, 1999
Ottawa -- Today's announcement that Canada will cancel 100% of debts owed by the poorest countries in the world is welcomed by the Halifax Initiative, a national coalition of environment, development, social justice and faith groups.
Bail out the people of Central America, not the banks, says NGO coalition
Ottawa (November 25, 1998) -- Nicaragua and Honduras are being forced to continue debt payments of millions of dollars to foreign creditors, following the most devastating hurricane in 200 years. A coalition of Canadian human rights, environment and development organizations is demanding that International Financial Institutions (IFIs) cancel their debts immediately and revisit their policies, which exacerbated the disaster.
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.
Four \myths\ of debt relief were outlined in an article written in The Guardian in November, 1998, by Jack Boorman, Director of the IMF�s Policy Development and Review Department.
The following information dispels these arguments maintained by the IMF surrounding debt relief.
As the IMF delays and minimizes debt relief available through the HIPC Initiative, it is using the program to increase its control of national economic policies and creating myths to justify its actions�
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:
COALITION RELEASES REPORT CARD
CRITICAL OF FOLLOW-UP ON G7 PROMISES
MEDIA RELEASE
GROUPS AROUND WORLD SAY "NO" TO DEBT
For immediate release - September 22, 1997
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.
Time is running out for international efforts to resolve the debt crisis
For Release: September 9, 1996
Time is running out for international efforts to resolve the debt crisis facing the poorest countries. At the end of September, Finance Ministers from around the world will gather at the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in hopes of finalizing a plan for debt reduction. At this late date, however, many key issues remain unresolved and the entire initiative could yet collapse.
