Dirty Waters: Regulating Canadian Mining Companies Overseas

KAIROS Partner Tour May 21-May 31, 2007

From May 21-May 31, seven global partners of KAIROS will be visiting three regions of the country to alert Canadians to the dramatic impact of Canadian mining corporations on the life and health of their communities. They will talk about the legislation our government can and should put in place to ensure that Canadian companies respect the environment and uphold human rights and community consensus when operating overseas.

British Columbia
Ana Maria Alvarado (Mexico), who will speak about the impact of the Canadian-owned gold mine Metallica on her community of Cerro de San Pedro, and Thabo Madihlabai (South Africa), who will discuss the impact of mining in Africa, will travel with Rusa Jeremic, Global Economic Justice Coordinator, to BC.
 
Wednesday May 23 Kamloops
•    Afternoon: presentation to Kamloops Senior Secondary School Social Justice Club
•    Community Supper with local allies.
•    Public Event – Kamloops United Church, 421 St Paul St. with Sheila Nelson.

Thursday May 24 Kamloops
•    Morning: presentation to Politics and International Law class, Thompson Rivers University

Thursday May 24 Parksville
•    Public Event, 7-9 pm, Knox United Church

Friday May 25 Vancouver
•    MP and/or Civil Society meetings

Saturday May 26 Vancouver
•    Evening public event

Alberta
Rafael Epiayu (Colombia) and Dr. Constancio Claver (Philippines) who will talk about the impact of Canadian mining companies on indigenous communities will travel with Connie Sorio, Global Partnerships Coordinator-Asia-Pacific and Rachel Warden, Global Partnerships Coordinator-Latin America, to Alberta.

Tuesday May 22  Calgary
•    Public Event: 7:30 – 9:30pm, Varsity Acres Presbyterian Church, 4612 Varsity Drive NW.

Wednesday May 23 Calgary
•    Morning meetings with MPs and Industry

Wednesday 23 Red Deer
•    Public Event: 7:00 PM St. Luke’s Anglican Church Hall, 54th Street and Gaetz Avenue.

Thursday May 24 Red Deer
•    Morning presentation at High School, to be confirmed.

Thursday May 24 Grande Prairie
•    Public Event: 7-9 pm, St. Paul’s United Church, 10206 100th Avenue.

Friday May 25
•    Morning Presentation at St. Joseph’s High School, Grande Prairie.

Friday May 25 — Saturday May 26
•    Edmonton: solidarity meetings TBC.

Montreal

Hubert Masoka Tshiswaka, (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Rebbapragada Ravi (India) will speak about the impact of mining in the Congo and India. They will travel with Ian Thomson, Program Coordinator for Corporate Accountability and Jim Davis, Global Partnerships Coordinator — Africa to Montreal and Quebec City (May 23-27).  (TBA)

Wednesday, May 23
•    Forum avec Hubert Tshiswaka (en francais), Centre St Pierre, 1212 rue Panet  19h30 — 21h30.
•    Public event with Rebbapragada Ravi at Concordia University (location TBA), 7-9pm

Ottawa

During the week of May 28 — June 1 Ana Maria Alvarado and Thabo Madihlabai will be joined by Joan Carling (Philippines), Church leaders, and KAIROS staff for events in Ottawa. These include a Parliamentarians’ breakfast o May 29thand meetings with MPs and senior bureaucrats.

Wednesday, May 30
•    Public Event at National Press Club, 150 Wellington Street, 7-9 pm.

More Information
Specific local events will be posted as they are confirmed on the KAIROS website. 

If you wish more information about any aspect of the tour please contact Sara Stratton [email protected], (1-877-403-8933×241).

 
Southern Partners

ANA MARIA ALVARADO
Ana Maria is from the community of Cerro de San Pedro in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, a community that is impacted by the Canadian mining company, Metallica Resources Inc.  She is one of the original members of the ejido (communal land holding), of the community of Cerro de San Pedro.  She is a member of the Frente Amplio de Oposición (FAO), a broad coalition of community members, environmental groups, youth and social movements that has been resisting the mine for ten years.  The FAO works nationally with human rights and civil society networks in Mexico and internationally with UNESCO, Greenpeace and KAIROS to try to preserve Cerro de San Pedro and protect the rights of the community.

JOAN CARLING
Joan is the former Chairperson of the Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA) in the Philippines and currently the Director of Indigenous People’s Rights Commission (IPRC), a commission under the Cordillera People’s Alliance.  CPA is an alliance of non-government organizations and peoples’ organizations in the Cordilleras promoting indigenous economic, social, cultural and political rights.  The network supports grassroots mobilization for environmental and socio-economic justice through joint action, networking and capacity building.

CONSTANCIO CLAVER
Dr. Constancio “Chandu” Claver, is a native of Bontoc, Mountain Province, Philippines. A practising physician, Dr. Claver is the Vice-Chair of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance.  A founding member of the CPA- Kalinga Chapter, Chandu Claver is known as a staunch advocate of human rights, peace and justice. In July 2006, Dr. Claver, his wife Alyce, and their daughter were targets of a political assassination attempt, which his wife did not survive.

RAFAEL EPIAYU
Rafael is a member of the executive committee of the ONIC – Organización Nacional Indígena de Colombia  [National Organization of Indigenous Peoples of Colombia].  He is also coordinator of the educational program of the ONIC.  The ONIC has considerable experience defending the rights of Indigenous peoples in Colombia and working on issues of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), both in Colombia and internationally.

THABO MADIHLABA
Thabo is the national director of the Environmental Justice Networking Forum (EJNF), a network of more that 400 community organizations working on environmental justice and sustainable development, based in South Africa.  EJNF is also part of the Africa Initiative on Mining, Environment and Society (AIMES), a pan-African network with a secretariat housed in Third World Network—Africa in Accra, Ghana.  

REBBAPRAGADA RAVI
Ravi is the Executive Director of mines, minerals & Peoples  (MMP) based in Hyderabad, India.  Mines, Minerals & Peoples is a network of community, environmental and academic groups concern about disastrous mining practices and promotes economically sustainable communities. The network supports  grassroots mobilization for environmental and socio-economic justice through joint action, networking and capacity building.
 
HUBERT MASOKA TSHISWAKA
Hubert is a Congolese with Open Society Institute for Southern Africa based in Johannesburg. He formerly worked for the Association africaine pour la défense des droits de l’homme en République démocratique du Congo (ASADHO, African Association for the Defense of Human Rights in Congo/Kinshasa).