The Dominion - East Asia

Hoglet

Maya Rolbin-Ghanie — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 06:42:06 +0000

This Western European Hoglet, also known as the common hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus), has ancestors living anywhere from the British Isles and western Europe to the Mediterranean islands and New Zealand. This earthy creature likes deciduous forests, woodlands, farmland, sand dunes, scrub, and grassy heaths for its home, occasionally ending up in suburban areas. Usually it will build a nest out of grass and leaves under a bush or amid tree roots. Prickly by nature, this nocturnal young animal will roll into a ball to protect itself against threats with its spines. While it can't see very well, this spiky little wanderer has a sense of hearing and smell that are sharp as can be. It clanks around all night, rummaging or sniffing out worms, insects, snails, and, sometimes, small snakes.

Baby Hedgehog

Dangerous Duty in Papua New Guinea

dawn — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 10:18:08 +0000

Community members get "the opposite of what was promised" from Barrick Gold

Native to the rocky highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG), Jethro Tulin is a popular organiser and founder of the Akali Tange Association (ATA), a human rights organization documenting abuses at the Porgera mine, owned by Toronto’s Barrick Gold.

I first met Jethro when we toured New York and Canada together with a crew of Indigenous representatives from four countries affected by Barrick’s operations. He arrived in New York excited by the possibilities that the trip presented, and with news of a historic alliance that had just been forged.

The news was that the both the chairman and secretary of the Porgera Landowners Association (PLOA), Mark Ekepa and Anga Atalu, had decided to accompany Jethro on his trip. According to Jethro, the PLOA – which owns 2.5 per cent of the Porgera mine – had historically distanced itself from the ATA.

“The company had them [the PLOA] in their pockets,” he explained.

This new public alliance, consolidated during the North American speaking tour, was a sign that conditions had worsened near the mine site to the point that even those benefiting from the mine were willing to speak out against it.

“I am here to tell you why we cannot be safe and healthy in our ancestral land anymore,” Ekepa told the room at a Canadian Parliamentary press conference, continuing his speech with stories of environmental devastation and human rights abuses at the hands of mine security.

In 1994, Barrick's Porgera mine more than doubled its processing capacity. Locals allege that this was done without the consent of the landowners.

Since then, the landowners have complained to the state and to the mine operators that the mine expansion is destroying arable lands, homes, transportation links and water sources.

The Porgera mine uses riverine tailings disposal, whereby mine waste is disposed of directly in rivers. This practice is banned in most countries in the world, including Canada and the US.

Besides the mine’s encroachment on the environment of the surrounding villages, Barrick’s private security force has also been accused of numerous human rights violations, including rape, murder, and the arbitrary detainment of local people.

It hasn’t always been like this in Porgera. When the mining company (then Placer Dome) first approached the community, the villagers were excited about the prospects of the mine. “They did not really understand the impacts, but they were excited that mine was granted license to dig for gold,” says Tulin.

“They were excited about the promises of good wages, most of them would be living in good houses, good cars, good communication and the roads would be paved and all of these kinds of promises were floating about," he continues. "That never came about...what we got out of them is the opposite of what was promised.”

Jethro has been organizing within and outside the mine since its inception. In 1989, he registered Porgera’s first mine workers union and became its first secretary. Years later, after spending time abroad and involved in other aspects of Papua New Guinea’s nascent union movement, Jethro returned to Porgera to find the situation with the mine and the surrounding villages had worsened dramatically.

In 2003, someone was shot crossing the waste dump at the Porgera mine, and there was acts of vandalism carried out against the company.

"Some of them [the vandals] were relatives – connected to my tribal networks – so I told them, ‘I think it is not good that you are getting the law into your own hands; the better way to do it is to get the information out and tell the company that what they are doing is not correct,'" explains Jethro.

“After that, I got them together, formed the association and formed the interim committee known as the Akali Tange, and we started documenting all of the human rights abuses in Porgera.”

Since that date, the ATA has operated in Porgera with an all-volunteer staff and material support from friends, victims’ relatives, and even local businessmen and officials. But not everyone is happy with the ATA.

“The mine said that I was pushing [the villagers] around after being in the union movement. So they were losing all of these opportunities and now we are getting people to conduct un-civic activities,” Jethro recalled.

“They were even going into my village at the time; they loaded up two truckloads of village elders, bringing the community down to the mine site, giving them food and all of this dried fish and money.”

Speaking abroad, dangers at home

Within a few months of returning home from this year’s tour of New York and Eastern Canada, Tulin and the ATA documented four killings. The latest victim was Gibsom Umbi--a 15-year-old boy--killed with an M-16 rifle shot to the head, allegedly fired by Barrick security.

Barrick has not yet publicly denied involvement in this killing, despite the fact that their employees were present at the autopsy, nor have they responded to multiple e-mail queries about Gibson’s death.

Around the same time, Tulin began receiving anonymous threats against his life. After a letter from mine manager Mark Fisher condemned Tulin by name, he was attacked by three men wielding machetes.

One of the assailants told Tulin during the attack that he would “never visit Canada again.” A week later he was flown to Australia to receive medical attention after the Paupa New Guinea hospitals were unable to reset his arm, which had been broken in four places during the attack.

Local mine management admits that "the law and order situation [in Porgera] has deteriorated considerably [since 2003] and, is currently, one of the biggest concerns of communities in the Porgera Valley."

Jethro’s attack seems to have only strengthened his resolve in continuing his work and after a month-long stay in Australia, Jethro plans on going back to Porgera. He is confident that his tribe will protect him.

“The pressure is on the company now,” he told me on the phone from Australia, determined to return and seek justice for his community.

Sakura Saunders is an editor for protestbarrick.net.

Porgera Valley

"Tell Your Investers to Get Out of Here!"

dawn — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:16:42 +0000

Thai opposition to potash mine becomes community-wide fight

UDON THANI, THAILAND–Entering the North-Eastern Thai village of Ban Nonsomboon, one could be fooled by the appearance of rural tranquility: Children, parents and elders chat amongst themselves, relaxing in hammocks and sharing baskets of freshly cooked sticky rice.

It doesn't take long, however, to notice the banners, stickers and posters throughout the community declaring, “No to Potash Mining!” Green flags signifying a commitment to a toxic-chemical-free zone wave in the breeze.

In the midst of this fertile farmland a struggle is brewing. The community is fighting for the preservation of the land they depend on to live, and the fight has a strong Canadian connection.

Blindfolded Communities

Over 20 years ago, men who claimed they were looking for oil were seen wandering amid the rice paddies of Ban Nonsomboon, surveying the land and drilling boreholes. At the time, no one realized that these surveyors had been hired to locate potash for a Canadian company, the Asia Pacific Potash Corporation (APPC).

Without informing local residents, the APPC completed a study of potash deposits in the area with the help of Montreal based SNC-Lavalin, and by December 2000, had an environmental impact assessment quietly approved by the Thai government. The APPC’s plan consisted of a 25-km-squared underground mine to extract 300 million tonnes of potash reserves over the course of 22 years. A brine pond for wastewater, production mill and a tailings pile of salt waste would also be needed. In addition, plans included four-lane highways, a railroad extension and new electrical power grids.

The area that could be affected by this proposal includes over 45 densely populated villages, rice paddies and unique freshwater ecosystems.

From Planting Questions to Growing Resistance

As APPC began to drill exploratory mine boreholes, mineral samples were shipped to various Canadian labs, including Chemex Laboratories, Lakefield Research, Pioneer Laboratories Inc. and the Saskatchewan Research Council. Meanwhile, villagers realized that cattle grazing in the area were dying. Attracted to the salt deposits left by the drilling operations, the cattle were ingesting toxic quantities of minerals. Devastated by the loss of their livestock, community members began to ask questions, calling on the government to disclose information about the mining project and contacting local environmental NGOs for support.

Armed with a minimal amount of publicly disclosed information, community researchers from the Bangkok-based environmental organization Project for Ecological Recovery began to help raise awareness about APPC’s proposal amongst villagers in the demarcated mine concession zone. When local people realized that a Canadian company had proposed to conduct mining beneath their homes, and that the Thai government had already secretly approved the project, a popular opposition campaign quickly took shape.

In 2001, concerned residents who would be affected by APPC’s proposed mine formed the Udon Environmental Conservation Organization (UECO). In response to a complaint filed by UECO in 2002, the Thai National Human Rights Commission released a statement last year calling upon the company responsible for the mine to not only renew processes for public consultations and environmental impact assessments, but also to ensure all landholders provide informed consent for demarcation before the operation begins.

Locals are particularly concerned the mine will cause land subsidence, and contaminate the soil, air and water. Although exact consequences are impossible to predict, academic researchers have joined villagers to investigate how resulting land depressions could severely damage homes, and the potential negative effects of mine tailings on local water sources used for drinking, cooking and cleaning.

The salt tailings will result in “problems with salinity in our rice fields, especially during the rainy season," says Somyut Nikhau, a current leader of UECO. "If there is a drought, then the salt dust will still go into the water, the field and probably the communal fishing areas. This is sure to destroy our lives.”

High-school student Nattapong Ponsoongnean is also concerned about the negative consequences of the mine. “It will be my generation and future generations that will be most affected.” Canadian mining investors should “get out of this community," he says. "Don’t come here to violate our rights.”

Engendering Mobilization Strategies

Despite company offers of mining jobs, modernized amenities and discounted fertilizer, the majority of local people remain opposed to the mine. According to UECO member, Teaing Taammain, “The truth is that the company and the government are on the same side. But we villagers don’t accept the mine, so — at some point in the future, we will have to be prepared to fight for our lives against the mining operators... [We] villagers are proud of our lifestyles as farmers, we don’t want to be miners.”

Over the past six years, residents have made their concerns known by organizing marches, sending delegations to the Canadian embassy, as well as carrying out protest actions during corporate and government meetings.

Realizing that their activities were most effective when led by women, members of UECO formed an “Iron Women” Committee. According to one member, Boonmee Khunanan, “We made the decision to stand in the front row of protests... Now, after attending civil-disobedience trainings, we can assert our identity, our dignity and stand up together.”

“Authorities are afraid of confronting us older women," adds 69-year-old Lom Pongsa with a grin, "Because in Thai culture, you should always bow down and respect elder women!”

Shifting Corporate Profiles

In 2006, as UECO’s campaign against the mine was gaining momentum, Thai company Italian-Thai Development Plc. acquired APPC as a subsidiary. Corporate public-relations strategies were shifted to appeal to Thai nationalist sentiments. However, despite the complex web of corporate ownership and investment, local researchers have documented significant Canadian financial backing. Until 2006, Vancouver-based Crew Group and an east coast company (based in Fredericton), 623827 NB Ltd., were directly involved in financing this venture. After a number of corporate amalgamations took place two years ago, Canadian capital has taken a less prominent role in the project. Yet, Canadian banks, insurance companies and pension funds — including the Canadian Pension Plan — continue to invest in corporations implicated in the proposed Udon Thani Potash project.

Indeed, there is a strong sense amongst community activists that the project initiated by a Canadian company is still connected to the "country with destructive mining companies." This understanding is reinforced by the knowledge that both Toronto-based Mining Industry Consultants International and Montreal’s SNC-Lavalin have received contracts from APPC to complete studies of the area, while Vancouver-based SandWell Corporation continues to work with APPC to develop overland transport plans for the potash. In addition, APPC Vice-President and Director of Exploration and Development, Keith S. Crosby, is Canadian, with strong connections to the mining industry in Saskatchewan. Indeed, company public-relations documents and feasibility studies rely heavily on data from mine sites located in the prairies. “Given the completely different climatic and geophysical conditions of the potash mines in Saskatchewan compared to the planned project in Udon Thani,” said Catherine Coumans of MiningWatch Canada, “this is simply the latest in a long history of attempts by the company to pull the wool over the eyes of the local people.”
Community members readily admit that divisive tactics employed by company employees have been difficult to confront — in particular, the company’s involvement in the school system. APPC Children’s Days, clothes-donation projects, school sports tournaments, scholarships, extra-curricular celebrations, “distinguished father” awards, poetry competitions on the theme of “community mining,” and mobile medical clinics, as well as family house visits by company representatives are all meant to support a corporate image of compassion and harmlessness.

Despite the APPC’s attempt to maintain a positive image in the community, many villagers remain vocally opposed to the mine and have been named on company ‘blacklists.’ Others, including 29-year-old community activist Nowarat Doarueang, have received death threats and been targeted by a corporate defamation lawsuit. Many residents, including Khunanan, note, “The mining issue has broken the heart of this community. Even the children at school are divided.”

Although 12-year-old Kyiattisak Theangreong says there is no conflict amongst his peers, he expresses a sense of anxiety and distress. “I feel unsure about my future because maybe by then, everything will have already changed.” He continues emphatically, “If a company wants to open a mine here, I think they must first consider our lives, our rights, our future and our community before they come and destroy everything.”

Grounding the Future, From the Fields to the Streets

According to Suwit Gulabwong, coordinator of the local community organization Ecological and Cultural Study Group on Salinity and Mining Resource Management, “We need to keep our eyes on the fact that our fight is with the company and capital... [Therefore,] it is important to build a strong and sustainable movement from the ground up.”

Community members assert they are gradually building alternatives respectful of human as well as ecological relationships. With a collective rice paddy, they are extending a sense of cross-generational solidarity between families, while creating a source of income for their campaign. On an ongoing basis, organic farming techniques are shared amongst villagers. Rice farmer Nuentang Taamain exclaims, “As long as we are all organic farmers, we don’t need the company’s fertilizer anyway!”

UECO launched a community radio station to promote open communication about their campaign and mining-related news, as well as a public platform for local debate. For local electoral candidate Angkana Khamringe, the radio is a source of “critical information, about what is real and what is not. From this, we have learned more about our own rights, especially the rights to life, land, participation, health, and natural resources.”

Radio coordinator Panya Kotrphet emphasizes that villagers are not merely trying to preserve their past, “We need to find alternative models of development — Is the meaning of development bigger roads, bigger houses? No. The question is whether the quality of all of our lives is improved.”

While local youth have a tree-planting project, school children attend workshops to learn about banner making, poster and leaflet production, as well as local and global environmental issues. Community health researcher Tipawan Kiangkai hopes the younger generation will understand “there are other ways for our village to have 'development’ without potash mining and the use of potash-based chemical fertilizers.”

To promote reliance on local resources, women coordinate clothing, soap, shampoo and soymilk production co-operatives. According to Khunanan, these initiatives allow families to “build the potential to maintain our activities as a community and keep fighting together.”

The multifaceted approach and villagers’ continued tenacity may in the end defeat Ital-Thai and APPC. However, villagers continually reiterate that such a shift is impossible if their cause is not internationalized.

Nuentang Taamain declares, “People in Canada need to know — the company is only concerned about profit and is taking advantage of our land, imposing on our lives and violating our rights... Canadians, please tell your investors to get out of here!”

Many local residents raise questions not only about Canadian economic interests, but also about proposed, current and closed mines on Canadian soil. Upon learning about First Nations struggles against mining, they immediately recognize a common struggle across continental divides. Without hesitation, they respond, "Please let them know: they must keep fighting, and never give up! They are not alone. Together, we will win!”

Tanya Roberts-Davis is an activist organizing with communities affected by mining and oil & gas operations. She is currently based in Thailand.

Nuentang Taamain

Iron Women

Klein in Shenzen

dru — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:57:00 +0000

Naomi Klein's investigation (published in Rolling Stone) of China's massive surveillance project, the "Golden Shield," is well worth the read.

The crackdown in Tibet has set off a wave of righteous rallies and boycott calls. But it sidesteps the uncomfortable fact that much of China's powerful surveillance state is already being built with U.S. and European technology. In February 2006, a congressional subcommittee held a hearing on "The Internet in China: A Tool for Freedom or Suppression?" Called on the carpet were Google (for building a special Chinese search engine that blocked sensitive material), Cisco (for supplying hardware for China's Great Firewall), Microsoft (for taking down political blogs at the behest of Beijing) and Yahoo (for complying with requests to hand over e-mail-account information that led to the arrest and imprisonment of a high-profile Chinese journalist, as well as a dissident who had criticized corrupt officials in online discussion groups). The issue came up again during the recent Tibet uproar when it was discovered that both MSN and Yahoo had briefly put up the mug shots of the "most wanted" Tibetan protesters on their Chinese news portals.

South Koreans Have a Beef

hillarybain — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:07:05 +0000

Crackdown on demonstrations against US beef imports

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA -- On June 28, a crowd of at least 13,000 (some estimates report 30,000) gathered near the city hall in Seoul to protest the government’s decision to allow US imports of beef to South Korea. The issue is huge in South Korea, where a June 10 demonstration-–which coincided with the 21st anniversary of the demonstrations that toppled the country's military dictatorship-–drew out up to half a million protesters.

The latest demonstration came on the heels of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s visit to Seoul. Rice vouched, “I can only say that American beef is safe and that we hope in time the South Korean people will listen to that, and will be willing to listen to what their government is saying and what we are saying.”

On June 2, the thoroughfare of Sedong Street, which ends at the landmark gate of Gwanghwamun, was lined with over 100 buses that had been converted to transport vehicles with barricaded windows for riot gear-clad police. The fleet of buses, many marked with graffiti, were arranged to impede access to sections of Sejong Street, where the US embassy is located.

Later that night, when people tried to break through the bus barricades, the police used water cannons and reportedly detained more than 130 demonstrators.

President Lee Myung-bak of the Grand National Party, elected with 48.7 per cent of the vote in December 2007, has borne the brunt of South Korean anger during a growing number of demonstrations.

In April 2008, Myung-bak proposed lifting prohibitions on US beef imports, prohibitions that had been imposed in 2003 after a case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE or mad cow disease) was discovered in the US. Many South Koreans have reacted strongly against the perceived risks of BSE, which have been inflamed by Korean media.

In June, the pressure was such that Myung-bak's entire cabinet offered to resign in response to the street protests.

A senior policeman who wished to remain anonymous said, “The demonstration is okay if it is done in the proper manner with permission, not in the middle of the street, stopping cars and causing problems.”

The organizers, who addressed the milling crowd throughout the evening, emphasized that the demonstration should remain peaceful. Dozens of young men wearing military fatigues were present at the demonstration. Having completed their compulsory military service, they now call themselves the Guardians of the Citizens. They say they’re protecting the people from the state.

One of the Guardians, Kim Jin-kang, said the protestors were there “because the president has been lying...about the Great Canal and American beef.”

Much of the media has portrayed the protests as being solely about imports of US beef, but many voiced concern about the Great Canal project. The project proposes the construction of three great canals connecting four large rivers, and the city of Busan in the southeast with Seoul in the northwest.

A slim military officer, who wished to remain anonymous, manned an information table about the Great Canal project and said he was opposed to the project because of the environmental destruction it would entail. He saw Korean conglomerates as the only winners from the project.

Pak Jong-ju, who manned a table for the Korea Socialist Party, said he was at the demonstrations because of injustice. “The US and Korea alliance is a critical issue in Korea,” said Pak, who saw the protests rooted in a great polarization in South Korean society among those who support an alliance with the US and those who seek independence from the US.

Jong-ju is opposed to the “free trade” agreement between South Korea and the US. “There are a lot of rules with FTA [Free Trade Agreement] that oppress freedom of human beings, and favour business over government,” he said.

An elderly man who called himself “Mr. Korea” said the Great Canal had been added to the backside of the FTA. He believed that although most Koreans opposed the canal project, they would support the FTA if it was along the same terms as NAFTA.

Standing in the crowd was Kim Ji-hyun. She said she was against both US beef imports and the Great Canal project. She saw beef as a “life and death” issue and expressed contempt for the president.

Many demonstrators could be seen carrying slogan-bearing red cards printed by the Candlelight Movement of Korea that echoed these sentiment: “Who are you protecting with the power that we give you?” and “How can you let us down like this?”

A large white banner with blue lettering that hung high across the wide expanse of Sejong Street proclaimed: “Someday, this road will surely demonstrate the last days of a man who denied [that the] Republic of Korea’s state power originates from its people, but foolishly believed it comes from America, dirty richs [sic] and crap newspapers. Therefore, we will resist until our last breath to his idiotic ignorance, incompetence, irresponsible subterfuge, reckless beliefs, and ensure not to be victims of such.”

One Korean woman spoke of a Korean proverb that says a pot which boils quickly also cools quickly--something that the Myung-bak government is hoping for.

According to Agence France-Press, police blocked the rally planned for June 29 at Seoul Plaza before it could start, detaining 130 people and blocking nearby roads.

On June 30, investigators raided the office of the People's Association for Measures Against Mad Cow Disease and the office of the People's Solidarity for Korean Progress, seizing computers and other items, as well as arresting one organizer.

The following two weekends were relatively quiet and wet around Seoul city hall. The grass lawn has been replaced with new turf, and the vendors have disappeared. The season has changed. Middle- and high-school students who began the demonstrations are now out of school and an intense rainy period has deluged Seoul.

It seems that in the face of increasing government and police crackdowns, the boiling pot has cooled for now.

Police Crackdown

Candlelight Vigil

Indigenous Peoples' Declaration on G8 Summit

Lia Tarachansky — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:18:07 +0000

image 1.jpg

Prior the G8 Summit in Japan this year indigenous peoples from around the world gathered in Ainu Mosir. This is the official declaration they have prepared.

INTRODUCTION

G-8 Protests in Japan- Photographs

Lia Tarachansky — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 23:55:34 +0000

G8 1.jpg

Attending the Indigenous People's Summit in Ainu Mosir, Benjamin Powless, an Ottawa-based independent photojournalist and indigneous activist, remained in Japan to document resistence to the annual Group of 8 meeting. Please see his photoessay for more photographs.

Burma and Democracy Protests: Where is the coverage of Ivanhoe?

dru — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 03:16:09 +0000

burma1.jpg

Burma (aka Myanmar) has been on the front page of the Globe and Mail twice this week, and has been featured by many other publications and media outlets, as monks and pro-democracy protesters are mercilessly killed on the orders of the military junta that rules the country.

This has spawned a whole outpouring of solidarity and concern in various forms, as should be expected.

But the media coverage has been truly bizarre, and it seriously compromises the aims of that solidarity. The massive coverage given to the Burmese crackdown raises two very serious questions, the premises of which are somewhat contradictory:

1. Where was the the media outrage when this was happening in Haiti?

Uranium rising

hillarybain — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 13:21:42 +0000

Plan to mine radioactive ore generates controversy in Moncton, New Brunwick

One of the largest and most profitable mining companies in the world -- a company that received a failing grade on the Globe and Mail's corporate social responsibility survey -- is prospecting for the radioactive ore near Moncton, New Brunswick.

CVRD-Inco spent roughly $4 million to buy exclusive uranium prospecting rights for the next year on a 136,000-hectare area between Sussex and Moncton. The area includes land bordering the city of Moncton's watershed, which supplies drinking water for 100,000 residents.

New Brunswick Health Minister and Moncton MLA Mike Murphy has stated unequivocally that there will be no mine in the watershed, but according to Department of Natural Resources spokesman Brent Roy, Minister Murphy doesn't have the legislative authority to make that call.

"Prospecting just happens to intersect with the northern tip of the watershed and this is a legal legislative activity," said Roy in an interview. "In order to say 'no' [to mining in the watershed], we would have to change the law."

"The mining industry isn't in the business of taking 'no' for an answer," said Dr. Mark Winfield, a nuclear analyst with the Pembina Institute.

But they're hardly alone. Despite Health Minister Murphy's assurances that CVRD-Inco will not open a mine, Roy feels otherwise.

"The price of uranium is really high right now and we should be looking for it if we want to be in business," Roy said.

"Existing mines in northern Saskatchewan have caused severe contamination through heavy metals like arsenic, and long-lived radionuclides, along with conventional pollutants," said Winfield. In 2004, Health Canada concluded that effluent from uranium mines meets the definition of a toxic substance under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.

"There's no such thing as 100 per cent safe," said Moncton City Councillor Steve Boyce. "We've been assured [of environmental safety] by CVRD-Inco, the same company that has been charged with dumping mine tailings into a brook in Ontario."

In an interview, CVRD-Inco spokesman Cory McPhee stated the obvious: "The ultimate goal is to explore for resources and open a mine."

So, it looks like two camps are digging in for a good old-fashioned showdown. Elements within the provincial government, and of course the mining company, are on one side pushing for the project, while Moncton City Council and environmental groups are hoping to bury it.

On the surface, it looks like the impending showdown could be characterized by what some corporate consultants call a NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) campaign. But CVRD-Inco's mining plans, and government support for them, dig at something a little deeper in New Brunswick provincial politics.

In early June, Premier Shawn Graham received a standing ovation during an address to the Canadian Nuclear Society when he stated that the "possibility of a second nuclear unit at Point Lepreau is very interesting to us and will be closely examined."

It seems as though power and the desire for it, specifically nuclear power, runs in the Graham family. Alan R. Graham, father of Premier Shawn Graham, sits on the Atomic Energy Control Board (AECB), the federal agency responsible for enforcing health, safety, security and environmental standards related to nuclear energy.

As a member of the AECB, Alan Graham, a Liberal party stalwart appointed to the board in 1998, is responsible for issuing licenses for nuclear activities, one of which may come from the N.B. government, led by his son.

Unearthing a little more toxic bureaucracy, the Atomic Energy Control Board reports to Parliament through the minister of natural resources, rather than the minister of the environment.

"The Department of Natural Resources is not in the business of protecting the environment; they're in the business of development," said Councillor Boyce. Thus, if the AECB is making a tough decision between a potentially dangerous mine and economic development, the board has political interest in siding with development, due to the mandate of the department it reports to.

Nova Scotia enacted a formal moratorium on uranium mining in 1982.

"Politicians were responding to public outcry," said Rick Ratcliffe, spokesman for the Nova Scotia Department of the Environment. Notice, it's the Department of the Environment, rather than the Ministry of Natural Resources that now administers uranium mining policy in Nova Scotia.

"CVRD-Inco didn't put the uranium there," said Corey McPhee, who has worked at Inco for the last 17 years. "We have a 100-year history of mining and mining responsibly."

'Responsible' is the last word Tracy Glynn, a staffer at the New Brunswick Conservation Council, would use to describe Inco.

Glynn wrote her masters thesis in Indonesia, where Inco operates a major mining complex.

In 2005, Glynn found that Inco was providing local communities with bacteria-contaminated water. Inco's senior employees, mostly from Canada and Australia, were given clean, filtered water.

"No local people were employed as managers at the company's Indonesian operations," said Glynn, who spent time with affected communities. "The young people would have frequent protests calling for employment at the mine."

When giving Inco a failing grade in its 2005 Corporate Social Responsibility Survey, the Globe and Mail noted that company policies had led to "strained community relations at nickel projects in New Caledonia [an island in the South Pacific] and Guatemala."

"Inco has been trying for about 10 years to get the huge Goro Nickle mine up and running in New Caledonia," said Catherine Coumans, a policy expert with Mining Watch Canada, a union-funded, non-governmental organization based in Ottawa.

"The mining permit they were granted in 2004 was yanked," said Coumans, who said Inco has been more or less ignoring the order. Many of New Caledonia's residents are indigenous people who have been "fighting Inco tooth and nail; taking them to court, blocking roads and burning equipment," said Coumans.

New Caledonia has some of the highest biodiversity on Earth. Inco's operations there have already destroyed eco-systems that may have included previously undiscovered plant and animal species, said Coumans.

"We think we are improving, in terms of corporate social responsibility," said CVRD-Inco spokesman Cory McPhee. "An example of that might be seen in our New Caledonia project where we have begun sitting down and talking with the community." Coumans agreed that community relations have improved in New Caledonia since Inco was bought out by CVRD of Brazil in 2006.

However, New Caledonia is but one of the company's trouble-spots. In Montreal, on November 13, 2006, Mining Watch Canada brought together a panel made up of community leaders from Indonesia, Guatemala, New Caledonia and Canada, who discussed their struggles against Inco. Those fighting against the mine worry that New Brunswick may have a delegate at events like this in the future.

And according to Dr. Winfield, the potential health and environmental impacts of the mine are not balanced out by any positive ones.
"The inter-governmental panel on climate change was very clear that nuclear [energy] can't compete economically," he said. "New Brunswick has better options for energy: a lot of coast line, a lot of wind, tidal power.

"They should be pursuing these options before going down this [nuclear] path."

Inco in Sudbury

A Mined Democracy

hillarybain — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 18:44:14 +0000

The Philippines is rife with political violence, but Canadian mining companies don't seem to mind

Ranked second in the world for political killings -- over 800 since 2001 -- it may seem obvious that the Philippines is not a shining light of democracy. Yet many Western nations hold it in high esteem as exactly this, as well as a major trading partner and an ally in the war on terror.

A group of people from Montreal who travelled to the Philippines for the country’s mid-term May elections noticed this contradiction.

Speaking in front of the St. James church on June 3, delegation participant Stefan Christoff summed up this contradiction: In contrast to the “vibrant, thriving democracy” that the United States and Canada purport the Philippines to be, said Christoff, the mid-term elections were surrounded by an atmosphere of “coercion, corruption and violence.” He also stated that in the capital, Manila, the group he was with witnessed vote-buying and interviewed residents who were visited by the military and told how to vote.

The four-person delegation from Montreal was part of the larger Peoples’ International Observers Mission, which was comprised of participants from 12 countries. The effort was initiated in response to calls from Philippino human rights and church groups calling for witnesses for the lead-up to the elections for positions in the senate, congress and municipalities. Observers were positioned throughout the country and accompanied by local counterparts.

Freda Guttman, another member of the Montreal delegation, reviewed some of the hindrances to the democratic process discovered by her group operating in the city of Makati, a suburb of the capital. These included attempts at vote-buying through offers of money or free electricity and massive disorganization at polling stations. She said that buildings were plagued by periodic blackouts, during which time voting was suspended, and that many names were missing from voter lists. During the counting of the votes, Guttman also told of a surprise visit from a prominent businessman with close ties to the president. She stated that he “strode into the arena looking like Mussolini, with armed bodyguards” and “asked people counting which party they were from.”

Despite the fact that it is difficult for foreign observers to witness blatant electoral violations, observations like those of Guttman were common throughout the delegation. Their findings were also consistently corroborated by locals they spoke to, who deal with the forces of political pressure on a day-to-day basis, usually without the mitigating influence of international monitors.

The mid-term elections of the Philippines were of critical importance for the ruling regime’s effort to hold onto power amidst growing dissatisfaction with its leadership. Particularly, a 2005 impeachment effort sponsored by some of the opposition parties could be successfully reinitiated if the ruling government of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo loses its control of the senate and congress.

The precarious nature of the government’s position on the eve of the elections led to an increased level of persecution of perceived political threats, with over 20 killings reported in the lead-up to voting day. Among such incidents, Malcolm Guy, spokesperson for the Montreal Centre for Philippine Concerns (CPC), noted the disappearance of Luing Posa-Dominado, a friend whom he first met in the 1980s. Posa-Domingo, a human rights activist imprisoned during the Marcos dictatorship went missing with her partner Nilo Arado on April 12, 2007, and neither has been heard of since. Also, two members of the Kabataan youth party were abducted and killed during the election process.

Due to the introduction of party list proportional representation in 1995, political parties such as Kabataan and Bayan Muna have been able to gain greater representation through the electoral process. However, the growth of these type of reform oriented and traditionally marginalized groups has led to their increased targeting.
being targeted.

There is a lot of enthusiasm in the Philippines for initiatives such as the party list legislation and the potential for change they represent, says Tess Tesalona, former resident of the Philippines, and also with the Montreal CPC. But the social elite are feeling their dominance increasingly threatened and are responding accordingly, she says.

Given the political violence and high levels of poverty in the Philippines, bribery and the threat of violence significantly hinder the possibility of legitimate elections. With 80 per cent of the population living on two dollars per day or less, and the richest 10 per cent of the population earning 21 times more than the poorest 10 per cent, it is no surprise that bribery has proven to be an effective political tool for the wealthy to maintain their power in the Philippines.

Although often characterized by the military and government as the result of political infighting between rebel forces, widespread violence is another important tool of political influence, according to organizations such as the Philippine human rights group Karapatan. Most of the 858 politically-related killings since 2001, when the Arroyo government took office, were church activists, lawyers, union leaders and others working for political change through non-violent means. Karapatan says that culpability for these acts lies directly with the state security forces and associated paramilitaries. Circumstances of death documented show that most were killed through methods of professional assassination or murder, preceded by kidnapping and torture. The fact that only verified killings are used in the figure of 858 makes it likely that the actual number is much higher.

In February of this year, UN human rights envoy Philip Alston conducted an inquiry in the country wherein he concluded that many of the political killings taking place in the Philippines can be “convincingly attributed” to the military. Earlier in the year, the Philippine-based Melo Commission drew similar conclusions, with the head of the armed forces conceding that the military was involved in some of the deaths. Both of these reports lack any form of binding recommendations, however, and neither make a link to President Arroyo, head of the Philippine armed forces.

While the social and political environment in the Philippines remains dismal, the country’s relationship with the West is close. This amounts to a problematic situation, according to the Montreal delegation, since countries that publicly espouse common values of democracy and human rights are benefiting from a relationship with a government that is violating these deeply held principles.

For the United States this relationship has been a long and sordid one, beginning in a brutal military occupation that lasted almost five decades. In early 1991, the Philippines banned American military bases from its territory, but this was rescinded in 1999. The island nation has since been regaining a prominent strategic position in American foreign policy. Human rights organizations such as Karapatan believe that the influence of the US in the Philippines is contributing to a familiar situation in which proponents for social change, whether violent or not, are characterized as variations of communist or Islamic terrorism. This is seen as a mutually beneficial arrangement for protecting the interests of both the US and its client regime.

Canadian trade with the Philippines tops one billion dollars per year, according to Industry Canada, and investment in the mining sector has been singled-out by human rights groups, both within the Philippines and abroad, for Canadian firms’ involvement in environmental and human rights abuses.

A recently released report from Rights and Democracy criticizes the Calgary-based TVI Pacific corporation for its project on the island of Mindanao. The report states that TVI has “deprived thousands of small-scale miners of their livelihood,” and “contributed to a militarization of the area” that has had a “negative impact on the ability of the Subanon [the local indigenous population] to enjoy the human right to security and the human right to housing.” These charges refer to actions by the 160-person security force working for the mining company hired from the Philippino army and given tasks such as the displacement of settlements and manning of blockades.

Other Canadian human rights and church groups have cited Vancouver-based mining companies Placer Dome Incorporated and Crew Development Corporation for their record of environmental destruction and lack of transparency in the Philippines.

In a manner that is even more direct, a number of former members of Canada’s military and police forces are working with Grayworks, a Philippine company engaged in combating the guerilla organizations of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Abu Sayyaf, and the New Peoples’ Army, primarily on the island of Mindanao.

With the elections over, the efforts of Canadian Philippino human rights organizations are being focused on other projects. A national coalition of groups, including the Centre for Philippine Concerns, recently submitted a 5,000-signature petition to parliament calling for a review of all Canadian relations with the Philippines and the impact these relationships are having on human rights in the country. The CPC is also continuing with its demonstrations on the first Sunday of each month, beginning at St. James church at the intersection of St. Catherine and City Councillors Street, in downtown Montreal.

The final tally of the election shows mixed results, with widespread success for the ruling coalition at the local and regional level and opposition parties gaining ground in the senate. In light of the conditions surrounding the election seen by the Montreal delegation, it would be premature to correlate polling results with popular desire and the functioning of a healthy democracy in the Philippines.

Protesting for a Just Peace in the Philippines

Sanctioning Nukes?

Fri, 08 Dec 2006 22:14:30 +0000

Canada's nuclear exports and the Korean conflict

Pierre Trudeau speaking in September 1981 at the installation of AECL's Wolsung-1 Candu reactor in Kyong Sang Province of South Korea.

Pierre Trudeau speaking in September 1981 at the installation of AECL's Wolsung-1 CANDU reactor in Kyongsang Province in South Korea. Canada has officially opposed North Korea's development of nuclear weapons -- most recently, press reports speculated that Canadian naval vessels could play a role in enforcing sanctions against the country. Little thought has been given, however, to the role Canada's nuclear industry has played in the development of North Korea's bomb.

Media coverage of North Korea's nuclear tests has left out the ongoing sales of nuclear technology to South Korea by Canadian firms. Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) has supplied four reactors to Seoul's Korea Electric Power Development Corporation since 1973.

CANDU reactors manufactured in Ontario's Chalk River and Pembroke, and then marketed internationally, are much more efficient producers of (potentially weapons-grade) plutonium than competing models. Irradiated CANDU fuel can be extracted from the reactor during everyday operation, a convenience not offered by competing models.

In his 1988 semi-official history of AECL, University of Toronto History Professor Robert Bothwell relates that Canada's Trudeau Cabinet secretly approved AECL's commercial export of CANDU nuclear reactors in 1973.

Negotiations then began for the sale of CANDU reactors to Seoul's Korea Electric Power Corporation, which led to South Korea's second commercial nuclear power installation.

"In South Korea, as in Argentina, the military was never very far in the background; unlike Argentina, South Korea was [economically ascendant]," Bothwell writes.

For North Korea, nuclear exports were part of a series of provocative maneuvers made by the US and South Korea. The Pyongyang government criticized CANDU exports to South Korea for lowering South Korea's nuclear weapons acquisition threshold.

Pierre Trudeau paid an official visit to the Wolsung CANDU site in South Korea in September 1981 and spurred negotiations for additional CANDU reactors at Wolsung.

Three additional AECL CANDU units entered commercial operation at Wolsung between 1997and 1999. These exports temporarily boosted the faltering Canadian nuclear industry. In the summer of 1999, Ontario Hydro announced the long-term shutdown of numerous CANDU reactors at two generating stations for safety and performance reasons.

In 1985, Toronto Star columnist Diane Francis castigated briberies discovered in CANDU marketing to South Korea, Turkey and elsewhere. Direct AECL agents received a "finder's fee" of three to 10 per cent of reactor contract value. AECL deposited 10 per cent into a Luxemburg bank trust account for the agent's country contact.

AECL also exported CANDU research reactors to India and Taiwan.

India cooked the plutonium for its May 1974 Rajasthan nuclear weapons test in an AECL research reactor, whose sale was facilitated by Pierre Trudeau in a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

"With large taxpayer support, CANDU reactors have been exported to South Korea, Argentina, India, Pakistan, Romania and China," says Lynn Jones, a health professional and activist based in Pembroke, Ontario. Jones represents Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County, a group that campaigns against the health and nuclear proliferation risks of the nuclear industry in Pembroke and nearby Chalk River.

North Korea was distressed by delivery of proliferation-prone and risky nuclear equipment and technology into the hands of its rivals in Seoul. Officials in Pyongyang were also incensed at alleged US violations of Article 2d of the 27 July 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement, which was no more than a temporary ceasefire.

In a January 2003 statement reprinted by the Marxist-Leninist Daily, the North Korean government argued that, "Since the beginning of 1995, such [US] nuclear war exercises as Foal Eagle 95, Hoguk 906, Rimpac 98, 98 Hwarang and Ulji Focu Lens have been held against the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] almost every day, every year, on the ground, on the sea and in all parts of South Korea. In February 1997, the US brought depleted uranium shells from its base in Okinawa, Japan, into South Korea and deployed them."

In other cases, Canada's nuclear exports have attracted more attention from the media.

In March 2006, the Globe and Mail reported that, "Watchdog cleared tritium shipment to Iran." Referring to the highly controversial Pembroke nuclear manufacturer SRB Technologies Canada, the Globe reported: "The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission approved a shipment to Iran last year by a Canadian company of about 70,000 glow-in-the-dark lights containing tritium, a radioactive gas that can also be used as a component in hydrogen bombs."

Martin Mittelstaedt, the author of the Globe report, told the CBC on December 5 that Foreign Affairs in Ottawa was "extremely nervous" at SRB Technology's shipments of dual-use tritium to Iran.

Commercial CANDU reactors breed tritium, which Lynn Jones says is an agent of irreversible genetic damage, cancer, immune suppression and other pathologies.

According to Jones, the Globe report was based on correspondence between SRB Technologies and the Safety Commission obtained by her NGO through an Access to Information request with the Commission.

Jones told The Dominion that her Access to Information records reveal Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission approval of SRB's application on September 26, 2002, to export tritium-containing devices to "eight organizations in Korea."

Radiation-protection professional Rosalie Bertell, Biostatistician and retired President of the Toronto-based International Institute of Concern for Public Health, is one of many who oppose the proliferation of nuclear technology--in the North as in the South.

"After 50 years of US threats to use nuclear bombs in North Korea, and most recently calling them part of the 'axis of evil,' North Korea has joined the Asian nuclear club and holds South Korea and thousands of US military hostage to the same threat," said Bertell.

"We must disarm the five nuclear nations which started this competition in order to achieve global peace."

What role does Canada's nuclear industry play in the geopolitics of the Korean peninsula? Stephen Salaff investigates.

East Asia Drying Out

Fri, 28 May 2004 07:57:39 +0000

(Jaju) Klaus Toepfer, director of the UN environmental watchdog UNEP, warned the world's environment ministers that dust and sand storm activity in Northeast Asia has increased five-fold over the past 40 years. The Global Environmental Outlook (GEO) Yearbook for 2003, launched at UNEP's annual conference in Jaju, Korea, describes stronger and more frequent storms that are plaguing northern China and Mongolia and spreading sand as far as Korea and Japan.

The Gobi desert, the yearbook reports, has expanded by over 52,000 square kilometers since 1994, devastating agriculture and threatening Beijing and the 400 million inhabitants of northern China. More than 30% of the country is now unsuitable for living due to encroaching desert.

Despite this, the GEO reports that satellite imagery indicates the world is experiencing an overall increase in the amount of plant coverage due to rainfall and temperature changes. Advances in farming techniques are partly responsible, but decreased cloud cover in the Amazon and increased monsoon activity in southwest Asia have caused a flourishing of plant life in these areas. Warming northern latitudes were also implicated as contributing to the greening effect.

» UNEP: North East Asian Dust and Sand Storms growing in scale and intensity

» BBC: World getting 'literally greener'