- In March, violent clashes erupted between Ecuadorian security forces and campesino farmers over prospects for the revival of a mining project that has been rejected by protestors for at least 15 years.
- The company behind the project, Atico Mining, called in hundreds of police and paramilitary personnel to quell the protests, in what critics say is a disturbing pattern of Canadian resource companies running roughshod over human and environmental rights in other countries.
- Human rights advocacy groups and Indigenous organizations say the Canadian government, especially the embassy in Quito, has failed to safeguard human rights and environmental obligations despite its legal duties to do so.
- A spokesperson for the Canadian foreign ministry said the government expects Canadian companies operating abroad to abide by internationally respected guidelines on responsible business conduct — then cited guidelines that aren’t legally binding.
Violent crackdowns by Ecuadorian security forces on antimining protesters there have highlighted the outsize role that Canadian mining companies play in human rights abuses in other countries, and the failure by the government in Ottawa to police their conduct.
The latest controversy centers on Atico Mining, headquartered in Vancouver, whose La Plata gold and copper project in Ecuador’s Cotopaxi province, near Quito, has been opposed by residents for at least 15 years. At least 36 protesters were injured, one seriously, along with about 40 security personnel, in a series of protests that began on March 11 and turned violent after the company called in hundreds of police and paramilitary personnel to quell the protests.
The protesters, largely campesino farmers, were opposed to a reported attempt to revive a consultation process by Atico that would put the stalled mining project back on the table. Clashes broke out again on March 18, after which 72 protesters were charged and accused of being “terrorists,” and again on March 19, when they set two security vehicles on fire, according to police. On March 25, an Ecuadorian court temporarily suspended the consultation process in response to a legal protection action filed by the mayor of Sigchos, home to the parish of Pablo Quemado where the consultation would have taken place.
The mayor called for the “effective and immediate protection of the rights recognized in the Constitution and international human rights instruments, the declaration of the violation of one or more rights, as well as comprehensive reparation for the damages caused by its violation.”
Atico Mining didn’t respond to Mongabay’s requests for comment by the time of publication.
Following these violent clashes, neither the Canadian Embassy in Quito nor the Responsible Business Conduct (RBC) Committee have held Atico Mining accountable for what locals say are serious human rights abuses. The Canadian foreign ministry, known as Global Affairs Canada, acknowledged the violent confrontation, in an email seen by Mongabay sent to the Alliance for Human Rights in Ecuador, but said it hasn’t seen any independent report to assess the situation. It said it’s awaiting a report by the office of the ombudsman.
Human rights groups have criticized the Canadian Embassy for remaining silent and not acting in the face of what they call ongoing police repression. This, they say, is part of a trend. Mining Watch Canada, an environmental NGO that works with several Indigenous and human rights organizations, say Canada has failed to comply with national and international laws and regulations to protect human rights and the environment.
Canada’s responsibility
Home to almost half of the world’s major mining companies, Canada is an attractive choice for the mining and exploration sector due to favorable taxes and incentives when doing business abroad. But abuses by Canadian mining companies frequently make headlines.
Last year, the Justice & Corporate Accountability Project (JCAP), a volunteer-led legal clinic based in Canada, submitted a report to the United Nations Human Rights Council ahead of its Universal Periodic Review of Canada, an assessment of the country’s human rights records since the previous review. The report, endorsed by more than 25 civil rights organizations and almost 40 professors, lawyers and legal scholars, denounced Canada’s “systematic failure to fulfil its international obligations to human and environmental rights defenders abroad.” Weak regulations and a lack of proper oversight of Canadian projects, in part due to the country’s powerful mining lobby, have often led to deforestation, pollution and human rights violations in the often Global South countries in which Canadian companies operate.
The UPR for Canada was conducted in 2023, at which more than 120 other U.N. member states submitted 332 recommendations for Canada on a broad range of human rights issues, from Indigenous rights to responsible business conduct and more. Of these recommendations, Canada fully accepted 222, including a promise to develop guidance on consulting Indigenous people and ensuring their free, prior and informed consent. Prior to the review, more than 50 civil society organizations submitted a series of reports highlighting dozens of instances of abuse by Canadian companies in Latin America. Many of the concerns raised related to local people’s ability to speak out against mining and oil projects, as in the case of the proposed La Plata project in Ecuador.
“We demand foreign governments and their embassies in the country, especially the Canadian government and the Canadian Embassy in Ecuador, to take action regarding the violation of the constitutional rights of individuals, groups and nature by their mining companies with operations in this country,” said the Alliance for Human Rights in Ecuador, calling the Canadian state complicit if it fails to do anything.
For its report, the JCAP reviewed publications from Canadian civil society groups between 2013 and 2022 and highlighted several cases where Canada has supported companies despite notice of alleged human and environmental rights violations. For example, according to local communities and activists, during Blackfire Exploration’s operation of the Payback barite mine in Mexico, the company didn’t carry out the proper consultations, instead creating social divisions and threatening residents and the environment. Tensions eventually culminated when an unidentified man, allegedly a former Blackfire contractor, shot and killed community leader Mariano Abarca.
According to the JCAP report, the Canadian Embassy was “consistently” made aware of the escalating conflict but did nothing to stop it. A similar issue of acknowledgement, but lack of concrete action by the Canadian government, is the point of contention at La Plata.
“The Government of Canada expects Canadian companies operating abroad to abide by all relevant laws, to respect human rights in their operations, and to adopt best practices and internationally respected guidelines on responsible business conduct, such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct,” Jean-Pierre Godbout, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada, told Mongabay.
He added that “under the Constitution of Ecuador, communities affected by medium- or large-scale projects affecting the natural environment have a right to be consulted and to provide input on how the environmental and social impacts of said projects will be managed. This process is led by the Government of Ecuador.”
However, neither the U.N. nor OECD guidelines cited by Godbout are legally binding, meaning companies that fail to comply don’t face any penalties.
“That’s the big problem,” said Shin Imai, director of the JCAP. “Everything is voluntary. There are very few mechanisms for making companies accountable. And the Canadian Embassy, which should be doing that, is doing the opposite.”
The country is signed up to several frameworks and regulations to support and protect human rights defenders, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), both of which are legally binding. But according to the JCAP report, “Canada’s embassy staff, Trade Commissioners and senior government officials continue to support and defend Canadian resource companies amid strong community opposition, significant levels of violence and criminalization and credible evidence of environmental contamination.”
This is because even if an international treaty body makes a finding, Imai said, it has no power to issue orders to companies directly — only to states. If the state fails to act on that finding, the treaty body can’t do anything about it, except issue another finding. No one can sue a company under an international treaty, even one that’s legally binding.
U.N. bodies have recommended that Canada come up with an accountability mechanism to deal with this issue. In response, the government appointed a Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) in 2019. Sheri Meyerhoffer, who stepped down from this role on April 30, previously stated in a parliamentary meeting that while CORE has the power to conduct investigations, mediate and make recommendations to Canadian companies and others, it doesn’t have the power to order Canadian companies to produce documents or witnesses.
“With these additional powers the CORE would have a greater positive impact,” she said.
Imai told Mongabay that in five years, CORE has only announced three investigations, all concerning the use of forced labor in China, but hasn’t yet completed any other investigations.
“It is so ineffective that the entire group of NGOs on its advisory board resigned in protest,” he pointed out.
In 2021, the Shuar Arutam people of Ecuador wrote to Sylvie Bédard, the Canadian ambassador to the country at the time, concerning Canadian company Solaris Resources’ Warintza copper and gold mine project. In their letter, the Shuar Arutam detailed the alleged violations of their Indigenous rights, as well as alleged threats and violence they experienced at the hands of Solaris.
In her reply, the ambassador refused to take any action. She said she had “taken note of the facts indicated” but that “in light of the criminal complaint that had been filed, the embassy would refrain from coming to any conclusions, and would simply allow the criminal complaint process to play out” — echoing the same hands-off stance that it’s now taking in the Atico matter.
Banner image: Armed police and military forces called by a Canadian mining company carry out operations in Sigchos, a town in Ecuador’s Cotopaxi province, where anti-mining protestors have been demonstrating against a controversial consultation process led by the Ecuadorian government. Image by Verónica Potes Guerra.
See related coverage:
Expansion of Ecuador mine risks ‘imminent’ collapse of waste dam, experts warn
Ecuador court upholds ‘rights of nature,’ blocks Intag Valley copper mine
Environmental defenders paid the price during Panama’s historic mining protests – report
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