A people’s tribunal on the Canadian mining industry – the first of its kind in North America – is slated to take place in late May 2014.

The tribunal, to be held in Montreal, will kick off on Thursday, May 29, with a keynote address at one of the city’s universities. It will continue on May 30 and 31 with hearings at Centre culturel Georges-Vanier, where presentations will be given by witnesses and experts from Canada and several Latin American countries. The event will conclude June 1 with a day of workshops, discussion groups, and jury deliberations.

The idea of holding a people’s tribunal on the Canadian mining industry arose in the context of QUISETAL, a Quebec coalition on the social and environmental impacts of transnationals in Latin America, in which the groups PASC and JUSTE (Justice transnationales extractives) are participating. The initiative is inspired by past involvement in people’s tribunals by a research team associated with Centr’ERE at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) in Chile and by members of JUSTE in Guatemala. Over a dozen trade union, university-based, and solidarity organizations are now working to prepare the tribunal.