Eight months and counting: Steelworkers ask Information Commissioner to investigate government's failure to release information on Excellon Resources TORONTO, July 11, 2013 /CNW/ - The United Steelworkers (USW) union is asking federal Information CommissionerSuzanne Legault to investigate the Conservative government's failure, for more than eight months, to release information on a Canadian mining company's controversial operations in Mexico.
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On July 8th 2013, the community of Pitalito received an eviction order issued by the mayor of Chimichagua, Amauri Villareal Tordecilla. The eviction concerns the families who returned to their land on May 21st 2013, less than two months ago. As it stands, police or military forces could arrive at any moment to execute the order.
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For the second year in a row, the Conservative government has failed to live up to its moral obligation to analyze the impact of the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (CCOFTA) on human rights. The reporting obligation, embedded as a side agreement in the FTA, was hailed by the Liberals as a “new gold standard” for human rights reporting in free trade agreements and touted by the Conservative government as a meaningful way to address human rights accountability in trade. Civil society, labour and human rights organizations feared that it was merely unenforceable window dressing.
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Conservatives fail to take human rights seriously in Canada-Colombia deal For the second year in a row, the Conservative government has failed tolive up to its moral obligation to analyze the impact of the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (CCOFTA) on human rights. The reporting obligation, embedded as a side agreement in the FTA, was hailed by the Liberals as a "new gold standard" for human rights reporting in free trade agreements and touted by the Conservative government as a meaningful way to address human rights accountability in trade.
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(Ottawa/Washington/Bogotá) The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO), the independent complaints office of the International Financial Corporation (IFC), will carry out an audit of the IFC’s decision to purchase US$18.2 million in shares of Eco Oro Minerals (previously Greystar Resources). The Canadian company is proposing to develop the Angostura gold mine project in the high altitude wetlands – known as páramos – of Santurbán, located in the Colombian departments of Santander and North Santander.
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Tabled June 14, the report’s tone, content, and quiet release leave some wondering what the government is trying to hide.
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A little report, issued quietly in the middle of June, marked the moment when the Conservatives reneged on an agreement to study how a free-trade deal in Colombia might affect human rights. It’s an odd blind spot for the Tories, who, after all, like to argue that trade is good for ordinary people in developing countries. The Harper government has recently started pushing aid projects aimed at showing that the mining industry can bring a better life to people in Africa and Latin America – and Canada-Colombia business, after all, is dominated by mining.
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The main finding of the Harper government’s first complete human rights impact assessment of the Canada-Colombia free trade agreement (CCOFTA), tabled without almost anyone noticing in the House last week, is that there really isn’t any point in doing a human rights impact assessment of the Canada-Colombia free trade agreement.
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