Seeking Justice in Canada: Hitting Mining Companies Where They Live
Seeking Justice in Canada: Hitting Mining Companies Where They Live
Canadian mining companies have long evaded responsibility for abuses carried out by their subsidiaries in the developing world. That could be about to change.
By Sebastian Rosemont, August 12, 2014.
Violence by Guatemalan mine operators is not rare. For a Guatemalan to seek justice in Canada, where a host of North American mining conglomerates are based, is.
Adolfo Ich was an important community leader in El Estor, a Mayan Q’eqchi’ town near the Fenix nickel mine in Guatemala’s eastern province of Izabal. On September 27, 2009 clashes broke out between protesters against the mine and security forces hired by the mine operators.
Ich, who had been in his home, went out to investigate what was happening and try to help end the violence. He approached the security forces who, it is claimed, recognized him as an anti-mine leader and activist. They proceeded to beat and hack at him with a machete.
Then, according to a lawsuit filed in Canada, the head of the security forces, a former military officer, shot Ich in the head.
A suit by Ich’s widow and fellow community member German Chub, who was paralyzed by a gunshot in the same protest where Ich died, has begun its path through the Canadian system. The two plaintiffs have been joined by 11 Guatemalan women from the community of Lote Ocho, who say they were gang raped during a forced eviction by mine security forces on January 17, 2007.
More:
http://fpif.org/seeking-justice-canada-hitting-mining-companies-live/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=seeking-justice-canada-hitting-mining-companies-live
