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6 THE RURAL VOICE
Jeffrey Carter
Whb do we care?
Jeffrey
Carter is a
freelance
journalist
based in
Dresden,
Ontario.
Until there's a resounding knock on
our own front door, it's all too easy
to ignore issues of injustice.
Wrongs committed beyond the
borders of Canada in some develop-
ing nation or even just outside our
own tight circle of family and friends
often seem distant. Besides, if we're
healthy, comfortable and entertained,
why should we care?
Vicincio Lopez has one answer.
Lopez lives in Guatemala, a coun-
try in Central America. On behalf of
the Catholic Church, he represents
more than 50,000 indigenous people
in the Department of San Marcos,
many of whom are resisting the
activities of Glamis Gold, a Canadian
company based in the United States
that's established an open -pit mine in
the midst of their community.
Glamis has title to a 20 -square
kilometre mining site — the Marlin
Project — in the mountainous region,
Lopez says. It's estimated $1.5
billion of gold and silver will be
extracted over the mine's expected
12 -year lifespan.
Despite assurances from Glamis,
community members fear there will
be environmental repercussions for
the hind their ancestors have occup-
ied for thousands of years. Glamis
draws heavily on the arid region's
water resources, where many resid-
ents eke out a living through subsis-
tence farming, and uses cyanide as
part of the gold -extraction process.
Lopez says cyanide will remain on
the site once Glamis leaves, in heaps
of mine tailings and in a small lake
created with a dam to hold waste-
water, Lopez says. The region is
prone to earthquakes and seepage into
the groundwater is likely, he adds.
Problems with the project are even
acknowledged by Office of Comp-
liance Advisor/Ombudsman (CAO),
an "independent" body that's part of
the World Bank which has lent
money for the project. CAO refers to
the lack of economic benefit from the
project for the local area, poor
communications between Glamis and
local residents, and the inability of
the Government of Guatemala to
regulate impacts from the mine.
CAO doesn't have the authority to
impose its recommendations. The
Government of Guatemala appears
focussed only on protecting the
interests of the country's elite who
stand to profit. Guatemalan soldiers
and police were sent in to quell one
indigenous protest in 2005 with
hundreds injured and one person
killed, according to an official
complaint sent to James Wolfenhson
of the World Bank.
So why does Lopez feel Canadians
should care?
Looking beyond the argument of
ethical obligations, Lopez says
Canadians need to ask if their own
interests are protected by
government, here in Canada.
He is right.
One need not scratch far beneath
the innocuous veneer of Canadian
society to find injustice. The rights of
Co.nadian citizens have been
jeopardized by the ill-conceived War
on Terrorism initiated by our
neighbour to the south.
Members of the Canadian
agricultural community, the key to
food security, are routinely left
dangling in the face of unfair trade
practices and the inequitable
distribution of the wealth from the
land. The federal government
in Canada holds profit above
consideration for the air we breathe
or the climate in which we live.
Injustice in Guatemala is injustice
here at home. We ignore it at our own
peril.
Vinicio Lopez spoke at several
locations in Southwestern Ontario
this past October. He was sponsored
by the Canadian Catholic
Organization for Development and
Peace which has initiated a campaign
to draw attention to those Canadian
mining companies that have been
linked to human rights and
environmental violations.0