Visiting Canadian church leaders link destructive mining to militarization, rights violations

Visiting Canadian church leaders link destructive mining to militarization, rights violations

The Rev. Marie-Claud Manga, pastor at Saint-Jean-sur-Richeliu, told the Philippine press in Manila that they would engage the general council of the United Church of Christ in Canada to bring these mining-related human rights violations to the Canadian Parliament.
By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – “It is clear to us, people are afraid— with a good cause – of mining,” Rev. Dir. Bill Phipps, former head of UCCP Canada, said at a press conference last week. A retired minister and “lawyer in previous life,” he and his team of UCCP church members had just concluded a 10-day mission, dubbed as Beaconsfield Initiative, to the mining areas and mining-affected communities of the Cordillera. During their visit, they lived with, observed closely and talked to people from “all levels of society.”

The Cordillera region is one of the most heavily mined and deforested sites in the Philippines. Despite numerous reported occurrences of land subsidence and erosion that could be traced to years of digging and mining, a bigger chunk of the region has been covered by mining and exploration permits under the renewed push for mining liberalization by the Aquino government.

Rev. Phipps lives in Calgary, the so-called energy center of Canada. He has seen for himself the effects of extractive mining to communities, especially to indigenous peoples. He joined the UCCP’s Beaconsfield Initiative to the Philippines that also looked into how Canadian mining companies, which often claim they are “going green,” are truly operating. When they return to Canada, he promised to disseminate their findings to their church members and fellow citizens of Canada and to push for changes in the way the Canadian mining companies do business and treat the mining-affected communities.

Canada is a mining country, noted Phipps. He estimated that as much as 75-percent of mining companies operating abroad have Canadian stakes. Though mining is touted to help economic development, he said, “We need to do it in a way that respects human rights, the environment, the livelihood, culture and the future of the people” living in the areas to be mined.

Beaconsfield Initiative meet with the governor of Benguet. (Photo by JR Guerrero/ bulatlat.com)

Their findings from their 10-day mission in the Cordillera revealed some serious violations of human rights traceable to the operations of mining companies. Though the members of the Beaconsfield Initiative admitted that they might have gotten only a small part of the picture, compared to the whole impact of mining to the Filipino people, they sounded confident that the data and information they gathered from Cordillera are clear, focused and detailed after the days they spent listening, observing, and “trying to understand” the issues of mining and its repercussions, as experienced by “all levels of society,” in the mining-affected areas of the Cordillera.

At least six Canadian mining companies have mining interests in the indigenous peoples’ territories in Benguet and Abra. These companies include: Columbus/Magellan, Olympus Mining Company, Solfotara mining company, Pacific Metals Canada-Philippines, Adancex, and Canex.

Why destroy healthy communities?

On their own, communities including the indigenous peoples of the Cordillera are living freely and healthy in their ancestral domains, the members of the Beaconsfield Initiative reported. “They have their own sources of livelihood from indigenous farming, for example. The children live and laugh and play freely,” noted Rev. Phipps. But all these are threatened by large-scale mining, he said.

“Mining will destroy land, natural resources, the people’s way of life. It devastates communities…. Why destroy healthy communities just to send profits abroad?” Rev. Phipps asked. He said the same destruction of indigenous peoples’ land has happened in the areas affected by mining in Canada. “People have rights to be afraid for their future,” he said..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/01/19/visiting-canadian-church-leaders-link-destructive-mining-to-militarization-rights-violations/