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We are heeding a call from communities in the global south that have organized and are resisting the exploitive practices of the mega resource extractive industry. The organizations below, in solidarity with communities impacted by the Canadian extractive industry throughout the Americas call for a Continental Day of Action on August 1st, 2012 to demand an end to exploitative and unjust mining practices. Civil society along with communities from Canada to Argentina will conduct coordinated actions including rallies, demonstrations, community radio coverage, letter writing campaigns and other alternative and imaginative actions of protest in front of mining corporate offices and Canadian embassies across the Americas.

WHY CANADA?

• 60% of the world’s publicly traded mining companies are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. These corporations account for over 3200 exploitation projects in over 100 countries. Canada is the largest stakeholder in the resource extraction industry in the Americas accounting for 37% of the total investment.

• Canadian financial markets in Toronto and Vancouver are the world’s largest source of equity capital for mining companies undertaking exploration and development.

• Canadian-based mining operations have deeply impacted territories, communities, and life. Resource exploration and exploitation activities have caused displacement, widespread destruction of livelihoods (compromising water and food security), caused long- term health issues , disregarded sacred indigenous territories and rights, exacerbated human rights violations especially in contexts of internal conflict, and contributed to the criminalization of artisanal miners, union and environmental activists and community activists. Large-scale mining explorations and exploitations have also led to an irreversible loss in biodiversity.

• Despite the fact that large-scale mining is usually presented as a driving force of sustainable development by mining companies, governments throughout the Americas, and international institutions such as the World Bank, the long-term negative impacts on peoples and territories contrast with the vague promises of jobs, and national economic growth and development.

OUR DEMANDS:

Divestment: The Canadian government should divest public funds from resource extraction industries. (i.e pension funds invested in GoldCorp and other corporations) and call for public funds to be invested in social programs like free education, affordable housing and universal healthcare .

Regulation: The Canadian government should enable legislation that establishes corporate accountability standards for Canadian corporations operating abroad. This legislation should penalize corporations linked to human rights violations and should allow foreign nationals to pursue legal action for damages in Canadian courts (Bills C-300 and C-323).

Stop Complicity: Stop utilizing public institutions to assist with high profile public relations campaigns conducted by resource extraction companies (such as the Museum of Natural History in Ottawa, Simon Fraser University, University of Toronto, York University, CIDA-funded projects such as the Devonshire initiative.

Binding Community Consent Mechanisms: That governments and courts of the region respect and adhere to the internationally recognized right of free prior and informed consent for Indigenous communities.

People Before Profit: End free trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties that enshrine the right of corporations over citizens and communities.

If your organization would like to sign on and partake in actions please contact rburbano@hotmail.com or see our website at http://lacsn.weebly.com or facebook page

List of participating organizations

• Alternatives Montréal – Québec
• Andean Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations (CAOI) – Peru, Lima
• Atlantic Regional Solidarity Network (ARSN)- Canada
• Black Brigade Sebastian Lemba – Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo
• Colombia Action Solidarity Alliance (CASA) Toronto, Canada
• Colombian Oil Workers’ Union – Bogota, Colombia
• Central America Regional Association for Water and the Environment – San José, Costa Rica
• Central American Action Network around water (FANCA) – San José, Costa Rica
• Citizen Participation Forum for Justice and Human Rights – Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Committee for Human Rights in Latin America (CDHAL) – Montréal, Québec
• Country youth Alliance – Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
• Committee for the Defense of Water and the Santurbán Paramo – Colombia
• Common Frontiers- Canada
• Corporation for Education, Research Development and Popular Education – National Union Association – Bogota, Colombia
• Denver Justice and Peace Committee Denver, United States
• Development of the Eastern Region Corporation (COMPROMISO) – Colombia
• Guatemalan Solidarity Working Group – Hamilton, Canada
• Latin American Law Students’ Association at the University of Ottawa (LALSA) – Ottawa, Canada
• Latin American and Caribbean Solidarity Network (LACSN) – Toronto, Canada
• Latin American Trade Unionists Coalition (LATUC) – Ontario, Canada
• Lavaca – Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network – Canada
• Mexican Action Network around Water (FANMEX) – D.F, Mexico
• Mexican Network of People Affected by Mining – Mexico
• Mingas in the Americas – New York, United States
• Mining Injustice Solidarity Network (MISN) – Toronto, Canada
• MingWatch Canada – Ottawa, Canada
• National Ecological Action Network – Buenos Aires, Argentina
• National Roundtable against Metallic Mining in El Salvador, San Salvador, El Salvador
• National Union of Workers in the Coal Industry – Bogota, Colombia
• Observatory of Multinationals in Latin American (OMAL) – Madrid, España
• Project Accompaniment Quebec- Guatemala – Montréal, Québec
• Peace with Dignity – Madrid, Spain
• Research and Training Center for Latin American Social Movements – Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Root Force: Demolishing Colonialism At Its Foundations – Arizona, United States
• Rights Action – Washington DC, United States
• Scarves in Rebellion Popular Education Team – Rosario, Argentina
• South American Action Network for Water (FANAS) – Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Society and Environment – Baja California, Mexico
• The American Platform of Human Rights, Democracy and Development – Quito, Ecuador
• The Colombian Network Against Transnational Mining – Colombia
• The Continental Outcry of the Excluded – Rio de Janeiro – Brazil
• The Louis Riel Bolivarian Circle – Toronto, Canada
• The People’s Legal Team – Bucaramanga, Colombia
• The Project for Accompaniment and Solidarity with Colombia – Montréal, Québec
• The University of the Earth in Puebla – Puebla, Mexico
• Toronto Bolivia Solidarity – Toronto, Canada
• Union of Citizens Assemblies (UAC) – Buenos Aires, Argentina
• United Steel Workers- Toronto, Canada