A day of action against Canadian mega-resource extraction will take place across the western hemisphere on Aug. 1.
Local organizers on the Sunshine Coast are heeding a call from communities in the global south who are resisting the exploitative practices of the mining industry.
At 5 p.m. on Aug. 1 at Brookman Park in Davis Bay (by Chapman Creek bridge), citizens are invited to stand with communities from Canada to Argentina in intercontinental solidarity to demand an end to exploitative and unjust mining practices.
“Canadian-based resource exploration and exploitation activities have caused widespread displacement of people and destruction of livelihoods across the Americas,” said a press release from protest organizer Suzanne Senger.
“The practices of Canadian companies have compromised water and food security, led to irreversible losses in biodiversity and caused long-term health problems.”
Senger said Canadian financial markets in Toronto and Vancouver are the world’s largest source of equity capital for mining companies undertaking exploration and development.
“These companies, along with governments throughout the Americas and international institutions like the World Bank, routinely present large-scale mining as a driving force of sustainable development,” she said. “But the long-term negative impacts on peoples and territories contrast starkly with the vague promises of jobs and national economic growth and development.”
— Submitted
