During a recent visit to Central America, a Canadian consular official told me Canadians and mining are virtually one and the same; that, in fact, “mining is what we do and we do it very well.”
It was a reflective moment. Despite being born a few subway stops away from the Toronto Stock Exchange, the heart of the global mining trade, mining was not a core part of my being. Was I not Canadian enough?
Over a delectable pint of Scottish cream ale, a high school buddy pondered my question of Canadian identity and stated that, “The beaver, I believe, is the perfect symbol for Canada.” I bristled with excitement at the notion. Of course! The beaver is, next to humans, the animal most able to manipulate and change its environment. He continued, “Both tirelessly fell and extract natural resources and subsequently add value to them.”
Eureka! The facts had been staring at me from every nickel that had passed through my hands and into my fishbowl piggy bank.
Well, the beavers are at it again in the Cabañas department, a province in northern El Salvador. Pacific Rim, a gold mining giant based in Vancouver, has been exploring deposits in since 2002. As the company was ramping up to begin extraction from the mine, a funny thing happened: the communities said “no.”
Community members and environmental groups claimed that wells were drying up after the company began drilling to estimate the quality of gold deposits. Wells found to be poisoned by unknown chemicals, leading in some cases to dead livestock, were enough for many to oppose the extraction.
While this isn’t the first time a Canadian mining company has come up against community opposition, the support inside and outside El Salvador was surely unexpected. Others — including the Conference of Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church and the country’s president — have joined local non-governmental organizations and citizen groups to stop Pacific Rim.
Pacific Rim’s answer has been to sue the Salvadoran government for US$100 million to recoup their costs by using the United States’ Central America Free Trade Agreement. As Canada is not a part of this agreement, they had to file the suit under their U.S. subsidiary, Pac Rim Cayman.
Pacific Rim’s presence in El Salvador has resulted in social tensions over the potential extraction of the gold and silver deposits, dividing families and communities. Activists are concerned that opening the mine will threaten local water supplies and diminish their ability to grow crops, while supporters see it as a source of job creation and economic development. Three environmental activists have been assassinated within the vicinity of El Dorado, Pacific Rim’s prize mine site in Cabañas.
As I have followed the events and assassinations, my identity has indeed become much clearer to me: I choose to identify with the defense of citizens’ and a national government’s right to say no to a corporation, even if they have the best of intentions.
