Our ‘Shout Out Against Mining Injustice’ conference begins today in Vancouver!
At 9 am PT, the speakers and event organizers will come together for a working breakfast to formally meet each other and review the next several days of activities.
This afternoon at 12 pm PT, as noted in our media advisory, “Community leaders from mining impacted communities and social justice activists from across the Americas will join Tsilhqot’in leaders at a protest in front of the Taseko headquarters (837 West Hastings Street) as the company holds its annual general meeting to demand that Canadian corporations like Taseko stop forging ahead with mining projects without the consent of impacted communities.” Speakers at the rally will include Chief Marilyn Baptiste of the Tsilhqot’in National Government; Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians; Gustavo Castro, Jesus Lara Chivarra, and Rurik Hernández De Los Santos from Mexico; Jose Guadalupe Gomez from Guatemala; Vidalina Morales de Gámez from El Salvador; and Silvia Quilumbango from Ecuador.
The Vancovuer Sun has already done advance coverage of this protest,
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/2035/Protestors+from+South+Central+America+rally+outside+mining+company+headquarters/6713915/story.html#ixzz1wYEBnaI5.
And tonight starting at 7 pm PT, our public forum will take place at the Maritime Labour Centre (1880 Triumph Street). Some seats are still available, but are going quickly, so please register as soon as you can.
On stage at the public forum will be:
- Sarita Galvez, moderator
- Rueben George, Sundance Chief, Member, Tsleil-Waututh Nation
- Maude Barlow, National Chairperson, Council of Canadians
- Chief Marilyn Baptiste, Chief, Xeni Gwet’in First Nation, Tsilhqot’in National Government
- Jesus Lara Chivarra, the Wirikuta Defense Front, Mexico
- Mark Berube, Singer/Songwriter, Montreal, Quebec
For more on tonight’s forum, please go here. The Saturday plenary sessions and workshops are now full and we can no longer register people for this, but to see the agenda, go to http://canadians.org/shoutout.
Photo:
(left to right)
1. Silvia Quilumbango, DECOIN, Ecuador
2. Jose Guadalupe Gomez, Consejo de los Pueblos del Occidente (CPO), Guatemala
3. Sergio Campusano Villches, Comunidad Agrícola Diaguita Los Huascoaltinos, Chile
4. Ailish Morgan, Council of Canadians Atlantic organizing assistant
5. Vidalina Morales de Gámez, The National Roundtable against Metallic Mining, El Salvador (La Mesa)
Photo by ‘Shout Out’ organizer Denise Siele.
