The Projet Accompagnement Québec-Guatemala (PAQG) and the Council of Canadians are launching an initiative calling on the public to divest from Canadian mining companies that are engaged in controversial projects in Guatemala.
The Money Thread campaign urges Quebecois and Canadians to follow the financial link connecting Canadian and Quebecois taxpayers to Guatemalan peoples affected by Goldcorp and Tahoe Resources mining projects.
The two companies own four precious metal projects, mining mainly gold and silver. The campaign is endorsed by several other human rights, environmental and social justice groups.
“The Marlin Mine, which was started in 2005, is one of the most controversial Canadian mining projects in Latin America,” says Meera Karunananthan, International Water Campaigner with the Council of Canadians’ Blue Planet Project. “For several years, organizations working to defend human rights and the environment have documented and denounced the alarming impacts caused by the Marlin Mine. There is strong community opposition in Guatemala to Goldcorp and Tahoe’s four extractive projects there. Affected communities have not been properly consulted, in violation of Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization.”
“The Money Thread campaign invites people in Quebec to require their public institutions and private investment and pension funds to divest from these two companies,” says Laurence Guénette from Projet Accompagnement Québec Guatemala. “Indeed, like many banks and mutual funds, the Canada Pension Plan is invested in both of these controversial mining companies, with holdings of $26 million in Tahoe Resources shares and $265 million in Goldcorp shares.”
The Money Thread campaign will be organized across Canada through the campaign website themoneythread.org, and will include interactive workshops on divestment offered to a wider audience and several conferences.
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