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| An independent ombudsperson |
 Too many rivers fouled.
Too many people dispossessed of their lands.
Too few communities consulted before mining companies begin their projects.
Development and Peace believes that the extraction, management and use of natural resources must proceed in a way that respects the ecological balance and human rights. These principles should also guide the Canadian mining industry, a world leader in the sector. |
© Noémie Pomerleau-Cloutier |
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| Canadian government consultations in 2006 also came to this conclusion. They resulted in a report based on a consensus by the mining industry and civil society organizations, entitled "The National Roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility and the Canadian Extractive Industry in Developing Countries."
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| One of the main recommendations of the report is to establish an independent ombudsperson. This would give poor communities in the Global South a voice when their human rights and their environment are threatened by the activities of Canadian mining companies. |
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In its 2007 fall action campaign, Development and Peace is asking the federal government to implement an independent ombudsperson.
Sign online or download. |
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 If there was an ombudsperson, communities from the South could bring grievances against the Canadian mining companies who threaten their collective rights to the land, the water and the forests. 
Willy Benavente CEAS, Peru
Development and Peace partner |
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| What is an ombudsperson? |
| An ombudsperson would receive complaints about Canadian mining companies who fail to respect Canadian standards of corporate social responsibility in their activities abroad. |
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| To be credible, and ombudsperson must be: |
- Independent: appointed by Parliament.
- Investigative: given the human and financial resources to conduct independent fact-finding investigations on the ground in response to complaints.
- Accessible: facilitate the participation of all parties concerned in a complaint, especially the affected local communities.
- Effective: puts forth recommendations quickly
- Transparent: makes public the results of investigations and issues an annual report on complaints received and their outcomes.
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| Moving towards compulsory standards |
| The ombudsperson would use the social and environmental standards suggested in the Roundtables Report to assess complaints. These standards would gradually assume legal standing and become compulsory. Companies would also provide an annual account of their activities in the South. The ombudsperson's recommendations would go to a committee made up of government, mining industry and civil society (human rights and international solidarity groups, unions etc.) to be carried forward. |
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| ECUADOR |
| For the past 10 years, the 12,000 inhabitants of the Intag Valley have resisted mining in their area. "This land is everything to me," explained one villager. "My family, my ancestors, all my roots are here." After the first Japanese mining company left in 1997, the communities decided to focus on a different kind of development. Given the astonishing biodiversity of their region, they were able to develop ecotourism and create an ecological reserve that produces organic and fair trade coffee. |
© CDHAL
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Life before profit
In spite of this initiative, the Canadian company Ascendant Copper acquired mining rights in 2004 without consulting all of the communities affected by the project. Disputes, lawsuits, death threats to community leaders and violence followed. The project was temporarily halted in March, 2007. "Very powerful interests are at stake here. But the communities affected must not allow money and the profits of transnationals to take precedence over human life," says Sister Elsie Monge, head of CEDHU, a wellknown human rights group in Ecuador and a Development and Peace partner. |
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| If there was a Canadian ombudsperson, "that person could investigate what is happening to the communities and the environment," says Sixto Léon of the National Coalition of Communities Affected by Mining Projects in Ecuador. Alicia Granda, a researcher at CEDHU, adds that "an ombudsperson would help our overall struggle against mining and oil companies acting with impunity." |
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| DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO |
| In October 2004, in the town of Kilwa in the southeast of the country, the army committed atrocities as it suppressed a popular uprising. The soldiers involved used vehicles lent by Anvil Mining, a Canadian company. |
© Julie Perreault |
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| A court case against Anvil was launched in the DRC in December 2006, but the following February the presiding judge was replaced. The hearing has started again, but it is feared that justice will not be done. |
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| If there had been a Canadian ombudsperson, the victims’ families and friends could have requested an investigation into the role played by the Canadian company in this incident. According to Asadho, a human rights group in the region, "With an ombudsperson, local communities could see that human rights were respected." |
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