In Guatemala, saving the environment means resisting Canadian mining companies
In Guatemala, saving the environment means resisting Canadian mining companies
“Everything,” says Angélica Choc, “depends on the vital liquid – water.” Choc is a Maya Q’eqchi’ land defender from El Estor in eastern Guatemala. For years, she and other Q’eqchi’ villagers have opposed the development of the nearby Fenix mine, a massive mountain-top nickel complex in El Estor’s Iz...
“Everything,” says Angélica Choc, “depends on the vital liquid – water.” Choc is a Maya Q’eqchi’ land defender from El Estor in eastern Guatemala. For years, she and other Q’eqchi’ villagers have opposed the development of the nearby Fenix mine, a massive mountain-top nickel complex in El Estor’s Izabal Department. In early May 2024, I joined a delegation visiting several communities that are fighting against Canadian mining projects in Guatemala.
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"Canadian" mining companies - any country on earth can have a licensed business in Canada for the change you find in your couch. Seems to be especially popular for mining companies.
This one actually used to be a full on Canadian mining company (INCO) before it got bought out by a Brazilian company called Vale limited.
There's plenty of tax havens already, so Canada went all in on shell corporations for money laundering (especially real estate) and using Canadas positive global image to hide the true owners of a business.
Canada's mining tradition is closely related to colonialism.
Check out the Canadian encyclopedia, Mining :
Pre-contact Aboriginal use and trade of Canada’s rich mineral resources included copper, gold, silver and chert. European exploration and colonization of northern North America was partially motivated by the search for valuable minerals. In 1577–8, Martin Frobisher established a mining operation at Baffin Island (...)
Edit: Just found a super long list of Canadian Mining Assets (CMAs), from all over the world excluding Canada, by Country and Region. This list is from 2021 and 2022 by the Canadian government. They're everywhere like, scary stuff.