Photo Credit: Forced eviction leaves Maya Q'eqchi' elder homeless in eastern Guatemala. January 2007 Copyright: James Rodriguez/MiMundo

June 17, 2010
Today, international headlines are occupied with the news of the environmental disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico– with inevitable comparisons made to the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989.

What’s less well known is that this amount of oil is spilt every year in Africa's Niger Delta* – one of the ten most important wetland and coastal marine ecosystems in the world.

What's worse is that the spill in Nigeria is happening next to people's homes and water and food sources, without anywhere near adequate clean up.

Imagine an environmental activist being intimidated, jailed or even killed for asking British Petroleum or the US Administration to do more to prevent this kind of environmental disaster.

That's exactly what happened in Nigeria in 1995 when environmental and human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa spoke up against Shell. He was tried and hanged - after a totally unfair trial.

The tragedy is that environmental and human rights activists who speak out against the operations of multinational corporations in poor countries remain at risk today:

- Gustavo Marcelo Rivera: tortured and killed, El Salvador
- Adolfo Ich Chaman: shot to death, Guatemala
- Mariano Abarca: gunned down, Mexico
- Dora Alicia Recinons Sorto: gunned down, El Salvador

These four people were all murdered last year, and each was murdered because they spoke out against the operations of a Canadian extractive company.
Whether it's the Gulf of Mexico, the Niger Delta, or Latin America the common theme is the inadequacy of existing international regulations to protect people and the environment from the negative impacts of mining, oil and gas operations.

As a supporter of Bill C-300, you know that Canada has been a part of the problem, and potentially, can play a key role as part of the solution.

Over three-quarters of the world's mining and exploration companies are headquartered in Canada. There is currently no legislation in Canada to hold Canadian companies to human rights or environmental standards when they operate overseas. The domestic laws of host countries may be weak or unenforced and may not provide an adequate safeguard for human rights or the environment.

Thank you for standing behind Bill C-300.
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