By Michael Welch, Yves Engler, and Bianca Mugyenyi
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In spite of all our enlightened thinking around racism, “Black Lives Matter,” and calls for “diversity, equity and inclusion” on our workplaces and our partnerships, Africa, a continent bearing nearly a fifth of the world’s population doesn’t register as more than a backdrop of “tragic suffering and endless despair” to quote a year old article on the media watchdog site FAIR.org. [1]
The Mining Association of Canada trumpets their commitment to sustainable mining, and ensuring management and employees in the mining sector receive “skills-based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights and anti-racism.” [2]
However, in Africa , since the mid-1980s, major pressure was placed by capitalist nations, including Canada, to follow neoliberal economic policies, including privatization. And Canadian Mining Corporations became the main beneficiaries of these “free market” reforms. All while they were bitterly resisted from African communities! [3]
The Canadian Foreign Policy Institute (CFPI) provides the Canadian people with more transparency on foreign policy in all its principle forms. It states on their website that it corrects the popular myth that Canada is a benevolent force on the world stage. In this regard, Canada’s mining record was a clear example of a sector that has come under their watch.
Hence, the Global Research News Hour presents the discussion called Canadian Mining in Africa: Looting the Continent, a talk on the media instrument Zoom produced by the CFPI. The guests on hand were Jamie Kneen of MiningWatch Canada (which was also a co-producer of the conversation), Phyllia Ngoatje of Mining Affected Communities United in Action (MACUA), and Yves Engler, the prominent author and Canadian foreign policy critic. The moderator for the discussion was Bianca Mugyenyi, director of the CFPI.
See the unabridged discussion here:
Jamie Kneen is a co-lead and outreach coordinator for MiningWatch Canada. He leads MiningWatch’s work on mining policy development and individual mining projects in western and northern Canada. He also leads the organization’s strategic research and communications, as well as research and advocacy in Africa.
Phyllia Ngoatje was the head of the paralegal unit for Mining Affected Communities United in Action (MACUA) which is a community based united front of mining-affected communities seeking to protect their interests against mining.
Yves Engler is one of Canada’s foremost Canadian foreign policy critics and dissidents. He is the author of ten books on Canadian foreign policy including Stand on Guard for Whom?: A People’s History of the Canadian Military (2021) and House of Cards: Justin Trudeau’s Foreign Policy (2020). His articles have appeared at rabble.ca, canadiandimension.com, and on his own site yvesengler.com.
Bianca Mugyenyi is an activist, a journalist and the director of the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute.
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Notes:
- https://fair.org/home/nyts-africa-a-place-of-failure-and-no-leadership/
- https://mining.ca/our-focus/corporate-responsibility/diversity-and-inclusion-initiatives-in-canadas-mining-industry/
- Yves Engler (2015), p 8, ‘Canada in Africa: 300 Years of Aid and Exploitation’, Fernwood Publishing Company Ltd
