Photo: Unifor Social Justice Fund Director Navjeet Sidhu visits PBI-Colombia staff and frontline volunteers in Bogota, May 2023.

Yesterday evening we were at a reception in Ottawa/Algonquin territory to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Unifor Social Justice Fund.

It was an opportunity to thank Unifor, the Social Justice Fund, and Navjeet Sidhu, the Director of the International Department and Social Justice Fund, for their support of Peace Brigades International over the years.

In our brief comments at the reception, we highlighted:

“Peace Brigades International provides physical/protective accompaniment to threatened human rights defenders in Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico and Honduras.

These are dangerous countries for union activists, lawyers, social leaders, Indigenous rights defenders, and many others.

Between January 2019 and March 2020, at least 14 trade unionists were murdered in Colombia. In 2022, 60 land and environmental defenders were killed there.

Our accompaniment of about 1,800 defenders a year is supported globally by about 35 staff and 175 volunteers.

The support of the Social Justice Fund helps us to recruit, train and house those frontline volunteers who spend 12-18 months in-country.

Video: Ivan Madero of the PBI-Colombia accompanied organization CREDHOS has explained that PBI’s model of political deterrence, unarmed accompaniment that provides global attention on the safety of a defender, is fundamental to dissuading armed actors.

While there are many grim statistics and the situation for human rights defenders is intense, accompaniment does make a difference.

By helping to keep defenders alive, we support the social movement processes that are able to facilitate needed social change.

Of the many examples, PBI accompanied – every day – organizations and defenders that took part in the National Strike in Colombia in 2021.

That National Strike experienced severe police repression.

Without that National Strike backed by popular movements, the government of Gustavo Petro and Francia Marquez would not have been elected in June 2022.

While we are non-partisan, we recognize that this government was elected by Colombians seeking a profound change in their country. Marquez herself comes out of social movements and survived a bomb attack in May 2019.

It must also be noted that previous progressive candidates have been assassinated and that Marquez faced threats too (as seen in this dramatic 1-minute video).

We also see the role of accompaniment of social movements and social processes in Guatemala in the surprise election of Bernardo Arevalo, though there is still the concern that elites may stop him being sworn-in as scheduled in January.

And it is not uncommon, but it is always deeply moving, to hear a defender tell us that they are alive because of Peace Brigades International.

Photo: Berenice and members of the SINTRAEMCALI union were targeted in an assassination plot for their opposition to the privatization of Emcali, a state-owned company providing water, telecommunications, and electricity services in the city of Cali.

Photo: Yuli has experienced three armed attacks against her since January 20, 2021, due to her defence of the San Silvestre wetlands near the city of Barrancabermeja.

Photo: Maya Q’eqchi environmental defender Bernardo Caal Xol spent four years in prison for his peaceful resistance to dams being built on ancestral territory without consent. He was released from prison in March 2022.

This appreciation of our work is to be shared with the Unifor Social Justice Fund given their solidarity over the past 10 years.”

For more about the Unifor Social Justice Fund, click here.

While you are here…

Please note that on Thursday December 7 at 12 pm, PBI-Canada will be holding a webinar on the UN COP28 climate summit and environmental defenders. At least 1,390 land and environmental defenders have been killed since the COP21 climate summit in Paris in December 2015. We are calling for language in the COP28 summit declaration that recognizes the vital role of environmental defenders in stopping climate change and the need for greater protection measures to ensure their safety.

To hear our panel of speakers on this issue, register here.

Wet’suwet’en land defender Eve Saint, Colombian water protector Yuli Velasquez, Javier Garate of Global Witness, Emily Lowan, Climate Action Network.

Photo: Indigenous Lenca water protector Berta Caceres.

The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project tweets: “PBI will continue to accompany @COPINHHONDURAS in its demands for comprehensive justice in the case of #BertaCáceres. We will be very attentive to any progress regarding the request presented by the Public Ministry against Daniel #Atala.”

PBI-Honduras has accompanied COPINH since May 2016.

Deutsche Welle reports: “The Honduran Public Prosecutor’s Office announced this Friday (01.12.2023) that it has requested an arrest warrant against another person accused of the 2016 murder of emblematic environmentalist Berta Cáceres.”

It adds: “The Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that the prosecutor’s request and the arrest warrant were filed against the ninth person involved in the murder of the environmental leader in March 2016.”

The article then concludes: “The Attorney General’s Office did not release the name of the new defendant, but the relatives and COPINH accuse prominent bankers who are partners of DESA in press statements.”

COPINH tweets: “An injunction has been filed against Daniel Atala for his participation in the crime against #BertaCáceres. #COPINH and Berta’s daughters/children hope that this is not just a media exhibition and that @MP_Honduras [Ministerio Publico/Public Ministry] responsibly fulfills their participation.”

And Reportar sin medio reports: “The Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) confirmed today that a prosecutor’s injunction has been issued with an arrest warrant against Daniel Atala.”

That article also explains: “Daniel Atala is a member of the Atala Zablah family, whom COPINH has pointed to as the intellectual authors of Cáceres’ murder.”

Castro at COP28

Reportar sin medio adds: “The arrest warrant for Atala comes on the same day that Honduran President Xiomara Castro gives a speech at the COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.”

It then notes: “In her speech, Castro recalled the Honduran defender of the territory. ‘I call on you to walk together on the path of dignity, humanism and environmental sustainability. Life begins in the mountains, in the rivers and in the forests. Let’s wake up, humanity, there is no more time. Berta Cáceres: Thank you!’ said the president.”

Video clip.

Video: Caceres receives Goldman Environmental Prize, April 19, 2015.

COP28 and environmental defenders, December 7

On Thursday December 7 at 12 pm ET, PBI-Canada is organizing a webinar on COP28 and environmental defenders. At least 1,390 land and environmental defenders have been killed since the COP21 climate summit in Paris in December 2015.

Caceres was killed in March 2016, just weeks after COP21.

Image of Caceres projected on building at COP26 in Glasgow, November 2021.

To register for our webinar on COP28 and environmental defenders, please click here. This webinar will be available in both English and Spanish.

The speakers include Wet’suwet’en land defender Eve Saint, Colombian water protector Yuli Velasquez, Global Witness policy advisor Javier Garate, and Climate Action Network activist Emily Lowan.

On Thursday December 7 at 12 pm ET, PBI-Canada will be hosting a webinar focused on the United Nations COP28 climate summit and the actions it should take to address violence against frontline environmental defenders.

To register for this webinar, click here.

At least 1,390 land and environmental defenders have been killed since the COP21 climate summit in Paris in December 2015.

The United Nations Human Rights Council has affirmed: “Human rights defenders, including environmental human rights defenders, must be ensured a safe and enabling environment to undertake their work free from hindrance and insecurity, in recognition of their important role in supporting States to fulfil their obligations under the Paris Agreement.”

And yet COP declarations have failed to reflect the crucial role of defenders, highlight the importance of their work, or take meaningful steps to enhance their protection.

At the midpoint in the COP28 talks, we ask why and what needs to be done.

Our featured speakers are:

Wet’suwet’en land defender Eve Saint was arrested at gunpoint by RCMP C-IRG officers on February 7, 2020, while peacefully resisting the construction of the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline on her territory in northern British Columbia.

Colombian environmental defender Yuli Velasquez has experienced three armed attacks against her since January 20, 2021, related to her defence of the San Silvestre wetlands near Barrancabermeja that are threatened by an oil refinery, agribusiness and garbage dumps.

Javier Garate is the Washington-based US Policy Advisor on Land and Environmental Defenders at Global Witness. His organization has played a crucial role in documenting the harassment and killing of land and environmental defenders.

Emily Lowan, a Montreal-based climate justice movement activist on Turtle Island and the Fossil Fuel Supply Campaigns Lead at Climate Action Network Canada. She will be in Dubai, United Arab Emirates for the COP28 climate summit.

To register for this webinar, please click here.

On October 30, Association for Research and Social Action (Nomadesc) president Berenice Celeita spoke at the Amnesty International Canada office in Ottawa/Algonquin territory. The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has accompanied Nomadesc since 2011 and Berenice Celeita since 1999.

At this public forum, we offered these comments:

Canada has an enormous economic relationship with Colombia. Canadian companies hold $8 billion of energy assets there and about $1.1 billion of mining assets.

In 2021, about 25 Canadian mining companies had operations in Colombia, and of the 69 oil and gas exploration blocks granted by the Duque government between 2019 and 2021, 39 of those blocks went to four Canadian companies.

PEACEBUILDING

The figures vary, but the Government of Canada says it has contributed about $40 million through its Peace and Stabilization Operations Program (PSOP) since the 2016 Peace Agreement to support peacebuilding efforts in Colombia.

But notably, between 2012 and 2020, Canada has exported a greater amount, more than $47 million, in “military goods” to Colombia. It has also just announced a $418 million contract – almost half-a-billion dollars – to sell 55 Light Armoured Vehicles (LAVs) to the Colombian army. Those LAVs, the same model that Canada sold to Saudi Arabia, will be manufactured by General Dynamics Land Systems in London, Ontario.

We already know that at least one of the Toronto, Ontario-manufactured INKAS armoured vehicles sold to the National Police in 2014 was used by in July 2021 to stop activists en route to a peoples assembly in Cali during the national strike.

And we know that Mirabel, Quebec-manufactured Bell 407 helicopters sold to the police in 2013-14 were used to surveil national strike protests in Cali in 2019.

Furthermore, briefing notes in July 2022 for then Defence Minister Anita Anand indicate that Canada wants to sell more weapons to Colombia and that it was interested in “opportunities related to a new naval base and military headquarters building”.

CANADA-COLOMBIA FREE TRADE AGREEMENT

Despite opposition from Canadian and Colombian civil society, the Canada-Colombia free trade agreement has been in force since August 2011. There is also an agreement to produce an annual report on the human rights impacts of the agreement.

Notably though, this human rights assessment omits investment – significantly in mining and oil and gas – and focuses only on the impacts of tariff reductions.

As such, this report consistently says: “No human rights impacts which could be directly associated with Canada’s tariff reductions.”

Even there with tariff reductions, the Government of Canada does not acknowledge the impacts of increased exports to Colombia and the expansion of the port in Buenaventura that has displaced Afro-Colombian communities.

With respect to investment, Canadian mining companies have USD $1.7 billion in pending investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) claims against Colombia.

And notably, if fracking is prohibited in Colombia, the Calgary, Alberta-based company Parex Resources could launch an additional ISDS challenge given it signed an “exploration and production” contract in September 2014 with the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) for Block VMM-9 in the Magdalena Medio region.

EXPORT DEVELOPMENT CANADA

Since 2012, Export Development Canada has provided $1.4 billion in financing to oil and gas in Colombia. Notably, that support has gone to companies include Parex, Gran Tierra, Canacol and Ecopetrol. Parex received six loans totalling up to $475 million.

Concerns about Parex operations in Colombia have been expressed in relation to the Ibagué aquifer in Tolima, by residents in Cumaral, Meta, and its Aguas Blancas oil field in Simacota, Santander. Canadian oil companies have also been implicated in at least 92 oil spills in Colombia between 2015 and June 2022. Those include Frontera Energy/Pacific Rubiales (56), Gran Tierra (26) and Parex Resources (10).

Export Development Canada now says it will adhere to the Glasgow Statement and that it has ended “new direct financing to international fossil fuel companies”.

However Environmental Defence has raised the concern that the phrasing “international fossil fuel companies” may not close the door on “domestic companies involved in international fossil fuel trade and operations”.

The Government of Canada has also used the word “unabated”, meaning support can still go to fossil fuel companies using carbon capture technology.

While some of this is still unclear, there is still very much the need to be vigilant in the monitoring of EDC support for the extractivist sector in Colombia.

The level of Canadian investment in mining and oil and gas (notably the 39 new exploration blocks), the continued and now increasing sale of Canadian manufactured “military goods”, the corporate rights enshrined in the “free trade” agreement, and the role of Export Development Canada means that we need to continue looking at the intersection points between Canada and human rights violations in Colombia.

Photo: Manuel Jabonero (PBI-Mexico), Mariana Villarreal (REDETI) and Brent Patterson (PBI-Canada) remember Julián Carrillo on Parliament Hill, October 24.

From October 24 to 27, Mariana Azucena Villarreal Frías, the Chihuahua-based coordinator of the Network in Defence of Indigenous Territories of Sierra Tarahumara (REDETI), was in Ottawa. She was accompanied by Manuel Jabonero Prieto, the Mexico City-based advocacy coordinator with the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project.

At a series of meetings, Mariana spoke about the situation of Indigenous peoples in the mountainous Sierra Tarahumara region in the state of Chihuahua in northern Mexico. This includes the Mexican government granting gold and silver mining concessions to Canadian companies without consultation, the ongoing environmental implications of the TC Energy Encino-Topolobampo gas pipeline, and illegal logging, while experiencing forced displacement and the violence of organized crime.

Mariana highlighted the importance of laws that would uphold the Indigenous right to free, prior and informed consent, recognize title to ancestral territory, as well as address forced internal displacement and support those who have been displaced.

Here is an initial overview of their visit to Ottawa:

TUESDAY OCTOBER 24

Mariana and Manuel arrived in Ottawa that afternoon.

Early that evening we were joined by Amnesty International Canada on Parliament Hill to remember Rarámuri land defender Julián Carrillo Martínez.

On that same day, PBI-Mexico accompanied the Sierra Madre Alliance (ASMAC), a member group of REDETI, at the commemoration in Mexico of Julián Carrillo and his fight for land and territory. ASMAC says: “He who fights for life never dies”

Mariana, Manuel and Pat Davis of PBI also commemorated the memory of Julian earlier that day in Washington, DC.

Julian was killed on October 24, 2018. El Heraldo de Chihuahua reported on this anniversary: “In the Sierra Tarahumara, 22 people have been murdered as a result of the defense of the forest, water and natural resources, according to Alianza Sierra Madre, of which 15 are from [the community of] Coloradas de la Vírgen.”

The El Heraldo article also notes: “Despite the fact that on March 12, 2021, one of the perpetrators of the murders of Julián and his son Víctor was sentenced to 48 years in prison, the mastermind and the rest of the perpetrators have still not been captured.”

WENESDAY OCTOBER 25

On this morning we met with the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE), an independent human rights agency formally established by the Government of Canada in May 2019 to examine complaints of alleged human rights abuses committed by Canadian companies operating outside Canada.

The Canadian enterprises that may contribute to exacerbating the human rights situation in the Sierra Tarahumara include the mining companies Vancouver-based Orogen Royalties and Prospero Silver Corp. and Toronto-based Mammoth Resources, as well as the Calgary-based pipeline company TC Energy.

While REDETI is interested in the opportunities presented by this mechanism, they are also aware of the cautions outlined by Canadian civil society.

That afternoon, we met with Kathy Price, the Latin America coordinator for Amnesty International Canada, who is based in Toronto.

Price has previously written: “The assassination [of Julián Carrillo] came just a week after he spoke out against the environmental impacts of a mining concession awarded by authorities to a Canadian mining company without the free, prior and informed consent of the Indigenous people whose lands would be impacted.”

This was a concern also raised by REDETI and other organizations in this statement: “Four mining concessions were granted without guaranteeing the people’s right to their ancestral lands and to consultation: three to individuals and the fourth to the mining company Evrim S.A. de C.V., which belongs to the Canadian group Evrim Resources Corp.”

Evrim merged with Renaissance Gold, Inc. in June 2020 to form Orogen.

THURSDAY OCTOBER 26

On this morning we met with officials from the federal government minister Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada.

We met with them because of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) they signed earlier this year with the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI) in Mexico.

INPI, established in December 2018, is recognized as “the authority of the Federal Executive in matters related to indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples”, creating, defining, executing and coordinating policies and programs to guarantee their rights.

The MOU highlights as an objective: “enabling information-sharing between the Participants and Indigenous Peoples in their respective countries that will facilitate the development of policies, programs, projects and strategies which seek to ensure the exercise and implementation of the rights of Indigenous peoples in their respective countries.”

That afternoon, we met with Leah Gazan, the New Democratic Party (NDP) Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Winnipeg Centre. Gazan is a recognized and vocal defender of Indigenous rights, particularly the right to free, prior and informed consent.

There was also the opportunity that evening to have dinner and meet with Peace Brigades International-Canada Board members Ed Bianchi and Meera Karunananthan to update them on the meetings that had taken place.

FRIDAY OCTOBER 27

Then we met with officials from Global Affairs Canada (GAC) at their office in the Lester B. Pearson Building at 125 Sussex Avenue.

REDETI asked Global Affairs Canada if it could raise with the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs the importance of the Mexican government passing a law to prevent, attend to, and provide comprehensive reparations for internally displaced persons. Mexico’s Congress passed this law in September 2020, but it is currently stalled in the Senate. In 2022, UN Special Rapporteur Cecilia Jimenez-Damary urged “the Mexican government to legislate human rights guarantees for internally displaced persons and to allocate adequate funding for their protection and durable solutions.”

Then in the afternoon, we met with NDP Member of Parliament Lori Idlout. We met with her via Zoom because she was in her home riding of Iqaluit, Nunavut. Idlout is the NDP Critic for Indigenous Services; Northern Affairs; Crown-Indigenous Relations.

We also took a moment to stop outside Export Development Canada (EDC),

EDC is a Crown corporation wholly owned by the Government of Canada. It provides financing to Canadian companies operating abroad (and uniquely within Canada as well). EDC has extensive relationships with close to 20 of the largest Mexican corporations, including Pemex and the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (FCE). It is headquartered in Ottawa and has operated a regional office in Mexico since 2000.

We had asked for a meeting with them but were declined. REDETI still hopes to be able to meet with them to be able to share concerns about the financing they provide and the ramifications this may have on Indigenous rights in the Sierra Tarahumara.

Given Export Development Canada has identified Mexico as a “priority market” and given its stated commitment to “human rights risk management [includes gathering] feedback from stakeholders to continue to strengthen our practices”, we trust there will the space at some point for REDETI to share its input with them.

In the coming weeks, we hope to be able to meet with MiningWatch Canada, as well as Members of Parliament Heather McPherson (the NDP Critic for Foreign Affairs) and Laurel Collins (the NDP Critic for the Environment and Climate Change) to continue these conversations. We have also been invited to share information with Green Party Member of Parliament Mike Morrice.

PBI-Canada will continue to follow all these issues raised by REDETI and PBI-Mexico in Ottawa.

Social media

Further reading

PBI-Canada to help REDETI commemorate the 5th anniversary of the murder of Rarámuri land defender Julián Carrillo (October 13, 2023)

PBI-Canada to host the Network in Defense of Indigenous Territories of Sierra Tarahumara (REDETI) in Ottawa (October 10, 2023)

PBI-Canada seeks meeting with Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada on MOU with Mexico (October 21, 2023)

What has been the environmental impact of the TC Energy Encino-Topolobampo pipeline in Chihuahua, Mexico? (October 20, 2023)

Last month, Peace Brigades International-Canada, along with allies including Above Ground and the Mining Injustice Solidarity Network, accompanied and sought to amplify the resistance of Wet’suwet’en and Otomi land defenders to the Coastal GasLink and Tuxpan-Tula fracked gas pipelines being built on their territories without consent by the Calgary-based Canadian transnational TC Energy.

The Coastal GasLink pipeline route traverses about 190 kilometres of Wet’suwet’en territory in northern British Columbia, crossing wetlands, cultural sites and the Wedzin Kwa river. The Tuxpan-Tula pipeline is a 287-kilometre project (of which 58 kilometres has not yet been constructed) that crosses Indigenous lands and communities beginning in Tuxpan, Veracruz to Tula, Hidalgo northwest of Mexico City.

Saturday October 14

March in Toronto

We participated in a march in Toronto that included stops at TC Energy (200 Bay Street, 24^th Floor, Royal Bank Plaza – North Tower) and the Alberta Investment Management Corporation/AIMCo (First Canadian Place, 100 King Street West).

In December 2019, almost a full year after the first militarized RCMP Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) raid on Wet’suwet’en territory, AIMCo, “on behalf of certain of its clients, and in partnership with KKR”, acquired a combined 65 per cent equity interest in the Coastal GasLink pipeline from TC Energy.

Outside the TC Energy office, Wet’suwet’en land defender Sleydo’ told the hundreds gathered on Bay Street: “Seeing all of you here today is inspirational to me. It helps us keep going, even in the face of the kind of repression that we are experiencing in our own territories, in our own homes, in our own ancient village sites. We have to stand with our relatives across Turtle Island and around the world. An attack on one is an attack on all.”

Monday October 16

Meeting with Export Development Canada in Ottawa

Then in Ottawa, we accompanied with Georgina Alonso of Above Ground and Anna Zalik from York University, Otomi land defender Don Salvador Aparicio Olvera, Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Na’Moks, Wet’suwet’en land defender Eve Saint, along with Dr. Eliana Acosta Marquez and Clarissa Torreblanca of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) to a meeting with Export Development Canada (EDC).

An analysis by The Globe and Mail newspaper found that EDC, a Crown corporation wholly owned by the Government of Canada, has provided TransCanada Pipelines (now TC Energy) with a minimum of $1 billion in funding between 2001 and the end of 2020.

Notably, EDC signed an agreement with TC Energy to lend between $250 million and $500 million for the Coastal GasLink pipeline. At that time, EDC spokesperson Jessica Draker said that the loan was approved after a “rigorous due diligence review.”

EDC also approved the financing despite acknowledging “the project continues to be opposed by a group of hereditary chiefs from the Wet’suwet’en First Nation, who claim to be the legitimate decision-makers of this nation, not to have been duly consulted and not to have consented to the project.”

EDC also stated: “[EDC believes TC Energy] has demonstrated a great ability to manage environmental and social risks.”

Subsequently, TC Energy has been fined by provincial authorities more than $800,000 for non-compliance with environmental regulations. Most recently, TC Energy was fined $340,000 was issued for “deficiencies with erosion and sediment control measures” and $6,000 for “providing false and misleading information”.

Despite this, EDC continues its relationship with the company.

Meeting with the CORE

That afternoon, the delegation also met with two representatives from the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE).

The CORE says: “We review complaints about possible human rights abuses by Canadian companies when those companies work outside Canada in the garment, mining, and oil and gas sectors.”

The situation with the Tuxpan-Tula pipeline was raised in the meeting, as was the Coastal GasLink pipeline on Wet’suwet’en territory (within Canada, but a sovereign nation).

The Canadian Network on Corporation Accountability has advised impacted communities to “approach with caution” the CORE (which the delegation did).

And Tavia Grant from The Globe and Mail recently reported: “In seven of the eight preliminary reports the CORE has released so far – all of which focus on the alleged use of forced labour in China – the assessments show the companies in question have either given incomplete answers, not responded, failed to respond to meeting requests, or stopped engaging in the process altogether.”

That article quotes Georgina Alonso from Above Ground who comments: “We know that voluntary regulatory mechanisms don’t really work in the pursuit of corporate compliance and accountability.”

Public Forum

And that evening, the delegation spoke at a public forum that took place at the University of Ottawa. Close to 100 people had pre-registered for the in-person event, with another 75 people registering for the online Zoom presentation of the forum.

The event included an opening by Algonquin Elder and University of Ottawa Chancellor Claudette Commanda who shared the struggle of her people against a radioactive waste disposal site proposed by Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) to be located 190 kilometres northwest of Ottawa on Algonquin territory.

Video clips shown at the forum included excerpts from Invasion and La Lucha de la Sierra Norte de Puebla Ante el Gasoducto Tuxpan-Tula.

Tuesday October 17

Meeting with Global Affairs Canada

In the morning, the delegation met with two representatives of the Responsible Business Conduct (RBC) unit at Global Affairs Canada (GAC).

GAC RBC liaises with the Canadian Embassy in Mexico.

And yet when the Mexican government raised concerns in August 2019 about seven pipelines, including the Tuxpan-Tula pipeline, former Canadian ambassador Pierre Alarie commented: “I am deeply concerned by the actions of the CFE (Federal Electricity Commission) and the signal they send that … Mexico will not respect the gas pipeline contracts.”

The Canadian Embassy in Mexico has also been implicated in the assassination of land defender Mariano Abarca on November 27, 2009.

Abarca had led peaceful protests against the environmental impacts of a barite mine in Chicomuselo, Chiapas operated by Calgary-based Blackfire Exploration Ltd.

MiningWatch Canada says: “The Abarca family believes that the role of the Canadian embassy in Mexico, including to pressure Chiapas authorities on behalf of Blackfire to quell protests when Canadian officials knew that Mariano was being criminalized and threatened, put his life at greater risk.”

Furthermore, Canada has exported more than $18.9 million in military goods to Mexico over the last five years (2018 to 2022). This is in a context where there have been 322 attacks against human rights defenders in Mexico between January 2015 and December 2022 and where 31 land and environmental defenders were killed in 2022 alone. Mexican security forces have been implicated in violence against human rights defenders.

Meeting with Mike Morrice, MP

And that afternoon, the delegation met with Green Party Member of Parliament Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre) on a picnic bench outside his Confederation Building office just next to the Parliament Buildings.

Morrice was familiar with the Wet’suwet’en struggle and asked for more information about the resistance to the Tuxpan-Tula pipeline. We will be sending him a package of information, that will include this 7-minute video “La Lucha de la Sierra Norte de Puebla Ante el Gasoducto Tuxpan-Tula” (with English narration).

We will continue to follow closely the resistance of the Wet’suwet’en and Otomi (and Nahua and Mixtec) to TC Energy pipelines on their territories.

For more, please see:

United Against TC Energy: Hundreds in Toronto Stand With Wet’suwet’en, Nahua, Otomi and Mixtec Land Defenders Resisting Colonial Violence (World Beyond War, October 15, 2023)

Wet’suwet’en and Otomi land defenders to speak in Ottawa about their resistance to TC Energy pipelines (PBI-Canada, September 30, 2023)

Social media overview

We gratefully acknowledge the work of everyone in organizing this advocacy intervention, notably Anna Zalik who initiated this collaboration.