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PBI-Canada remains attentive to the People’s Front ongoing struggle for justice for Samir Flores Soberanes following acquittal

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: PBI-Canada and PBI-Mexico at gathering outside the home of Samir Flores in Amilcingo; Friday February 20, 2026.

On February 19, 2026, PBI-Canada alongside PBI-Mexico accompanied a rally in Mexico City demanding justice for murdered Indigenous Nahuatl land and environmental defender Samir Flores Soberanes.

The following day, February 20, we were present in Amilcingo, Morelos, for the mass outside his home, a march past his radio station that went to the community’s primary school (named in his honour) and then back to his home for a meal, on the seventh anniversary of his assassination.

This excerpt of a lengthy social media post from March 14, 2026, by the People’s Front in Defence of Land and Water says:

“ALMOST 4 YEARS FROM THE BEGINNING OF THIS TRIAL, GIVES ABSOLUTION TO THE ONLY DETAINED AS ALLEGED GUILTY OF THE MURDER OF SAMIR FLORES

Yesterday, March 13, 2026, the federal judge issued a sentence on the only detainee as presumed guilty of the murder of our colleague Samir Flores Soberanes. On the one hand, the judge acknowledged that it was demonstrated in the present trial, that there was a mobile to murder SAMIR: his social activism before the Integral Morelos Project and for his complaints as a community communicator.”

On March 14, El Pais reported: “The only detainee of the three alleged perpetrators identified for the murder of activist Samir Flores has been acquitted. After a little more than a month of judicial process, …a judge… in the State of Morelos considered that the evidence and testimonies did not prove the defendant’s participation in the crime that occurred seven years ago.”

Proceso notes: “The resolution was issued after a judicial process that lasted for four years against the defendant.”

La Jornada adds: “The People’s Front in Defense of Land, Water and Air of Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala denounced that the judge, in addition to acquitting the only detainee for the murder of Samir Flores Soberanes, recognized in the trial ‘that there was a motive to murder Samir: his social activism against the Morelos Integral Project and for his complaints as a community communicator.’ For this reason, they demanded that the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Crimes against Freedom of Expression (Feadle) of the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) carry out a serious investigation to find the real material and intellectual perpetrators of Samir’s murder, which occurred on February 20, 2019 outside his home in Amilcingo, municipality of Temoac. Morelos.”

In another La Jornada article, Juan Carlos Flores Solis, the lawyer for the People’s Front, says: “This ruling not only acquits him, but also shows the deficiencies and the possible cover-up and fabrication that was carried out by the Morelos Prosecutor’s Office in the theory of the case on Samir’s murder.”

An Animal Politico article also quotes Flores stating: “The judge agreed with us that it seems that the inefficient investigation of the Morelos prosecutor’s office was intended to cover up those who committed the murder of Samir or that the truth was not reached. …The only certainty that we have been able to verify in this trial is the inefficiency and bad faith that the Morelos prosecutor’s office had in this investigation.”

Proceso further reports: “The victims’ legal counsel maintained that the investigation should be expanded to investigate both the alleged perpetrators and those who would have ordered the murder. Among the people they consider should be called to testify or investigated are state prosecutor Uriel Carmona; the former governor of Morelos Cuauhtémoc Blanco; the politician Hugo Eric Flores Cervantes; as well as Valentina Lavín and Angelina Zamora, former treasurer who is detained for alleged links to organized crime. They also pointed out that the role of speeches or political decisions during the consultation of the energy project should be investigated, including by then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.”

After the acquittal, Flores Solis said: “It is a call to the Mexican State, society and the international community to be attentive and vigilant, and to activate investigations that allow us to reach the truth.”

At PBI-Canada we continue to be attentive and vigilant to this case.

Accompaniment

At PBI-Canada we also continue to highlight that the FPDTA-MPT has linked the Morelos Integral Project (PIM) megaproject that Samir Flores Soberanes and the People’s Front oppose to Toronto-based Alamos Gold and its Esperanza mine. In November 2020, they posted: “[Mexican president] Lopez Obrador’s [support for the PIM] betrays the peasant and the promise of change of his government, to favour transnational corporations [including] Canadian miners like Alamos Gold.”

Peace Brigades International has accompanied the People’s Front of Land, Water and Air of Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala since early 2020.

The Peace Brigades International community remembers the life and work of Joan (Joke) Edenburg

By
Brent Patterson
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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

By Marianna Tzabiras and Steve Molnar

The Peace Brigades International community is saddened by the recent passing of Joan (Joke) Edenburg, on February 6, 2026.

She was based in the Netherlands, but her heart was with Turtle Island and she became a passionate supporter of PBI’s work in this region.

As a professional archivist, she was instrumental in collecting and cataloguing all the documentation on PBI’s founding and the various projects around the world. Her legacy lives on in the extensive historical records, which are being stored at McMaster University, in Hamilton, Ontario.

-by Marianna Tzabiras.

Steve Molnar, formerly of PBI USA, writes eloquently about his experiences working with Joke.

In Memory of Joan (Joke) Edenburg

Joke and I worked closely together in the 1990s and 2000s on the North America Project (NAP) Committee, the International Personnel Committee, and the International Council. It brings me great joy and sadness to reflect on her and our experiences together.

Joke was so dedicated to the work of Peace Brigades International, to nonviolence, to caring. She was a thoughtful problem-solver, humble, hardworking, and collaborative. She paid attention to details and was always good at following through.

Joke also enjoyed playing, laughing, and carrying on late into the night. She was a joyful person, so alive.

We worked together on the North America Project, inventing a project from scratch, using PBI’s experience in a new context.  Much time was spent reaching out to others, visiting Indigenous communities to listen, setting up a viable project, and keeping the work going. We had so many good experiences with that work.

I remember our time together at Birdsfoot Farm in Canton, NY, doing trainings and preparation for the project.  The initial work was a collaboration between people from PBI-Canada and PBI-USA, and then, others from Europe joined in as well.  Some of the early starters included Alaine Hawkins (Central America Project, PBI-Canada), Phyllis Fischer (PBI-Canada), Alan Dixon (PBI-Canada), Anne Harrison (PBI-UK), Ulli Laubenthal (PBI-Germany), and so many more.

Joke got a laugh about us being on the NAP committee, as if we had the leisure to take a nap.

In the early years, some of our closest ties were with the Mohawk and Innu. We learned so much from these communities about the structural violence and racism, and we grew stronger as a project and a committee with each of these visits.

At the same time, the project struggled for funding and even full recognition within PBI. Joke was there through thick and thin, dedicated to carrying out the work.  It was with a heavy heart that we decided to close the project after ten years.  Over this time, 94 volunteers from 11 country groups were involved in the project. Joke chronicled the project’s contributions in a book she compiled, Making Space for Peace.

Making Space for Peace.

Joke and I later found ourselves as a two-person team on the International Personnel Committee.  We came to the International Office (IO) in London to find challenging staff dynamics and very few policies to guide us.  Over the next few years, Joke and I researched suitable personnel policies and reached out to Josie Kiernan (PBI-UK) for professional help. We built a consensus with the IO and the International Council (IC) to approve and implement the new policies. And then, from there, we were assisting projects that were in need of policy.

Our work with Helen Yuill and Laura Clark at the IO was always so intense and meaningful.  We listened to the issues, provided support, served as a liaison between the IO and IC, and helped work through everything going on in that office.  We had a stellar staff.  It was an honor to contribute to this work.

Joke and I were very involved in the IC’s work, attending conference calls and face-to-face meetings, joining special committees, and planning the triennial General Assembly meetings. There were so many good people working so hard to support the work of the projects and PBI. It was always challenging to work through budgets and practical problems and to reach consensus.

We had so many meetings with IC members, project coordinators, and IO staff. Face-to-face meetings were also an opportunity to meet with the IO staff in our role on the Personnel Committee. We worked together to create work plans in an environment of big dreams and a limited budget. In addition to the IC’s work supporting the projects, we were also working on a restructuring plan for the organization.

Joke and I enjoyed each other’s company and the work we shared. We had thousands of emails between ourselves and people throughout the organization.  We visited each other on both sides of the ocean and were involved in meetings, drama, and PBI business.  It was a pleasure to work with her.

I found myself thinking of Joke just before I heard she had passed away.  I can only imagine her spirit was waving at me. Joke is deep in my heart.

I am honored to have known her.

-by Steve Molnar.

To make a donation to Peace Brigades International in honour of Joan (Joke) Edenburg, please click here.

PBI-Honduras meets with Guapinol community to discuss security situation and the defence of the Guapinol River from mining

By
Brent Patterson
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On March 13, the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project posted on social media:

“The community of Guapinol (Tocoa, Colón) welcomed us to discuss the security situation in the area and the work being done to #defend the land and the river. At PBI, we reiterate the importance of ensuring that the #protection measures granted to members of the community and the Tocoa Municipal Committee for the Defence of Common and Public Goods are upheld.”

Juan López

Environmental defender Juan López was a member of the Municipal Committee for the Defence of Common and Public Goods (CMDBCPT).

Infobae reports: “López was killed on September 14, 2024, inside his vehicle after leaving a church in the city of Tocoa, despite having precautionary measures granted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).”

Eighteen months later

Today, March 14, 2026, the ERIC-SJ Reflection, Research and Communication Team, “a multidisciplinary team made up of people who, hand in hand with the communities, want a better country to live in peace in accordance with the Catholic values of the Society of Jesus”, posted on social media:

“Eighteen months after Juan López’s murder, the wound remains open and justice is still nowhere to be seen. The case is sinking into the shadows of impunity, whilst the silence of the Public Prosecutor’s Office is crushing the hopes of those demanding the truth and punishment for those responsible.

Meanwhile, the threats that Juan reported continue to mount. The shadow of mining exploitation looms ever larger, and the implementation of Decree 18-2024 seems increasingly distant. This is not merely an unsolved case; it is about the defence of life, of the land, and of communities’ right to protect their environment.

Remembering Juan also means continuing his struggle.

Justice for Juan López.

Justice for the environmental cause he defended.”

Inversiones Los Pinares

An investigative report by Contra Corriente and Drilled reveals that U.S.-based Nucor maintained a relationship with Inversiones Los Pinares, the company behind a controversial mining megaproject in Honduras, at least until September 30, 2023, despite having claimed to have ended their ties in October 2019.

Investors in Nucor have included the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (an institutional investor that manages the Québec Pension Plan), the Royal Bank of Canada, the Bank of Montreal, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

PBI-Canada visits

Photo: PBI-Canada visited Tocoa and Guapinol on October 29-30, 2024.

Photo: On October 30, 2024, PBI-Canada visited Guapinol and saw the pelletizing plant associated with the Los Pinares megaproject.

Accompaniment

Peace Brigades International has accompanied Municipal Committee for the Defence of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa (CMDBCPT) processes and Guapinol River defenders since January 2019.

We continue to follow this.

PBI-Canada continues to monitor the pending FIDs for major projects, the implications for land and environmental defenders

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: On August 22, 2024, the Gitanyow closed a road on their territory to stop the construction of the PRGT pipeline.

Wet’suwet’en, Gitanyow and Gitxsan land and environmental defenders on unceded territories in northern British Columbia, Canada, oppose the proposed Phase 2 expansion of LNG Canada that would require new compressor stations for the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline on Wet’suwet’en territory, as well as the Ksi Lisims LNG megaproject that would see the construction of the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline on Gitanyow and Gitxsan territories.

The Globe and Mail now reports: “Shell and four other LNG Canada co-owners are expected to make a final investment decision by the end of this year on whether to forge ahead with Phase 2 expansion plans, which would require increased capacity from the 670-kilometre Coastal GasLink pipeline.”

In early-January, the Vancouver Sun had reported: “Rebecca Scott, a spokesperson for Western LNG] said Ksi Lisims is in advanced discussions with lenders as part of considerations for the all-important final decision. The partners had hoped to hit that milestone by the end of 2025. They won’t, but it will be close. …Scott said they expect final pieces to fall in place by the end of March, but ‘everything is positive’ for a final investment decision over the winter.”

By mid-February, The Globe and Mail echoed that a decision could be close. It reported: “Ksi Lisims is expected to make a final investment decision in 2026 whether to forge ahead with Pearse Island development.”

Major Projects

The Globe and Mail further reports: “Prime Minister Mark Carney, as part of his quest to make Canada an energy superpower, announced last September that LNG Canada’s Phase 2 expansion plan to double its capacity made the list of major projects of national interest to be considered for fast-tracking. Mr. Carney subsequently said Ksi Lisims near Pearse Island has been added by Ottawa to the growing roster of plans submitted to the Major Projects Office, which was announced in August to expedite a wide range of developments.”

It is not clear what this recommended fast-tracking means in terms of specific timelines, if approval by the Major Projects Office would precede the final investment decision, or how this will all unfold.

Injunctions, surveillance, violence

There is reasonable clarity, however, that resistance by Indigenous land and environmental defenders against these extractive megaprojects on their territories is likely to be met with court injunctions (prohibiting “obstruction” of construction), surveillance and harassment by private security, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Critical Response Unit-British Columbia (CRU-BC) and perhaps even by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), as well as militarized raids.

All of this has been seen before.

It also seems evident so far that no meaningful measures have been implemented to address the RCMP violence seen against land and environmental defenders in raids on Wet’suwet’en territory in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

More than three years after it was launched, the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC) systemic investigation into the RCMP Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) – the previous name of the CRU-BC – appears stalled.

In January, the CRCC told PBI-Canada: “We anticipate providing an update on the status of the systemic investigation in March.”

PBI-Canada continues to follow news reports about the final investment decisions of the Phase 2 and Ksi Lisims megaprojects, the CRCC investigation of the RCMP C-IRG, and is attentive to the safety, security and holistic protective accompaniment needs of Indigenous land and environmental defenders.

Mexican trade delegation to visit Canada on May 7-9; the call to strengthen the Protection Mechanism continues

By
Brent Patterson
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Video still: Cameron MacKay, Ambassador of Canada to Mexico, speaks at the announcement of the trade mission to Canada.

CBC News reports: “A Mexican trade delegation is scheduled to launch a three city tour in Canada at the beginning of May that will also include bilateral trade talks between government officials, Mexico’s secretary of economy announced Thursday [March 12]. Secretary of Economy Marcelo Ebrard said the delegation would visit Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver between May 7 and 9.”

The article adds: “Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Secretary Juan Ramón de la Fuente said the upcoming trade mission to Canada is another step in strengthening the relationship between the two countries, building on a series of recent high-level visits — including Sheinbaum’s attendance at the G7 meeting last June in Kananaskis, Alta., and Prime Minister Mark Carney’s trip to Mexico in September. …Mexico’s planned visit [also] follows one of the largest Canadian trade missions ever in February which touched down in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey.”

EFE also reports: “The tour will cover 10 sectors: infrastructure, agribusiness, patents and innovation, creative industries, investment funds, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, logistics, education and energy. The plan also contemplates facilitating regulatory approvals, accelerating patents, bringing Mexican startups closer to venture capital funds and creating a one-stop shop for SMEs between the two countries.”

Alicia Bárcena, the Secretary of the Environment for Mexico, was at this event.

El Ciudadano.mx notes: “Bárcena stressed that there is potential for mixed investments in the energy sector, particularly to expand renewable generation and move towards the national goal of 40% clean energy by 2030. He also expressed interest in learning about Canada’s experiences in the circular economy, especially in the management of waste, tires and plastics. The official stressed that environmental cooperation also includes the protection of the monarch butterfly, a species that inhabits protected natural areas in both countries. This joint work is part of the conservation actions that Mexico and Canada have maintained for decades.”

That article further reports: “In the economic sphere, Bárcena pointed out that there are currently 320 mining projects of Canadian origin in Mexico, operated by 128 companies present in 24 states of the country, which reflects the weight of this relationship in the extractive sector.”

Strengthening the Protection Mechanism

The sectors that will be highlighted in this trade mission – including infrastructure, agribusiness and energy – can bring risks for organizations, defenders and communities who raise concerns about their human rights and environmental impacts, as well as to the journalists who report these stories.

PBI-Canada, alongside PBI-Mexico and the Civil Society Space of Organizations (Espacio OSC), continues to highlight the importance of strengthening the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists in Mexico.

It is in this context that we recall the Government of Canada has called for the strengthening of the Protection Mechanism during the United Nations (UN) Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Mexico in January 2024.

At that time, Canada recommended that Mexico: “Strengthen, from an intersectional and gender perspective, the federal Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, specifically in the areas of prevention, protection, investigation, and reparation.”

The Carney Doctrine and responsible business conduct

We also recall that in early-February of this year, the Canadian Press reported: “[Randeep Sarai, the secretary of state for international development] says Ottawa wants to focus its international assistance efforts on countries that can generate economic spinoffs for Canadians.”

And just yesterday, former Liberal MP John McKay and former Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise Sheri Meyerhoffer wrote in The Hill Times: “Canada’s competitive strategy will no longer rest solely on trade access, natural resources, or capital markets. It will depend increasingly on how well we govern the social, environmental, technological, and geopolitical risks that shape economic performance.”

McKay and Meyerhoffer highlight: “Effective human rights’ due diligence is effective risk management.”

The ask for international cooperation

Prime Minister Carney’s statement of September 18, 2025, on the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Mexico pledged “$9.9 million in funding for United Nations-led projects to support migrant integration initiatives in Mexico and combat the illicit production and trafficking of fentanyl.”

When PBI-Mexico accompanied Espacio OSC at meetings with Members of Parliament and Global Affairs Canada officials in Ottawa in September 2025, it was suggested that similar international cooperation to strengthen the Protection Mechanism for human rights defenders and journalists would be welcomed.

Human Rights Dialogue in May

The Mexican trade delegation is likely to precede the Mexico-Canada Dialogue on Human Rights and Multilateral Issues that is expected, according to the Embassy of Canada in Mexico, to take place after mid-May in Ottawa.

We remain attentive to this upcoming Dialogue as well.

We continue to follow this.

Further reading: PBI-Canada and PBI-Mexico meet with the Embassy of Canada in Mexico to highlight the need to strengthen the Protection Mechanism (February 27, 2026).

PBI-Canada seeks strengthened protection for human rights defenders who advocate for labour rights, the right of association

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: PBI-Canada and PBI-Mexico highlighted the importance of strengthening the Protection Mechanism at a meeting with the Embassy of Canada in Mexico City on February 27, 2026.

Peace Brigades International-Canada recognizes trade union activists as human rights defenders and seeks increased protection for them.

This includes strengthening protections such as the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists in Mexico, as well as the Rapid Response Mechanism within the Canada-U.S. Mexico Agreement.

Labour activists are human rights defenders (HRDs)

The Global Affairs Canada Voices at Risk: Canada’s Guidelines on Supporting Human Rights Defenders notes: “HRDs sometimes focus on specific categories of rights or the rights of specific persons. They may seek to promote and protect civil and political rights, as well as economic, social and cultural rights. They may also … focus on specific themes such as labour rights.”

The Voices at Risk guidelines also highlights: “Women HRDs standing for [a range of rights including] labour rights face greater risk of intimidation, harassment and violence by state or non-state actors, local authorities, anti-government elements, and private sector entities…”

Rapid Response Mechanism

We note that the United Steelworkers (USW) has recently highlighted: “Canadian Steelworkers joined allies from the U.S. and Mexico in February to strategize on how to secure stronger labour rights in advance of a planned review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).”

The USW then notes: “Participants from the three countries arrived at a common position on how to improve labour rights under the CUSMA. This includes strengthening the Rapid Response Mechanism, whereby workers in Mexico can file complaints of violations of their rights to unionize or to collectively bargain, against employers that export to the U.S. or Canada.”

Orla Mining Ltd. in Zacatecas, Mexico

In November 2024, the Financial Post reported: “The United Steelworkers union (USW) has filed a complaint under the Canada United States Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) on behalf of workers at a Canadian-owned mine in Mexico who have faced assaults and death threats after they joined an independent union.”

“This complaint calls for an independent panel to investigate and address violations of workers’ rights at the Camino Rojo gold and silver mine in Zacatecas, Mexico, which is owned by Vancouver-based Orla Mining Ltd.”

The article further notes: “The Mexican government has formally recognized Los Mineros as the legal bargaining agent for workers at the Camino Rojo mine. However, the mine’s Canadian owner, Orla Mining, has pressured workers to instead join a pro-employer ‘protection’ union. Over the summer, workers at Camino Rojo reported being intimidated with violence, threats of dismissal and eventually death threats due to their membership in Los Mineros. In the most-recent escalation, armed gunmen broke into the home of Jaime Pulido Leon, a local union leader at the mine.”

By June 2025, The Tyee reported: “The allegations have not yet been tested in court, but the union’s case is being reviewed by three authorities: Mexico’s Supreme Court, the Canadian government and an international panel established by the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, or CUSMA, which replaced the previous North American Free Trade Agreement in 2020. The case promises to test the panel as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens to tear up the agreement — and underscores a pattern of human rights breaches by Canadian mining companies operating in Mexico.”

Protection Mechanisms

PBI-Canada is currently analyzing the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists in Mexico in relation to union activists.

Our understanding is that neither the Protection Law nor the Mechanism Regulations limit the access of trade unionists to the Mechanism. As long as their defence of human rights is framed, for example in the right of association, they can enter the Mechanism. However, challenges can arise given non-independent protection unions have been linked with political parties and structures of corruption.

We continue to pursue more information about this.

Overall situation in Mexico

The 2025 ITUC GLOBAL RIGHTS INDEX THE WORLD’S WORST COUNTRIES FOR WORKERS (May 2025) gives Mexico a Rating of 3 noting “regular violations of rights”.

NEXT: Upcoming webinar prior to Mexico-Canada Dialogue

Look for a webinar this spring where we will continue to amplify this message in advance of the Mexico-Canada Dialogue on Human Rights and Multilateral Issues that will take place in Ottawa in the second half of May 2026.

Further reading

–PBI-Canada and PBI-Mexico meet with the Embassy of Canada in Mexico to highlight the need to strengthen the Protection Mechanism (PBI-Canada article, February 27, 2026)

–Initial research survey on the inclusion of union activists in Protection Mechanisms for human rights defenders and journalists (PBI-Canada article, January 23, 2026).

Canadian House of Commons vote defeats Bill C-233 that linked arms exports to human rights abuses

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Image from CPAC via CPJME.

On Wednesday March 11, Members of Parliament (MP) defeated Bill C-233, the No Loopholes Act proposed by the New Democratic Party (NDP).

The NDP had said the Bill sought to close the “loopholes in Canada’s arms export laws allow Canadian-made weapons and components to end up in the hands of governments accused of war crimes and human rights abuses.”

CBC News now reports: “An NDP private member’s bill that would have ended exemptions from Canada’s export-control regime for weapons and ammunition destined for the U.S. failed to pass at the House of Commons on Wednesday, though it garnered the support of 15 Liberal MPs who sided against their government.”

That article adds: “Green Party Leader Elizabeth May also voted for the bill, and the Conservatives and Bloc Québécois voted against it. Twenty-three MPs did not vote, including 15 Liberals.”

The Canadian Press further reports: “MPs rejected Bill C-233 in a vote on second reading on Wednesday, with 295 voting against it, and 22 voting in favour. That means the legislation is dead and will not be sent to a committee for study.”

That article also explained: “Ottawa and Washington have a defence production agreement that allows shipments of Canadian arms to the U.S. — including shipments purchased by Washington — to effectively avoid the detailed review typically required to get an arms export permit.”

Kelsey Gallagher, a senior researcher at the non-profit Project Ploughshares, told Canadian Affairs: “The US is not a State Party to the [Arms Trade Treaty] and therefore has significantly weaker safeguards when transferring military systems abroad. Canadian munitions have been exported to other states through the US that Canadian policy would have barred if they were exported directly.”

The Hansard record of the 295 to 22 vote can be seen here.

We continue to follow this.

Further reading:

–Bill C-233 in Canada would complement the Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act in the protection of defenders (PBI-Canada article, December 5, 2025)

–Situating Bill C-233 within Canada’s Arms Control Framework (Project Plougshares article by Kelsey Gallagher, November 24, 2025)

–Transparency in the supply chain of weapons components could help uphold international obligations, protect human rights defenders (PBI-Canada article, August 21, 2025).

PBI-Colombia accompanies CREDHOS on Verification Commission in the communities of Puerto Matilde and Tamar Bajo

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo by CREDHOS.

The Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS) has posted on social media:

“We participated in the Verification Commission for the communities of Puerto Matilde and Tamar Bajo, in the Cimitarra River Valley, convened by the Magdalena Medio Humanitarian Roundtable, with the purpose of verifying the humanitarian situation of the communities of Puerto Matilde and Tamar Bajo, Jurisdiction of Remedios, Antioquia, in light of the recent armed confrontations between armed actors.

Various social organizations that are part of the Humanitarian Roundtable also participated in this commission, as well as international support organizations, multilateral agencies, and state institutions.

It is important to remember that the community of Puerto Matilde had already been displaced in mid-2025, when a large part of its inhabitants were forced to leave the territory, and at the beginning of this year there were new displacements.

The communities complain that the State has not provided sufficient guarantees for their permanence and that, on the contrary, some actions by the security forces are putting the civilian population at risk.

Families have had to abandon their homes due to the lack of guarantees for their continued presence in the territory, while armed groups, particularly the Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia, continue to have a strong presence in the village.

The inhabitants of the territory express their concern: ‘No matter how hard we have tried to remain in the territory, guarantees have not been given.’”

Peace Brigades International has accompanied CREDHOS since 1994.

Photo by IAP.

PBI expresses concern about the repression of human rights defenders in Ecuador, Canadian groups call for “Voices at Risk” to be implemented

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: “On February 3, the FOA and more than 100 community members met with Ambassador Kowalik during a public assembly in Cuenca to share their concerns regarding the Canadian mining project and the proposed FTA with Canada.”

Peace Brigades International has joined with other organizations to “express our grave concern about the situation of repression and human rights violations, particularly against human rights defenders as well as Indigenous Peoples and Nationalities, ‘campesino’ and Afro-descendant communities, women and young people, and civil society organisations that make up the social fabric of Ecuador.”

The statement highlights: “The implementation of a securitized policy and the normalisation of states of emergency, surveillance and militarisation under the pretext of addressing a serious structural security crisis, as well as the erosion of judicial independence and the rule of law.”

And the signatory organizations say: “The international community must reinforce its monitoring of the situation of human rights and environmental defenders, provide assistance to strengthen the rights system, and offer direct support to civil society as a whole.”

Additionally, this week “Seventy-seven Ecuadorian, Canadian, and international civil society organizations and coalitions have sent a formal letter to the Canadian Ambassador to Ecuador, Craig Kowalik, urging the Canadian Embassy to implement Canada’s Voices at Risk: Canada’s Guidelines on Supporting Human Rights Defenders in response to the criminalization of Indigenous and environmental defenders from the Federation of Indigenous and Campesino Organizations of Azuay (FOA, Federación de Organizaciones lndigenas y Campesinas del Azuay).”

“FOA members are facing criminal proceedings for their environmental defense work to safeguard the Kimsakocha páramo from the Loma Larga gold mining project, owned by Canadian mining company DPM Metals Inc.”

The letter states: “The Canadian embassy must prioritize human rights and the rights of nature over the interests of Canadian mining companies in the country.”

We continue to follow this.

PBI-Guatemala attends the 14th anniversary of the La Puya mine blockade, PBI-Canada recalls the role of Radius Gold

By
Brent Patterson
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The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project has posted on social media:

“Yesterday [March 8] we attended the 14th anniversary of the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya.

Hundreds of residents and friends of the Resistance gathered for recreational activities and to share their commitment to the fight against mining and corruption. They also celebrated last December’s arbitration ruling, which rejected the mining company’s claim against Guatemala, thanks to the Resistance’s participation in the process.”

Vancouver-based Radius Gold

The story of the Peaceful Resistance begins with the Vancouver, Canada-based mining company Radius Gold securing an exploitation licence from the Guatemalan Ministry of Energy and Mines in 2011.

Prensa Comunitaria has explained: “In 2011, the MEM [Ministry of Energy and Mines] issued an exploitation license to the entity Exploraciones Mineras de Guatemala [the Guatemalan subsidiary of Vancouver-based Radius Gold], called Progreso VII Derivada, for the exploitation of gold and silver in an area located between the municipalities of San José del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc, without consulting the communities. There are Kaqchikel and Xinka indigenous people in the area, who opposed the project from the beginning.”

On March 2, 2012, residents from San José del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc – an area known as La Puya, about 30 kilometres north of Guatemala City – set up a 24-hour a day blockade at the entrance of the Radius Gold Inc. owned El Tambor mine also known as the Progreso VII Derivada mine.

By August 2012, the Canadian company sold El Tambor to US-based Kappes, Cassiday & Associates, but retained an economic interest in the mine (including quarterly royalty payments on the gold production from the mine).

More specifically, Radius Gold says of this sale: “KCA agreed to repay approximately US$400,000 owing to the Company (US$100,000 paid upon signing and approximately US$300,000 to be paid once KCA has commenced shipment of gold produced from the property). Also upon commercial production, KCA agreed to make quarterly payments to the Company based on the then price of gold and the number of ounces produced from the property.”

PBI-Canada visits La Puya

On Sunday May 7, 2023, PBI-Canada and PBI-Guatemala visited with Doña Licha and the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya at a roadside site that it has maintained at the entrance to the “El Tambor” Progreso VII Derivada gold mine.

We continue to follow this.

PBI-Canada at La Puya, May 7, 2023.

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