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PBI-Honduras accompanies court hearing for murdered environmental defender Juan López; next hearing on January 8, 2026

By
Brent Patterson
-

On December 5, the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project posted on social media:

“This morning, we were present at the National Jurisdiction Sentencing Court in Tegucigalpa for the hearing to present evidence in the case against the alleged perpetrators of the murder of #environmental #activist Juan López of the Municipal Committee for the Defence of Common and Public Goods (CMDBCPT). However, the hearing was suspended and rescheduled for 8 January 2026 at 8:30 a.m. According to the CMDBCPT, #justice for Juan can only be achieved if the whole truth about the crime is revealed, if the masterminds are captured and prosecuted, and if no delaying tactics are used to obstruct the process: https://www.guapinolresiste.org/post/audiencia-de-proposici%C3%B3n-de-pruebas-reprogramada-pero-camino-hacia-la-verdad-por-el-asesinato-de-jua.”

Infobae further 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). …The defendants are Alexis Guardado Alvarenga, Daniel Antonio Juárez Torres and Lenin Adonis Cruz Munguía, accused of the murder of López and association to commit a crime.”

That article adds: “[The Municipal Committee] pointed out that López was killed for his active role in the defense of the Montaña de Botaderos Carlos Escaleras National Park, a protected area “threatened” by the mining and energy project promoted by Emco/Pinares/Ecotek.”

And Tu Nota explains: “According to Edy Tábora, legal representative of the Municipal Committee in Defense of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa, an organization led by López, the new rescheduling is at the request of the defense of two of the accused, which once again delays a process considered key to advance towards the oral and public trial.”

That article also notes: “For the Municipal Committee, the constant suspension of hearings constitutes a worrying judicial delay that hinders access to justice and keeps the family of the environmental leader and the communities that accompany his cause in uncertainty.”

Impunity

This statement further notes: “The organizations that make up the Observatory for Justice of the Defenders of the Guapinol River reiterate our call to the Honduran Judiciary: to clarify the full truth about the murder of defender Juan Antonio López, to prosecute all those responsible and to guarantee a transparent trial, without further delay. More than a year after the homicide, the case remains in absolute impunity.”

Emco Holding Group

Criterio.hn has noted that Inversiones Los Pinares is a subsidiary of the Emco Holding Group.

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.

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.

Bill C-233 in Canada would complement the Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act in the protection of defenders

By
Brent Patterson
-

Video still: At the Building Movements in Defence of Life film festival in 2021, Bertha Zúñiga Cáceres, general coordinator of COPINH, expressed her support for the proposed Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act.

The Maple reports: “A leaked Liberal caucus briefing document obtained by The Maple warned that regulating the flow of Canadian-made military goods to the United States might upset the Americans, resulting in economic blows to Canada and damaging geopolitical alliances.”

The briefing document comments on the proposed BILL C-233 An Act to amend the Export and Import Permits Act.

The Maple explains that C-233 attempts to address the situation in which: “Most military exports to the United States currently do not require permits, and researchers have warned that this serves as a backdoor by which Canadian-made military goods are ending up in Israel, which is committing a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.”

The Maple highlights that the caucus briefing document states:

-“Our general exemption with the U.S. is not a loophole — it reflects a unique geopolitical relationship rooted in shared security commitments, continental defence, and decades of military integration. Imposing the bureaucratic red tape envisioned by this legislation would undermine these efforts and make both countries less secure against threats to sovereignty and stability.”

-“Such retaliation could dismantle trade, strip Canadian firms of near-equal treatment with American counterparts and force the relocation of business lines outside Canada—including by U.S. contractors who dominate our production and export capabilities. Lost business would be nearly impossible to recoup in other markets.”

$1 billion a year in exports

Both the Project Ploughshares peace research institute and the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries have stated that Canadian military exports to the United States are at least $1 billion a year, perhaps more.

US “security assistance” linked to civilian harm

Professor Patricia L. Sullivan at the Department of Public Policy, Curriculum in Peace, War, and Defense, University of North Carolina, has noted: “Between 2002 and 2019, US$300 billion in US security assistance flowed to foreign governments and at least one million foreign nationals received US military training.”

Professor Sullivan adds in her Sage Journals article: “Does American military aid increase the risk of civilian harm? …Until very recently, there have been few systematic attempts to evaluate the effects of security sector assistance. …The results of this study suggest [there] is strong evidence that ‘lethal’ aid—military equipment, weapons, military training, and combat assistance—increases extrajudicial killings by security forces in states without effective institutions to constrain executive authority.”

The Berta Cáceres Act

PBI-Canada has previously highlighted that the “Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act” proposes: “To suspend United States security assistance with Honduras until such time as human rights violations by Honduran security forces cease and their perpetrators are brought to justice.”

The PBI accompanied COPINH supports this arms control legislation.

Section 2 of that legislation states:

“(1) The Honduran military and police are widely established to be deeply corrupt and commit human rights abuses, including torture, rape, illegal detention, and murder, with impunity.

(21) In this context of corruption and human rights abuses, trade unionists, journalists, lawyers, Afro-Indigenous activists, Indigenous activists, small-farmer activists, LGBTI activists, human rights defenders, environmental defenders, and critics of the government remain at severe risk; and previous human rights abuses against them remain largely unpunished.

(23) United States agencies allocated approximately $39 million that Congress appropriated through the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017, to the Honduran police and military for fiscal year 2017.”

Voices at Risk

On November 7, Canada commented on the protection needs of human rights defenders in Honduras during the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Honduras at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Speaking on behalf of Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations and the World Trade Organization, Joseph Flores Ayala stated:

“Canada recommends that Honduras fully implement the National Protection Mechanism by establishing robust accountability measures for state authorities who fail to provide adequate protection to human rights defenders, including Indigenous rights defenders, environmental rights defenders, and journalists.”

This concern, however, appears to be de-linked from the direct or indirect flow of “military goods” exported to Honduran security forces that have been implicated in violations of human rights defenders.

Currently, there is also no coherent strategy within “Voices at Risk: Canada’s Guidelines on Supporting Human Rights Defenders”, specific mention in the Export and Import Permits Act (EIPA) or evident use of the Defense Production Sharing Agreement (DPSA) that specifically provides for the protection of human rights defenders from weapons and military components produced in Canada that are either directly or indirectly exported to countries where the rights of human rights defenders are violated.

New concerns

One week ago, US President Donald Trump backed Tito Asfuro to be the next president of Honduras. CNN has reported that Asfura is a “right-wing businessman [and] construction magnate who is running on a free market platform.”

The outcome of the close vote on November 30 is still to be determined. The new president will be sworn in on January 27, 2026.

Yesterday, this statement by COPINH and other civil society organizations highlighted: “The electoral trends published by the National Electoral Council indicate a power struggle between the National Party and the Liberal Party, historically responsible for the poverty and injustice suffered by Honduras. We warn that these parties’ public alliances with certain business and criminal sectors threaten the struggles of peasant, indigenous, worker, feminist, and environmental movements.”

It is unclear when the next House of Commons vote on C-233 will take place but it will likely be after the House of Commons resumes sitting on January 26, 2026.

We continue to follow this.

Additional reading: The integration of Canadian and US military production puts Canada at risk of complicity in violence against human rights defenders (PBI-Canada article, March 5, 2025).

“We never wanted to go to the police, because it was the police who were chasing us.” The National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders in Honduras has explained that in Honduras 70 per cent of the attacks against women defenders the aggressors are state security forces, especially police or the military.

PBI-Honduras accompanies organizations at press conference in front of the US Embassy on electoral interference

By
Brent Patterson
-

The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has posted on social media:

“Today, we accompany several peasant and indigenous organizations in a press conference, march and stand in front of the United States Embassy in Tegucigalpa. During the activity, the organizations opposed the alleged interference of the United States government in the electoral process of Honduras. Also, they showed concern for the pardon granted to Juan Orlando Hernandez, the former president of Honduras who in the United States was sentenced to 45 years in prison for crimes related to drug trafficking. Meanwhile, counting of votes from the general election last November 30 is still ongoing.”

Yesterday (December 3), the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) also posted:

“Indigenous, peasant and social organizations call press conference to denounce foreign interference in Honduras electoral process.

In the face of the electoral context and political instability, we reaffirm our call to respect the sovereignty of the country and to stop any form of interference in the internal affairs of the Honduran people.”

Today COPINH posted these live video feeds (here and here) on Facebook.

Berta Zúniga Cáceres, the general coordinator of COPINH, says: “The results of this electoral process [reflect] a certain level of fraud that has been denounced, lack of awareness in the country at the time of voting, and part of the fear sown by Donald Trump’s words in the Honduran people.”

The Spanish news agency EFE now reports:

“A group of COPINH members protested Thursday in front of the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa against the pardon granted by U.S. President Donald Trump to former President Juan Orlando Hernández (2014-2022), who had been sentenced to 45 years in prison for drug trafficking.

‘We are here condemning this act of Donald Trump who, by the way, contradicts himself because he expresses that he is fighting drug trafficking that has fallen into murdering people in the Caribbean,’ Salvador Edgardo Zúniga Del Cid, ex-husband of the environmentalist murdered Berta Cáceres in 2016, told EFE.

‘Juan Orlando Hernández, a person linked to drug trafficking and the subsequent coup d’état with many crimes that have been committed in this country, where there are many martyrs,’ said Carol Hernández, a member of that committee.”

The presidential election

Earlier this week, The Guardian reported:

“A former president of Honduras [Juan Orlando Hernández] who was convicted of drug trafficking has walked free from a US prison after receiving a pardon from Donald Trump, as the country’s presidential election remained on a knife edge with the US-backed candidate leading by 515 votes.

The pardon was issued amid extraordinary levels of US interference in the Honduran election. Trump threw his support behind Hernández’s ally Nasry ‘Tito’ Asfura, saying Washington’s support for the country was conditional on an Asfura victory.

On Tuesday [December 2], Trump again intervened, alleging without evidence that electoral officials were “trying to change” the result of Sunday’s vote and said: ‘If they do, there will be hell to pay!’

The virtual vote count had been slow and unstable before it was interrupted at about midday on Monday [December 1]. The electoral council said a technical problem was to blame and insisted the manual count was continuing.

When the release of results was suspended, Asfura was on 39.91%, closely followed by Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal party on 39.89%. Rixi Moncada, the candidate for the leftwing ruling party, was trailing in a distant third place with 19.16% of the vote.”

Today, Reuters reports: “On Thursday [December 4], the National Party’s Asfura held 40.27%, about 24,400 votes ahead of the Liberal Party’s Nasralla, who had 39.38%. Rixi Moncada of the ruling leftist LIBRE Party remained well behind in third place in the election, which was held on Sunday [November 30].”

COPINH commentary

Just a few moments ago, COPINH posted on social media:

“The Honduran electoral process exposed the influence of external interests and how national power groups can influence democracy.

While media campaigns favored sectors with criminal history, the release of the narco dictator Juan Orlando Hernandez again showed the contradictions of anti-drug policy and the depth of our country’s impunity.

We face a political dispute dominated by historical forces responsible for poverty, inequality and violence.

Today, various sectors demand respect for the will of the people, complete transparency in the screening and clarity on the responsibilities of those who interfered in the electoral process, and reject American interference and its hypocritical “international fight against drug trafficking.”

Canada and Honduras

On December 3, the Embassy of Canada in Costa Rica, Honduras and Nicaragua (located in San Jose, Costa Rica) posted on social media: “Canada is proud to have participated in the EU Electoral Observation Mission and supported the OAS mission in Honduras. We congratulate the Honduran people on a successful election day, observed by international and national missions—a true display of democratic participation.”

Accompaniment

COPINH co-founder Berta Cáceres was murdered on March 2, 2016, for her opposition to the construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Gualcarque River. COPINH’s coordinators have been accompanied by PBI-Honduras since May 2016.

The Corporation for Judicial Freedom celebrates win against the AngloGold Ashanti Québradona project in Colombia

By
Brent Patterson
-

Image from Corporación Jurídica Libertad on Facebook.

Today, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project amplified these social media posts on Instagram.

The Human Conet, Juntos SOMOS post highlights: “Today, December 2, 2025, the National Mining Agency (ANM) denied the application for extension to the mining title of the Québradona copper project in Jericho and Thames (Antioquia). …This means that the exploration stage can’t be extended.”

And the Corporation for Judicial Freedom (CJL) post affirms: “This decision doesn’t come out of nowhere, it’s the result of years of resistance, complaints, community studies, assemblies, social mobilization and water advocacy by farmworkers youth, leadership, groups and communities that stood firm even when everything was against. …As long as the title remains in force and extractive pressure continues, the territorial organization will also follow. This is a historic achievement, but it’s not the end.”

Peace Brigades International has accompanied the Corporation for Judicial Freedom (CJL) since 2000.

Background on Quebradona

In July 2025, The Guardian reported: “[Argiro] Tobón, who has spent years harvesting coffee beans, is among 11 local farmers and environmental activists facing a lawsuit initiated by the South African mining company AngloGold Ashanti. Accused of kidnapping, theft and personal injury, they were charged after a series of protests against the company’s proposed Quebradona copper mine, which activists believe poses a serious threat to the environment and agrarian economy.”

“The conflict between the company and regional communities has been escalating since the end of 2023. The kidnapping charge stems from an incident that year, when a group of protesters disrupted an unauthorised excavation by AngloGold, contacting the mayor’s office, police and local ombudsman, and stopping the miners working. A similar incident in 2023 involved more than 150 farmers entering private land where AngloGold was drilling, removing machinery and handing it over to the authorities. This led to charges of theft and later of personal injury, after a miner was bitten by a farmer’s dog.”

“Protesters presume that, with its exploration licence set to expire in December, AngloGold is growing increasingly desperate to get permission to mine with an exploitation licence from Colombia’s National Authority for Environmental Licences (ANLA). A previous application was suspended in 2021 due to a lack of data.”

That article also noted: “So far, AngloGold continues its legal actions against the protesters. On 16 June, Argiro Tobón and his companions left the Jericó court to cheers and applause from a crowd after a judge ruled they would not be placed under house arrest during the trial. Despite this initial victory, a long road lies ahead for the accused farmers. With the full extent of the legal process yet to come, their fate, and that of the land they have worked for decades, remains undecided.”

Accompaniment

PBI-Colombia has previously noted:

“Corporation for Judicial Freedom (CJL) members have been subjected to different forms of threats and attacks throughout the organisation’s existence. These include death threats as a result of their human rights defence work, and attempts to link its members to criminal proceedings as part of judicial setups.

Since mid-2019, the Corporation has detected illegal interceptions and illegal followings, and during the social protests at the end of that year, unjustified actions were taken by the authorities against some lawyers, including false accusations and attempts to detain them.”

Photo: PBI-Colombia with CJL founder Elkin Ramírez.

Canadian mining in Colombia

This past October, Mining.com reported: “Colombia currently hosts only one large-scale copper mine, El Roble, operated by Canada’s Atico Mining (TSX-V: ATY) in Chocó. While at least eight copper projects are in development, regulatory shifts have clouded their future.”

In February 2025, Natural Resources Canada published this chart on “Canadian Mining Assets” in Colombia.

PBI-Colombia has previously explained: “The abundance of natural resources [in northeast Antioquia] and the arrival of multinational companies, such as the Canadian Gran Colombia Gold, has provided the illegal armed groups who are present in the region with an extremely lucrative funding source in mining.”

In December 2024, Lital Khaikin reported in the independent media outlet The Breach: “Gran Colombia Gold merged into Vancouver-based Aris Mining in 2022, and continues to operate the Segovia mine in Antioquia, an underground mine currently being expanded to produce over 300,000 ounces of gold per year.”

She added: “Canadian multinationals like Aris Mining and Quimbaya Gold have entangled themselves in a community already deeply marked by human right abuses, cartel networks, and sustained armed conflict.”

She also noted: “As The Breach previously reported, Gran Colombia has worked with sub-contractors that are implicated in laundering illegal gold into legal markets and have ties to right-wing paramilitaries.”

Khaikin concluded: “Canadian companies are relying on contract mining amid poor regulation, expanding without community consent into unprotected areas, and continuing to source gold in a murky territory run by Colombia’s most powerful cartel—all amid what the UN Refugee Agency has described as a deteriorating humanitarian situation.”

PBI-Canada continues to follow the struggles of accompanied organizations, defenders and communities in Colombia.

Ontario-based company to sell armoured vehicles to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo: An Abolish ICE march and day of action in Minnesota.

The Canadian Press reports: “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has earmarked millions of dollars for a bulk order for 20 armoured vehicles from Canadian defence manufacturer Roshel that are built to resist bullets and bomb blasts.”

“U.S. government procurement records show the department laying out plans for an order worth the equivalent of about C$10 million for 20 Senator vehicles… The procurement document says only Roshel, which is headquartered in Brampton, Ont., meets the department’s requirements and can complete the order within 30 days.”

That article adds: “The department, commonly known as ICE, is awash in controversy and allegations of human rights abuses as U.S. President Donald Trump pursues a campaign to expel vast numbers of immigrants residing in the country illegally.”

The version of this Canadian Press article on the CTV News website specifies that the order is for “Senator STANG emergency response tactical vehicles.”

The Roshel website suggests this might actually be “STANAG”. Popular Science explains that STANAG means “standard agreement” and refers to an established NATO standard indicating “the Senator MRAP is designed to withstand a range of the kinds of attacks that NATO can expect to see in the field.”

Concerns in Canada

The Canadian Press has subsequently reported: “[New Democratic Party Member of Parliament] Jenny Kwan says she’s deeply troubled because the ICE agency has been credibly accused of human rights abuses. …Kelsey Gallagher from Project Ploughshares, a non-governmental organization that promotes peace, says if the vehicles were sold to any other security service in the world with the same documented pattern of abuse, Ottawa likely would step in to stop it.”

Civil liberties

In November 2025, Chandra Bhatnagar, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Southern California, noted: “Over the summer, masked heavily armed federal agents invaded neighborhoods across Southern California abducting residents from their homes, workplaces, and public spaces without warrants or identification.”

He further noted: “Immediately after DHS [Department of Homeland Security] began to increase enforcement, thousands of Southern California residents began rising up to document and protest the raids. Advocacy groups, labor organizations, and civil rights attorneys began organizing emergency legal and humanitarian responses. In the summer and fall, the Southern California community took part in two of the largest mobilizations in U.S. history, protesting the ICE raids and unconstitutional federal response. In response, federal officers and local law enforcement attempted to suppress the protests with force, shooting at press and protesters with tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and other weapons. They also arrested hundreds of people, almost all of whom were exercising their rights peacefully.”

Unión del Barrio

Last week, the Toronto Star reported about Union del Barrio volunteers who patrol the streets of Los Angeles to protect undocumented residents from ICE raids.

That article notes: “[Lupe] Carrasco is one of many organizers for Union del Barrio, part of the city’s collective that stands watch for those who can’t afford to disappear. The network warns undocumented residents about immigration raids and helps support their constitutional rights. When ICE agents move in, the volunteers follow. They record video, shout out rights over megaphones and make sure no one is taken quietly.”

The article further notes that the volunteers wear “green hoodies and T-shirts stamped with the profile of a Mexican eagle warrior” and their cars have affixed magnetic signs that say in English and Spanish: “Protecting Communities from ICE and Police Terror”.

This past August, The Guardian also reported: “[The] coalition of trained volunteers called Unión del Barrio, patrol the barrios, or neighbourhoods, to look for immigration enforcement, ‘La Migra’. When they spot Ice activity, they post videos that go viral, alerting people to seek shelter.”

United Nations

The ACLU in Southern California has also highlighted: “This month, for the first time, the U.S. refused to participate in the United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a process that examines the human rights record of each member state.”

We recall the obligations of companies to the  United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Under those Guiding Principles all companies, including those that produce “military goods”, must assess and address human rights risks and abuses arising in all aspects of their business, including how clients such as national armies and police forces use their weaponry and related services.

Additionally, Amnesty International has highlighted that the legal concepts of “corporate complicity” in and the “aiding and abetting” of international crimes could in the future apply to arms companies that continue supplying weapons in the knowledge that they may be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of human rights.

Other Canadian companies

This past July, the Associated Press reported: “Immigrants who are arrested by Florida law enforcement officers under the federal government’s 287(g) program will be taken to the [South Florida Detention Facility, known as Alligator Alcatraz], according to a Trump administration official. The program is led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] and allows police officers to interrogate immigrants in their custody and detain them for potential deportation.”

In late-November, The Walrus reported: “Among the companies contracted to provide services for Alligator Alcatraz are IRG Global Emergency Management—a US offshoot of ARS Global Emergency Management, a Toronto-based company also known as Access Restoration Services Ltd—and a US-based business unit of Quebec-based security operator GardaWorld.”

That article further noted: “According to the Globe and Mail, the US offshoot of GardaWorld has been shortlisted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), along with thirty-nine additional companies, to compete for further detention centre contracts.”

Amnesty International has called for the closure of the detention facility.

PBI-USA

PBI-USA has commented: “Every day, we wake to a new assault on our fundamental rights and words or actions by the U.S. President that make us question the extent to which he will follow through on his threats. It can be overwhelming.”

CANSEC 2026

Roshel, the company building the armoured vehicles for ICE, is a regular sponsors and exhibitor at the CANSEC arms show in Ottawa.

The next CANSEC takes place on May 27-28, 2026.

We continue to follow this.

Additional reading: Israel reportedly seeks to import about 30 armoured vehicles made by Brampton, Ontario-based Roshel Inc. (PBI-Canada article, March 16, 2024).

The Simigigyet’m Gitanyow call on multiple financial institutions not to finance the Ksi Lisims LNG project

By
Brent Patterson
-

Image from the letter.

This letter signed by Simoogit Watakhayetsxw/Deborah Good and Naxginkw/Tara Marsden, Wilp Sustainability Director on behalf of the Simigigyet’m Gitanyow (Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs) is calling on financial institutions “not to provide financing or consider equity investments” in the proposed Ksi Lisims liquefied natural gas (LNG) project.

The financial institutions listed in this letter include banks that are based in the United States (Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo), France (BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Societe Generale), Spain (BBVA, Santander), Germany (Deutsche Bank), the United Kingdom (HSBC), the Netherlands (ING) and Italy (Intesa Sanpaolo).

It also includes banks based in Canada (BMO, CIBC, National Bank of Canada, RBC, Scotiabank, TD Bank).

The letter highlights:

Recommendations for Financial Institutions

Given the substantial and interlinked legal, financial, and environmental risks related to Ksi Lisims LNG, we strongly recommend that your institution:

  1. Decline to provide project financing for Ksi Lisims LNG given the stated risks above.
  2. Deny general corporate financing to Ksi Lisims LNG’s developers.
  3. Require that clients have obtained the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent from all impacted Indigenous communities, as outlined in B.C. law via the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.
  4. Develop a comprehensive policy to restrict financing of new and expanded LNG infrastructure as part of your institution’s ESRM and climate policy frameworks.

Image from Reception Chiefs on Facebook.

The full letter can be read here.

It has been endorsed by 128 organizations including Conexiones Climáticas (Mexico), Les Amis de la Terre (France), Parents for Future, Frack Off London (UK), Public Citizen (US), Urgewald and Rettet den Regenwald (Germany).

Further reading: PBI-Canada meets with Simooget Watakhayetsxw, remains attentive to Gitanyow resistance to the PRGT pipeline (October 20, 2025).

While the PBI-Mexico accompanied Ejido del Baijo seeks justice, Fresnillo plans to expand into Canada in 2026

By
Brent Patterson
-

Ejido.el.bajio: “For the fourth year we attend the Annual Assembly of Shareholders of #FresnilloPLC in London to reiterate to shareholders that the company lies in its reports, evades justice, owes us more than 13 billion pesos, that the board of directors is aware of everything and tells them nothing.”

TechStock² reports: “Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES, OTC:FNLPF) has gone from sleepy precious‑metals stock to market rocket in 2025. The London‑listed miner, the world’s largest primary silver producer and a major gold producer in Mexico, has seen its share price more than triple this year as gold and silver prices hit record levels and the company delivered a surge in profits and cash flow.”

That article adds: “Fresnillo’s 2024 results, released in March 2025, marked the turning of the tide: Profit before tax jumped from $114.0m in 2023 to $743.9m in 2024 — a 552% increase, driven by higher gross profit and lower exploration and admin spend.”

Fresnillo in Mexico

TechStock² further notes: “Fresnillo has long been embroiled in a dispute with the Ejido El Bajío agrarian community in Sonora, linked to the Soledad‑Dipolos gold mine, where operations were halted in 2013 after a court ordered the company to vacate land the court said belonged to the ejido.”

It adds: “NGOs and protection groups such as Peace Brigades International have highlighted the case as an example of human‑rights and environmental risk, pointing to community members allegedly killed or threatened over the years of conflict (without establishing direct legal responsibility for the company).”

And it comments: “The case is likely to keep Fresnillo under ESG and reputational scrutiny in the UK and Mexico.”

Fresnillo in Canada

The TechStock² article also highlights: “The most significant strategic development in 2025 is Fresnillo’s move beyond Mexico for the first time. On 31 October 2025, Fresnillo announced a cash offer of about $560m (C$780m) to acquire Probe Gold Inc., a Canadian gold developer listed on the TSX.”

The Toronto-based Probe Gold Inc. lists three projects on its website: Novador Project, Detour Gold Quebec, and Other Val-d’Or East Properties.

Commenting on the Fresnillo purchase, Probe Gold notes: “Subject to the various approvals required, the Transaction is expected to close in Q1 2026.”

Accompaniment

Peace Brigades International has provided security and advocacy support to members of the Ejido El Bajío due to the ongoing threats they face.

The Peace Brigades International team in the United Kingdom highlight in their report The Case for Change: Why human rights defenders need a UK law on mandatory due diligence (November 2024): “Minera Penmont operated the Soledad-Dipolos open-pit gold mine located in the territory of the El Bajío Ejido in Mexico, between 2010 and 2013. When mining exploration began on communal lands, local communities began to defend their rights. Agrarian Courts have ruled that Penmont were operating on the land illegally without the community’s permission, ordering Penmont to leave the land and compensate the residents. However, land and environmental defenders calling for accountability have faced a series of reprisals including arbitrary detention, criminalisation, and killings. Minera Penmont is a subsidiary of Fresnillo PLC, a UK-incorporated company listed on the London Stock Exchange.”

For more about the struggle of the Ejido El Bajío, see their website and their Instagram, Facebook and X social media accounts.

Further reading: PBI-Mexico accompanied Ejido El Bajio challenges Fresnillo PLC at annual shareholders meeting in London, UK (PBI-Canada article, June 4, 2025).

Wolastoqey land defenders reject the proposed Sisson open-pit tungsten mine and weapons production

By
Brent Patterson
-

Video still: To listen to the NB Media Co-op’s interview with Wolastoq Elder Alma Brooks and Wolastoq Grand Chief Ron Tremblay who is also known as Spasaqit Possesom, please click here.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Canada’s participation in Security Action for Europe (SAFE).

Significantly, that statement highlighted: “As all 27 EU [European Union] Member States increase defence investments, greater cooperation on procurement opens massive new opportunities for Canadian manufacturers to build and export Canadian-made technologies and capabilities.”

Politico explains: “Canada’s accession to the loan-for-weapons SAFE scheme gives Ottawa access to jointly financed defense projects and allows Canadian companies to bid into EU-supported joint procurement projects. For Brussels, securing a G7 partner strengthens the credibility of SAFE as it seeks to coordinate long-term weapons demand and ramp up Europe’s defense industrial base.”

And Canadian Defence Minister David McGuinty says: “This will allow Canada, for example, to participate by supplying capabilities such as ammunition, missiles, drones, artillery systems, infantry weapons and beyond.”

Just three weeks prior, on November 10, 2025, CBC News also reported: “Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne says his goal is to help make Canada the NATO partner of choice when it comes to supplying critical minerals as defence becomes a focus for many countries.”

This relationship between the mining of critical minerals and “defence production” in Canada has also been seen in various announcements over recent months including the G7 Critical Minerals Action Plan (June 2025), the critical minerals partnership with Germany (August 2025), the “strategic projects” under the Critical Minerals Production Alliance (October 2025), and the $2 billion allocated in Budget 2025 to create a Critical Minerals Sovereign Fund (November 2025).

These critical minerals could come from proposed mines in the Golden Triangle area of British Columbia (powered by the proposed North Coast Transmission Line), the Ring of Fire in Ontario, and New Brunswick.

The major projects announcements made by Prime Minister Carney on September 11, 2025 and November 13, 2025 have also highlighted this relationship.

Wolastoq Grand Council rejects the Sisson Mine

For example, the November announcement included the Northcliff Resources’ Sisson Mine in Sisson Brook, New Brunswick that would produce tungsten.

On May 1, 2025, Northcliff itself had announced that it had been awarded US $15 million from the United States Department of Defense (rebranded as the Department of War in September 2025) to develop the mine.

This past summer, the NB Media Co-op reported: “[That] news has provoked indignation from Indigenous Elders who oppose the project, including Wolastoq Grand Chief Ron Tremblay. The Wolastoqey Grand Council represents a traditional governance structure with a grassroots constituency.”

That article continues: “Tremblay said the Wolastoq Grand Council rejects activities contributing to war and what he called the ‘continuum of genocide’ in places such as the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. …[Alma Brooks, a Wolastoq Elder also] pointed to Israel’s prolonged and devastating U.S.-backed assault on the Gaza Strip, ‘a genocide that’s happening right under the nose of the world’…”

Major projects in “the national interest”

The Carney government’s recommendation that the Sisson Mine be fast-tracked by the Major Projects Office (MPO) suggests this mine is seen as a “nation-building project” that is “the national interest”.

This past October, Stephen Fuhr, the Secretary of State for Defence Procurement, also stated: “Designating critical minerals as essential to Canada’s national interests under the Defence Production Act is a decisive step in protecting the sovereignty of our strategic resources. This measure deepens Canada’s strategic alignment with NATO and our allies, strengthens supply chain resilience and secures reliable access to the resources our domestic defence industry depends on.”

Safety concerns for land defenders

The potential clash between “national interest” designation and the assertion of Indigenous rights is cause for concern.

PBI-Canada recalls the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) actions against anti-fracking protests in New Brunswick.

Photo: “RCMP Emergency Response Team members during early morning raid on camp, Oct 17, 2013.” Photo from Warrior Publications.

Photo: “RCMP bring 60 drawn guns, dogs, assault rifles, to serve injunction on the wrong road” Photo by Miles Howe/ Halifax Media Co-op.

APTN News has reported: “Mi’kmaw resistance to local exploration by Texas-based SWN Resources began in June 2013, escalated through the summer and eventually led to a blockade and land occupation that halted work. The standoff culminated in an Oct. 17 police raid in which camouflage-clad Mounties with assault rifles, riot control shotguns and canine units descended on the camp and arrested over 40 people.”

A report issued in November 2020 by the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC) concluded: “Several incidents or practices interfered to varying degrees with the protesters’ rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly. That report also noted that some of the RCMP’s surveillance practices and physical searches were “inconsistent with protesters’ charter rights to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.”

Several years after the October 17, 2013 raid, the C-IRG was formed.

According to the RCMP: “The Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) was created in 2017 to provide strategic oversight addressing energy industry incidents and related public order, national security and crime issues.”

Following the launch of a CRCC systemic investigation of the C-IRG in March 2023 after nearly 500 complaints against it, the unit was rebranded the Critical Response Unit-British Columbia (CRU-BC) on January 1, 2024.

We continue to follow this.

International volunteer from Canada among those injured in settler attack in Israeli-occupied West Bank

By
Brent Patterson
-

Video still: CBC News report.

CBC News reports: “A Canadian activist injured in a settler attack over the weekend in a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank says she and three others were thrown on the ground and beaten by settlers before some of their wallets and passports were stolen.”

“The woman, who is from British Columbia, said she and three other foreigners from Italy had arrived less than a week before the early Sunday morning attack at a home in Ein al-Duyuk, roughly four kilometres north of the West Bank city of Jericho.”

“The group of foreign activists were then helped by locals and taken to a nearby hospital where they were treated. Despite the attack, the woman says they want to return to the village to continue their work.”

The article adds: “The activists are working with a Palestinian group that allows foreigners to stay in communities within the West Bank where settler violence has been reported. The woman says they aim to keep watch over the villages during the day and at night, aiming to deter settler attacks through their presence.”

The Canadian, who is not being identified for safety reasons, has highlighted: “This is not about us. We were beaten for 15 minutes. Palestinians here endure this violence every day, every hour, a thousand-fold.”

The CBC News article also reports: “About 94 per cent of all investigation files opened by the Israeli Police into settler violence from 2005 to 2024 ended without indictment, according to monitoring by Israeli human rights group Yesh Din. Since 2005, just three per cent of the investigation files opened into settler violence led to full or partial convictions.”

The Guardian article on the attack notes: “According to UN figures, Israeli settlers and security forces have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians, including 233 children, in the West Bank over the past two years, in what many Israeli and Palestinian observers believe is a concerted campaign of violence aimed at seizing territory.”

On October 24, 2025, Amnesty International noted: “In 2025, there have been over 860 violent settler attacks in the West Bank. World Leaders have a legal obligation to dismantle Israel’s unlawful occupation and to bring its system of apartheid to an end.”

Despite these numbers CTV News now reports: “In total, so far, Ottawa has imposed sanctions against 15 individuals and seven entities for “participating or facilitating extremist settler violence.”

We continue to follow this.

Additional reading: International Solidarity Movement volunteer Ayşenur Eygi, 26, killed by the Israeli military in Beita, Palestine (PBI-Canada article, September 7, 2024)

PBI-Colombia accompanies CREDHOS at “Voices that Persist” forum on violence perpetrated by security forces-paramilitary groups

By
Brent Patterson
-

The Barrancabermeja, Colombia-based Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (Credhos) has posted on social media:

“We started the 2nd Meeting of Victims of Case 08 in the region of Medio Magdalena, a space where social organizations, victims and human rights defenders meet to review progress and make key decisions against participation in the Medio Magdalene Subcase.

Case 08 investigates crimes committed by public force, military and other state agents, in connivance with paramilitary and third civilian structures.

During the installation act, Iván Madero, president of CREDHOS, affirmed that expectations are high and that real guarantees based on justice and truth are required essential principles to live with dignity and peace. He also emphasized that half-truths will not be accepted: the story of the Middle Magdalena must be known complete and without conceals. If necessary the streets will be the place where victims will demand truth, justice, repair and not repetition.”

Case O8

The Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) is a tribunal that is responsible for administrating justice for crimes committed before December 1, 2016, in the context of the internal armed conflict that began in May 1964.

The José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (CAJAR) has noted: “In this macro-case, crimes committed by members of the security forces and other agents of the State, in collusion with paramilitary groups or civilian third parties in the context of the conflict, are being investigated.”

CAJAR further specifies: “Figures from the JEP indicate that in this macro-case there were 15,710 victims of crimes attributed to members of the security forces, 56,502 to paramilitaries and 280 to other agents of the State. The crimes being investigated in this case are: massacres, homicides, sexual violence, illegal detentions, torture, forced disappearances, dispossession and forced displacement.”

Attacks against CREDHOS

Manuel Camilo Ayala Sandoval from CREDHOS says: “Credhos has functioned as a coordination of social movements and articulation of unions, peasant organizations, women’s organizations in defense, promotion, protection of human rights and demand for the application and respect of International Humanitarian Law.”

PBI-Colombia: “Since 1987, when CREDHOS began its work to defend and protect human rights in the city of Barrancabermeja, the organization has documented, in detail, 16 cases of extrajudicial executions against its members, perpetrated by paramilitary groups with the connivance of Colombian state agents, in addition to 10 cases of forced displacement, four assassination attempts, and arbitrary arrests. [Its report to the JEP] details incidents affecting over 80 members between 1987 and 2016”

Violence against union activists

In February 2017, Julie Wetterslev, a Researcher in the Department of Law at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, wrote: “more than 3,000 Colombian labour unionists have been killed in the past 40 years. And the murders have generally not been investigated, much less sanctioned, because shifting governments have either implied or directly claimed that the worker’s unions are connected to the guerrilla.”

Her article further cites: “As the British NGO Justice for Colombia notes in the article Focus: Trade Union Rights in Colombia, Justice for Colombia (JFC) in International Union Rights Vol. 23, No. 1, Latin America (2016), pp. 16-17, 28: ‘The grim toll of Colombia’s war on trade unions amounts to at least 13,713 violations of the right to life and liberty since 1977 – 3062 assassinations, 233 kidnappings, 342 violent attacks, 6572 violent threats, 1890 forced displacements and 725 arbitrary detentions. Between 2000 and 2010, Colombia accounted for 63% of trade unionists murdered globally (…) Colombian organisations regularly point out that there often appears to be more time dedicated to investigating false accusations than to bringing those responsible for carrying out the murders to justice’.”

Accompaniment

Peace Brigades International has accompanied CREDHOS since 1994.

Related content: Colombia: the most dangerous country to be a trade unionist (BBC, May 1, 2013).

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