November in Review
The latest omnibus budget bill (C-45)threatens to severely affect Canada's environment, including through the creation of a new Navigation Protection Act, which will strip away protections from the majority of Canada’s water bodies.
Julian Fantino, now Minister of International Co-operation, is calling for increased CIDA supportfor projects directly tied to Canadian mining companies working abroad. This after a November parliamentary committee report prioritized CIDA's public-private partnerships, such as controversial international pilot projects with multi-million dollar mining companies. According to MiningWatch, the report "doesn’t just tie Canadian aid to mining interests, it would actually restructure CIDA to better serve the interests of the corporate sector."
The Council of Yukon First Nations and the two Kaska First Nations are condemning the territorial government's move to amend the Yukon Oil and Gas Act. The act was signed "in good faith" by all Yukon First Nations in 1997 and gives First Nations without land claim agreements veto power over oil and gas development in traditional territory. The proposed amendments would remove the Kaska's veto right.A group of 38 workers from Costa Rica, Colombia and Ecuador are still awaiting a payment of over $2 million from their employers, SNC Lavalin and Seli, after the BC Human Rights Tribunal ruled the workers were discriminated against when they were paid half of what European workers earned. The ruling was issued in 2008 but the companies are headed to the BC Supreme Court in December to appeal the decision.