Canadian mining interests might just be at the centre of this decision to turn a blind eye to some of the fiercest repression since the Pinochet dictatorship.
Nov 25, 2019 | According to official accounts, Chile is facing the worst drought in recent history. In September, 2019, Piñera decreed a “State of Catastrophe for Drought” for the Atacama, Coquimbo, and Metropolitana regions in the country. Government officials noted that the drought, the worst in 60 years, was the product of climate change.
But, for folks living near industrial extractivist projects, and for organizations like Chile’s National Movement for Water and Territories (MAT, from its initials in Spanish), climate change was merely an excuse that prevented the agricultural and mining industries from being spotlighted for their irrational and unsustainable consumption patterns. Camila Zarate, spokesperson for the movement, told us in September,
“We’re told that the water crisis in Chile is due to climate change. Of course, we have low rains and this is a historic fact, but is this the main source of the drought? …We know that the reality is that the demand for water is simply much greater than the amount of water available. Yet the incentive is to continue extracting water for industrial agriculture and mega-mining.”
Climate change is being used more and more by industry as an excuse to clear themselves of any responsibility they may have for damaging the environments where they work. The Canadian government is also using a similar discourse in defence of mining companies. In August, we met with officials from Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and a member of a Chilean grassroots organization, Putaendo Resiste, facing unwanted exploration by a Canadian junior company.
When she spoke of the community’s fears of water shortages in light of the company’s proposed extensive water-use plan for the giant copper mine, the GAC official looked at her and asked:
“How do you know for sure the company’s activities are causing the drought? I know that the region is already impacted by climate change.”
MiningWatch Canada was in Chile at the peak of the dry season and we visited communities in the 5th region (bordering the metropolitan region of Santiago), who spoke with fear and horror about the “approaching desert” from the North. We also spoke to many representatives of communities from the North affected by Canadian mineral exploration and production.
On the ground, the irrationality of such a system, which in some cases requires building pipelines hundreds of kilometres in length to transport fresh water to the mines from areas where shares in this resource are still available, is not lost on Chileans who, at the time of our visit, were getting access to drinking water once every 10 -12 days. The rivers are bone dry, with the water sources already dammed and channelled in order to ensure that the “owners” of the resource receive it without interruption.
There are currently over 40 Canadian mining companies with over 100 mines and projects in Chile. And, Chile is tied for second with Mexico (after the U.S.) for Canadian direct investment abroad in mining. The majority of these are junior mining companies engaging in copper and lithium exploration, but companies like Yamana Gold, Teck Resources, and Lundin Mining also have operating mines in the country. Canada’s silence about the ongoing human rights abuses, therefore, must be understood within this context.
MiningWatch met with communities and organizations affected by Canadian mining companies in September, 2019. We followed up with them, following the initial widespread protests in October, as they were overwhelmingly organizing and joining actions in their communities. They were making links to the protests and their own resistance in their communities to mining. We wanted to make those links known to Canadians. What we discovered is that communities’ concerns about water, environmental contamination, and economic inequality provided the undercurrent for their participation in the nation-wide protests.
