Dear All -

It's been a long time. My apologies. And I also apologize for abandoning my 800-word limit - I just couldn't do it for this one. I hope you enjoy -

May 6, 2008: Our group of four, armed with proxies from the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary – Québec, enter CBC's Glen Gould Studio lobby. The Sisters have submitted a shareholder resolution about the Pascua Lama mining project in Chile and Argentina, to which we are going to speak. I am also representing Amnesty International. We sign in, and because my proxy isn't in the computer, we hunt for Barrick Gold Director Peter Sinclair—he had acknowledged our participation in a letter to Pierre Viau, our group coordinator. Eventually a woman with some authority magnanimously says that they aren't going to stand on formality with the proxy.

While we wait, we hear the Native drumming and chanting of a group of protestors outside. They are distributing information about the actual situations on the ground in various Barrick mining projects around the world.

The meeting starts, and soon it is our turn to speak, and we present different perspectives on why the resolution should pass. We address the precarious water supply and how mining always diminishes its quantity and quality. Important points include having a truly independent body oversee all aspects of the mining project, ensuring Free, Prior and Informed Consent, and the possible financial burden should Barrick's optimistic predictions prove incorrect. (For more information on the background and resolution, see amnesty.ca/sharepower.) The response from the podium: the project will neither diminish nor pollute the water; rather it will provide more and better quality water. (!) Their main point of dissention is that an independent overseer would be an unnecessary cost because they have already done this. Note - the resolution's call for an independent overseer is critical, because the initial report had used only data given by Barrick itself; they had neither visited the site nor spoken to local inhabitants. A number of people request a ballot to vote.

The next two items on the agenda are the CSR and Financial Reports. The first discusses the wonderful development projects Barrick has created in local areas. I squeeze my hands together to keep from sighing loudly. The financial report shows staggering gains.

We now sit through Peter Munk's rambling speech outlining the good and bad news. Good – there is a huge emerging market for gold jewellery in China and India. "Tragic," though, is the fact that existing mines are producing less gold, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to explore, get rights to, build and open new mines. They have about 2 million pounds of gold in reserve though, so not to worry. (This number is according to my notes. Their website cites a figure of 124.6 million ounces - www.barrick.com/News?MediaFactSheet/default.aspx) Visions of The Godfather dance in my head—the big daddy who takes really good care of his own but smiles as he destroys anyone who gets in his way.

Finally the floor opens for questions. Three indigenous people—Jethro Tulin from Papua New Guinea, Neville "Chappy" Williams from the Wiradjuri Nation in Australia, and Larson Bill of the Western Shoshone community in Nevada—now have the opportunity to tell the shareholders that there is a great gulf between what Barrick says in its CSR statements and what they do on the ground. For some details on their communications, please go to Common Dreams, and protestbarrick. What I want to emphasize is the fact that their questions are answered with utter condescension. Shareholders are told that these people who have just traveled half way around the globe are not genuine representatives of their communities, are being paid off by NGOs, are not actually living on the affected land, and that they are essentially complainers. Another trick is company spin; for example, when Jethro Tulin asks, when is Barrick going to move everyone from the affected area because it's no longer tenable to live there? –the answer is that Barrick is indeed moving everyone, but in small groups, because otherwise it would be too disruptive. It's not disruptive to destroy someone's home in the first place? It's better to divide communities by moving only a few families at a time? Imperialist attitudes prevail.

After a few more questions, including one supporting Barrick's CSR line, we arrive at Munk's inspirational closing remarks. He frets over having to spend so much money just to get permission to mine. He complains that now there are thousands of NGOs, whereas earlier there had been only a few hundred to deal with. He whines that Environmental Assessment Impact reports are time-consuming and costly. And he rails against governments who "bow to pressure" from their people and insist that mining companies share the wealth with the host country.

Munk closes the meeting ten minutes early. We don't know if the resolution gets enough votes to be carried forward to next year. They never returned with the results.

Postscript 1: Rumination: As children we think the world revolves around us. We are supposed to grow up, become aware of others, and embrace them in our worldview. Ideally we include more than our immediate family and social circle. Being in that room watching unbridled greed expressed unabashedly brought me face to face with what I think of as a kind of human mutation: a corruption of the heart that emanates a stink so powerful that it produces an acute, long-lasting condition of nausea in the onlooker.

Postscript 2: The Vote: According to the 'Report of Voting Results' posted by Barrick, the resolution was voted against by 93.1%.

Postscript 3: The Response Letter: Those of us who wrote to Barrick as per the action on Amnesty Canada's website received a 3+-page letter from Peter Sinclair. He outlines how Barrick has taken great care to get all the requisite permissions and studies, and how the affected Indigenous Diaguita people have not filed a suit with the Inter-American Human Rights Commission. It appears that either Mr. Sinclair doesn't know that the Diaguita actually have filed a suit, or he isn't recognizing the representatives of the Diaguita who have filed.

Other Links:

Mining Watch

protest barrick

Bloomberg Press

Mine Web

ccdhal

Green Left

Take care,

Ellen