International Trade Committee on Feb. 13th, 2024

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Therefore, anything we can do in terms of increasing access, maintaining access and protecting that access is a net benefit to the population, the Ecuadorean people, I would suggest. Is that correct?

[Mark Walker]

I would completely agree with you.

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Great. Thank you.

I want to ask Ms. Herrera a question.

I was just looking at an article you penned in the summertime. It deals with the issue of consent and indigenous support. You talked about the process for free, prior and informed consultation. I was just wondering, could you explain that process and how it works in Ecuador under their constitution?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

We have lost her, sorry. We're trying to reconnect.

[Kathy Price]

Could I make a comment in response to that question?

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Sure. Please go ahead, Ms. Price.

[Kathy Price]

Just to—

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

She's back. Sorry, Ms. Price.

I had stopped the clock. Why don't you repeat the question so Ms. Herrera has full access to it?

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Thank you.

I'll come back to you, Ms. Price.

Ms. Herrera, I was reading an article you had penned earlier, which goes back to last summer. You talked about the whole process of obtaining indigenous support and the notion of free, prior and informed consultation, and that being required as part of the constitution. You were discussing the Dundee decision of the court in Ecuador.

I was just wondering, could you comment on that and provide a bit more detail on how that free, prior and informed consultation process works under the constitution?

[Viviana Herrera]

I'm sorry; I was locked out of my computer. It crashed.

This case is very concerning. Just for a very brief context, for over 20 years, communities in the páramo of Kimsakocha in southern Ecuador have been mobilizing peacefully against Canadian mining companies. Different companies have tried to advance gold projects in the highlands. Since then, because of this peaceful resistance for over 20 years, communities have organized themselves, and they have called for citizen-led referendums. These citizen-led referendums are part of the constitution, whereby communities can decide whether they want extractive mega projects in their territories.

In the last 10 years, at least three citizen-led referendums have been organized by the communities and, in all of them, at least 70% to 80%—in one of them, 90%—of the population have fought against Canadian mining.

It terms of answering your question, yes, last year and just a few weeks ago, concerning the Loma Larga project of Dundee Precious Metals in the páramo, there was a constitutional order that confirmed the suspension of the project because the indigenous communities had not been consulted. The project didn't get the free, prior and informed consent from the communities. For over one and a half years, the local court, the provincial court and now the constitutional court have reaffirmed that there was no free, prior and informed consent from the indigenous communities. In fact, we are aware that, at some point, the company denied the existence of indigenous peoples in the páramo of Kimsakocha.

As you see, this is one reason that communities in Ecuador don't want extractive mega projects in their territories. They have already said no to them. That's why in one of our recommendations, one of our asks, we echo communities when they say that if they have already said no to mining projects, their right to say no must be respected.

I would also like to echo very briefly that we need to hear from folks in Ecuador. There has not been an opportunity for communities in Ecuador to voice their concerns regarding this free trade agreement. If we are talking about an inclusive free trade agreement, voices from Ecuador need to be part of this conversation. So far that has not been the case.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Sheehan, you have five minutes.

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

[Inaudible—Editor]

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Mr. Sheehan, we can't hear you.

We've lost him.

Mr. Sidhu, you can throw a question in.

[Maninder Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton East, ON]

While we wait for Mr. Sheehan to come back, I'll ask a question.

Mr. Walker, I've heard great things about the lab, and I hope to visit one day when I'm in Winnipeg. Can you maybe speak to the innovative work that you're doing to innovate Canadian products for markets around the world?

[Mark Walker]

We have about 18 to 20 technical experts on staff. They do fantastic work with our customers around the world to make sure that, where they're using our products, they're doing so in the most effective way possible. That's everything from reducing milling cycles, depending on the end-product they want to use, to helping them troubleshoot with water absorption or different rise times. Our staff there who have the science backing are helping our customers daily to make the best use of the products.

[Maninder Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton East, ON]

You mentioned 84 countries around the world that your members ship to. What are the latest countries that you've been opening up markets in?

[Mark Walker]

We regularly travel to our core markets to do a variety of different work with them, but we're always happy to engage with new markets, not just on more traditional aspects but also existing customers who might be interested in new, different areas.

Several months ago, China purchased 200 metric tons of Canadian durum, which is something we're really excited about. Obviously, that's a bit of a drop in the bucket compared to other markets, but having that market look at new ways in which they can integrate that into their existing supply chains is very positive.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

We have Mr. Sheehan back on.

Mr. Sheehan, go ahead, please. You have two and a half minutes left.

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

I apologize. I must have unplugged.

There are about 25,000 Ecuadorean Canadians living in Canada. We have a few in Sault Ste. Marie. They're leaders in the community and are part of the Latin association as well. They are very proud of their country. Some of them see this as a great opportunity to raise people up, in particular.

Ecuador joined the Global Trade and Gender Arrangement, the GTAGA, on May 15 as a means to work closely with Canada but also Chile, Colombia, Mexico, New Zealand and Peru to promote gender-responsive trade policies and advance gender equality and women's economic empowerment. On the same day, they also joined the Inclusive Trade Action Group, ITAG, in order to work together with those said partners, Canada, Chile, Mexico and New Zealand, to help make international trade policies more inclusive in order to ensure that the benefits of trade investments are more broadly shared. I think that is what we ought to be always looking for in our trade agreements.

To the panellists, do you have any comments on those two agreements?

[Kathy Price]

I would say what I said earlier, that it's very important to ask Ecuadorean women's organizations to answer that question for you, such as the Amazonian Women Defending the Forest. Ask them what they would say about what you're asking and what they would say about the regulatory environment in Ecuador to guarantee their rights.

Thank you.

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Would any other panellists like to make a comment on those two recently entered-into agreements? Okay.

My next question is for the grain growers—happy Agriculture Day. We're studying the supply chains in another study as well. You mentioned a few of the places where the grains are grown. How are they shipped? What ports are they exiting from and how well are the grain shipments being delivered to Ecuador?

[Mark Walker]

Infrastructure is of critical importance to our industry and a top priority for Cereals Canada. We travel around the world, as I mentioned, and meet with our customers every year. They always want to know how rail delivery is going in Canada. This is a top priority for us. We appreciate the interswitching pilot that the government brought in last year. We would highlight the great opportunity to extend the pilot to up to 30 months to improve competition within Canada and help reduce delivery times.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much.

Thank you to our witnesses for starting our very important study. This is very valuable information. Thank you to all of you.

I will suspend momentarily while we move in camera to deal with the travel budget and the Vancouver brief.

[Proceedings continue in camera]