International Trade committee  No, unfortunately, I don't. I don't see any incentive with this agreement to improve corporate behaviour within Panama. Rather it's a reinforcement of the status quo, which to date has not been very beneficial to indigenous peoples in Panama. They have suffered tremendous repress

International Trade committee  No, we don't work on oil or gas.

International Trade committee  I think if you go to the “about us” section, all our annual general reports are there. There are financial reports in that section.

International Trade committee  Thanks very much. Just to jump right in, I wanted to just ponder for a moment: what's the attraction of a bilateral agreement for a Canadian mining company considering investment or further investment in Honduras? Generally, this is to reduce risk for a company by locking in the

International Trade committee  MiningWatch is an advocacy, investigation, and technical support organization based here in Ottawa. We provide support to mining-affected communities here in Canada and internationally.

International Trade committee  No, we're a group of five people who live and work here in Ottawa.

International Trade committee  Yes, we've carried out visits to Honduras. We have regular contact with partners in Honduras including human rights accompaniment organizations, local people who are working in Tegucigalpa-based organizations, and community leaders themselves.

International Trade committee  Those were reports from the person that were reported on by Honduran journalists who are highly regarded and who worked for COFADEH, the organization that Bertha Oliva testified for here on Tuesday. She also reiterated on Tuesday night when she presented at the University of Otta

International Trade committee  No, my point in mentioning Carlos Amador and in also mentioning the threats that are being faced in the community of Nueva Esperanza and in other communities around Honduras right now is that right now the current operating and mining sector in Honduras is a situation in which ca

International Trade committee  I'd like to hear what you have to say about the structural problem that Canada has helped to create and enforce in Honduras through sponsoring the current mining law, which is the legal regimen that Canadian companies or any other company is going to be operating under now in Hon

International Trade committee  There would still be a structural problem within the mining sector that Canada has helped to create through the passage of the new mining law and that any mining company would be operating under. It would be reinforced by the free trade agreement that any company with a subsidiar

International Trade committee  A similarly weak mining law that communities, especially spurred on by the impacts of Goldcorp's operations in the Valle de Siria, have been fighting to change since 2002, and that's why there was a mining bill that was on the table prior to the military-backed ouster of Manuel Z

International Trade committee  I currently think there's an inadequate framework in Honduras to protect the lives and the communities that are being affected by mining companies wherever they come from. Thank you.

International Trade committee  I don't see the relevance of your question, but our work is directed at providing technical support to mining-affected communities to better ensure protection for ecology, for lives, for water, and to also advocate for stronger corporate accountability here in Canada. We work bot

International Trade committee  We work with mining-affected communities to provide them with technical support to better protect their lives, their interests, and their water supplies, and to help them ensure—