After 14 deaths at one mine with Canadian connections and a pattern of corruption and abuses across the country, Peru������Ƶapp bishops are asking Canada������Ƶapp government and its vast mining industry to do something to protect Indigenous people and poor farmers who often suffer when mines move into their neighbourhood.

If the Liberal government stands past the Sept. 23 throne speech, Martin Blanchet������Ƶapp seven-year battle to get somebody with authority to look into how Canadian mining companies and others treat workers, communities and the environment in poor countries will finally get an airing in the House of Commons. 

The decade-old battle for a truly independent watchdog over Canadian mining and other businesses with operations abroad isn’t over, according to Development and Peace advocacy and research officer Elana Wright.

Canada������Ƶapp bishops have listened for years as frustrated Church leaders in the developing world decry Canadian companies for acting as if the worker codes and human rights mandated by Canadian law become optional when operating abroad.

In the absence of a long-promised federal ombudsperson, legal experts have asked the British Columbia Securities Commission to investigate the sale of a Canadian-owned silver mine in Guatemala.

More than 200 activists and organizations from 56 countries have asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to get a move on and hire the ombudsperson he promised almost one year ago.

Talking about theology and mining in the same breath is not uncommon in Latin America.

Provincial superiors of the English and French Canadian arms of the Jesuits wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Aug. 11 asking him to put pressure on the government of Honduras to protect the life of Jesuit Fr. Ismael “Melo” Moreno.

Earlier this year protesters in a small Guatemala village blockaded a giant silver mine operated by a Canadian company and for a month stood their ground despite being regularly tear-gassed by paramilitary police.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – Large-scale mining and extractive operations are failing to deliver economic benefits while causing environmental damage and human suffering throughout Latin America, said a coalition of church organizations and environmental groups.