Once a year, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) throws the world’s largest mining convention in downtown Toronto. This year, the convention featured a track on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) that was open to the public. The final session of this track was a CEO panel featuring Jamie Sokalsky, the CEO of Barrick Gold.

While Sokalsky tried to present Barrick’s CSR program as more than just window dressing, I got ahold of the mic to draw attention to the very real and on-going human rights abuses at two of Barrick’s mine sites, first in North Mara, Tanzania and then in Porgera, Papua New Guinea. Unfazed by the fact that they turned off my mic, I raised my voice to speak louder about the scale of the devastation in Papua New Guinea. Finally, the security escorted me out as I handed out footnoted fact sheets to the audience at the forum.

FACT SHEET: http://protestbarrick.net/article.php…

This is the text of the fact sheet I distributed at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference in Toronto on May 5, 2013. It is just the tip of the iceberg regarding Barrick’s abuses, but enough points to prove a point that Barrick does not promote sustainable development at their mine sites. The fact sheet also debunks the myth that self-reporting can replace regulation and independent monitoring of mining activity.

camera: Zach Ruiter
director: Sakura Saunders
editors: Zach Ruiter and Sakura Saunders