https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/from-us/briefings/expolio-canadi...
In 2023, the United Nations Human Rights Council assessed Canada in its Universal Periodic Review (UPR). Latin American civil society put Canadian business in the spotlight, highlighting abuse by companies across the region. Colombian human rights organisations submitted 11 cases to the UN involving 10 Canadian companies and investors in the departments of Antioquia, Casanare, Chocó, La Guajira, Putumayo, Santander and Tolima.
This documentary series explores the uncomfortable gap between Canada’s image and its impact abroad, asking what happens when profit is prioritised over people. Although Canada presents itself to the world as a benchmark for high human rights standards, its companies in countries such as Colombia systematically violate rights, as more than 60 testimonies from individuals and communities affected by Canadian companies point to systemic rights violations and a lack of corporate accountability, raising concerns about how the Canadian government is complicit, by action and omission, while its companies benefit financially from rights violations in other countries.
Episode 1: Disregarding Indigenous Peoples' territories
In Villagarzón, Putumayo, Indigenous Inga communities remember how in 2012 Gran Tierra Energy began seismic oil exploration activities in PUT-1 Block and ignored, in collusion with the Colombian authorities, the presence of the Inga people. As a result, the Association of Indigenous Councils of Villagarzón Putumayo - ACIMVIP filed a tutela action and in 2015 the Administrative Court of Nariño ordered the competent authorities to verify the presence of indigenous communities in the territory where the APE-La Cabaña project is being developed. In 2021, the Directorate of the National Authority for Prior Consultation of the Ministry of Interior confirmed the presence of the San Miguel de La Castellana reservation, ignoring the other indigenous settlements. Despite the fact that the company has withdrawn the APE-La Cabaña platform, communities and accompanying NGOs highlight that it continues to ignore due participation in the process of dismantling and abandoning the project, as well as the reparation of the environmental and spiritual damage caused to their territory and communities., as well as the reparation of the environmental and spiritual damage caused to their territory and communities.
In Cabo de la Vela in Uribia, La Guajira, the ancestral authorities of the Wayúu Indigenous people claim that Isagen's (part of Brookfield) "Guajira I" project did not include all affected indigenous communities in the prior consultation process in 2009 and did not respect their ancestral authority in their territory. In particular, the Indigenous territory of ancestral authority Denis Velázquez, whose cemetery is 800 metres from the wind farm infrastructure, filed a tutela action in 2022 so that she and her family could access prior consultation after being accepted within the area of direct influence of the wind project. Meanwhile, for the Wayúu people, immaterial damages that significantly affect Indigenous uses and customs are perpetuated, and Isagen's wind turbines continue to negatively impact the Wayúu's cemeteries and spiritual dimension.
Episode 2: Gone with the copper
In Mocoa, Putumayo, in the Andean-Amazon region, Indigenous Peoples and citizen collectives are expressing their concern about the Libero Copper mining project. The project, they warn, would seriously affect the harmony of spirits and the environment, especially water sources, in one of the most biodiverse territories in the world. Although they recognise the importance of copper for the energy transition, they consider that territories as fragile as the Amazon are not suitable for mineral extraction, which is why they have expressed their disagreement with the project through democratic participation mechanisms.
In El Carmen de Atrato, Chocó, peasant communities have been impacted by the operation of Miner S.A. Minera El Roble (part of Atico Mining) for decades. They are concerned that the loss of the agricultural vocation of their territory will continue and that community aqueducts will be affected by the possible expansion of the El Roble project. For its part, the trade union (Sintramienergética) reports abuses of labour rights. The guardians of the Atrato River warn that the mine operates in the upper basin of the river, declared a subject of rights by the Constitutional Court, and generates negative environmental impacts. In addition, they warn that the tailings dams that store toxic waste are located on the Atrato River and dangerously close to the municipality, generating significant risks for the population of El Carmen de Atrato and other downstream communities.
Episode 3: Energy to dam lives
In Santander, the Hidrosogamoso project of Isagen (part of Brookfield) has impacted peasant and fishing communities living along the Sogamoso and Chucurí rivers for more than 10 years. With the arrival of the dam and the Topocoro reservoir, the communities denounce affectations to their ways and means of life: alterations to their crops, destruction of ecosystems, restriction of fishing, sudden flooding of their lands, and limitation of their mobility, among other impacts that, according to their testimonies, have not been duly addressed by Isagen (part of Brookfield). They call for the company to modify its Environmental Management Plan to make reparations to the people affected by the damage caused to the Sogamoso River and the alteration of their life projects in their territories.
Episode 4: People can't eat gold
In Falan, Tolima, the peasant population is concerned about the potential environmental impacts, particularly on water, of the Santa Ana and Atocha projects of Miranda Gold, Baroyeca Gold & Silver and Outcrop Silver & Gold, currently in exploration phases. They report that they have had to go to court to expose irregularities in citizen participation, arbitrary actions by the companies and problems of access to information about the project, as well as attacks against human rights defenders who have raised their voices to demand transparency and respect for the rights of the peasant population in the project.
In the Bajo Cauca region of Antioquia, the peasant and fisherfolk of the Nechí River have suffered the negative impacts of the operation of Mineros in Nechí Alluvial Property for decades. The company is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and has had investments from the Scotiabank Group, which is why the fisherwomen and fishermen hope that Canada will control the mining operation in marshes and wetlands and its impacts on fundamental rights, as the risk to food security due to the contamination and reduction of the fish resource, together with the effects on water and air quality, have generated serious consequences for the environment and the health of the local population.
Episode 5: Risk derived from oil
Local communities in Orocué, Casanare, report environmental harms linked to Frontera Energy’s oil platform in the Matemarrano estuary, despite environmental regulations. Meanwhile, in San Luis de Palenque, Casanare, communities denounce the inadequate abandonment of Frontera Energy's Cubiro Block, which has put the animals and the local population at risk. Peasant human rights defenders who have asked the company to comply with its environmental obligations have been prosecuted and threatened by the Attorney General's Office and the Colombian security forces, financed by the oil companies. The communities of Yopal, Casanare are denouncing similar incidents with the El Portón project of Gran Tierra Energy. They point out that after peacefully protesting in defence of their right to water, the company prosecuted human rights defenders, affecting the exercise of the right to defend human rights, favouring the companies in deterioration of democratic guarantees for citizens.
The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre asked each of the mentioned companies to respond to the allegations raised by community members in this documentary. Their responses are available below.
Company responses
