JCK Online
JCK editor-in-chief Victoria Gomelsky and news director Rob Bates talk with human rights activist and author Ian Smillie, one of the architects of the Kimberley Process. Ian’s unlikely career began when he volunteered to teach high school in Sierra Leone more than 50 years ago and has led him to become a leading advocate for ending the “blood diamond” trade.
In this episode, Ian discusses his quest to improve life for artisanal miners, the threats they face from the rise of lab-grown stones, and his new memoir about a life dedicated to combatting global poverty. Victoria and Rob welcome Ian Smillie, a Canadian human rights activist who was instrumental in the campaign against blood diamonds.
His industry-changing career happened almost by accident. After college, Ian joined Cuso International, the Canadian equivalent of the Peace Corps, and in 1967 was assigned to teach high school in Koidu, Sierra Leone—which was then, as now, the center of the country’s diamond industry. “It was really like the Klondike, the Wild West,” he remembers.
For the rest of this summary or the radio podcast: https://www.jckonline.com/editorial-article/podcast-jewelry-district-ep-137/