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Corporate Social Responsibility

Honourable Joe Oliver: Minister of Natural Resources Canada – Speech at the Canada Mining Innovation Council Signature Event 2012 (January 31, 2012 – Toronto, Canada)

The Canada Mining Innovation Council Signature Event 2012″ brings together industry, academic and government decision-makers to discuss the need for innovation in mining in Canada. 

“…so I’d like to take a moment to talk about the Ring of Fire, a
relatively new mining region in the James Bay lowlands….For Ontario, this area is of strategic importance since it could open up the entire region to greater prosperity.  It has significant potential to create wealth, and provide taxes and royalties for government.”  (Joe Oliver, Minister Natural Resources Canada)

The Hon. Joe Oliver: 

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much.  Thank you also for all your good work and your leadership of this important council. 

Et sincère remerciement au Conseil canadien d’innovation minière pour l’occasion de prendre part à la discussion de ce matin. 

Thank you very much to the Canadian Mining Innovation Council (CMIC) for the opportunity to be part of the discussion this morning.  It’s an honour to be here on behalf of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.  As Canada’s Minister responsible for mining, I take pride in being part of this network of industry, government and academic leaders who are working together to strengthen Canada’s role as a global leader in mining innovation. 

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NGOs are part of the mining conversation – by Chris Eaton, Rosemary McCarney and Dave Toycen (Globe and Mail – January 31, 2012)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Chris Eaton is executive director of World University Service of Canada. Rosemary McCarney is president and CEO of Plan Canada. Dave Toycen is president and CEO of World Vision Canada.

Canadian companies are major drivers of economic growth in the global South. With 75 per cent of the world’s mining companies headquartered here, Canadians have a heightened responsibility to ensure these companies are helping and not hindering community development when they operate in poorer countries.

The reality is that mining companies are expanding their operations into complex environments where development agencies like ours – Plan Canada, World University Service of Canada and World Vision – have worked for decades.

These companies are already significant development actors in their own right, but complex development problems cannot be solved through routine approaches. Innovations and new partnerships between non-governmental organizations and the private sector offer unique avenues to help ensure that major Canadian economic investments translate into a development pattern that benefits all.

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Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia (AME BC) – Aboriginal Involvement in B.C. Mining Sector Video – January 13, 2012

Stepping Stones to Success AME BC is the predominant voice of mineral exploration and development in British Columbia. Established in 1912, AME BC represents thousands of members including geoscientists, prospectors, engineers, entrepreneurs, exploration companies, suppliers, mineral producers, and associations who are engaged in mineral exploration and development in BC and throughout the world. Through leadership, …

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Questions raised about foreign aid link with resource development – by Elizabeth Payne (Montreal Gazette – January 27, 2012)

http://www.montrealgazette.com/index.html

The Conservative government is fundamentally realigning the way Canada delivers foreign aid, using private-sector partners in the mining and agricultural sectors. In some instances the government’s aid agency is even helping write legislation regulating the mining industry in developing countries.

But if the policy direction at the Canadian International Aid Agency seems to blur the line between Canada’s economic interests and international development goals, it is not something that worries International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda. When asked, during an interview with the Citizen, how she separates Canada’s trade and foreign policy interests from Canadian development goals, she replied: “I really don’t separate them.”

“I think if we can increase the capacity of any country to become a global trading partner, if they’ve got products Canadians need, we can import them, and if Canada has products they would like, Canada can export them.”

And Oda says she wants to see more partnerships between aid agencies and companies to help deliver Canadian aid around the world.

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[Mining] Industry’s side of the story – by Ross Gallinger (Ottawa Citizen – January 25, 2012)

This opinion piece is from the Ottawa Citizen: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/index.html

Re: What is going on at CIDA?, Jan. 19.

Ross Gallinger, Toronto Executive Director, Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada

Elizabeth Payne’s recent opinion piece about the Canadian International Development Agency includes several references to development projects involving threeway partnerships between CIDA, NGOs and mining companies.

We disagree with the assertion that significant aid dollars are supporting the work of Canadian mining interests overseas and believe it’s an inaccurate characterization of Canadian exploration and development companies.

The three projects involving three-way partnerships between CIDA, NGOs and mining companies are initiatives over and above the corporate social responsibility work the companies are already doing at the mine sites. CIDA is not financing the corporate social responsibility programs of these companies.

Many critics of mineral exploration and development are quick to judge and quick to brandish those judgments on their websites and in the media. Industry’s side of the story rarely gets told, but we have a side and it deserves more airtime than it gets.

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What is going on at CIDA? [Aid dollars support miners] – by Elizabeth Payne (Ottawa Citizen – January 19, 2012)

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/index.html

Canada’s aid agency is becoming more politicized, less effective, and less transparent, writes Elizabeth Payne

Something is rotten at the Canadian International Development Agency. Many things, in fact, according to increasingly vocal critics who say Canada’s international development organization is becoming more politicized, less effective, and less transparent under the Conservative government, despite persistent claims to the contrary.

If CIDA has really introduced “more transparency, timeliness and predictability” as International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda claims, there is little sign of it.

Aid agencies are frustrated and demoralized by delays and lack of transparency in their dealings with CIDA. Some have cut programs and laid off staff as a result.

And the government’s recent habit of prioritizing and then deprioritizing countries for foreign aid dollars makes it difficult for aid agencies to build long-term relationships and has perplexed many in the international community.

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NEWS RELEASE: Canada Makes Steady Progress on Corporate Social Responsibility in Developing Countries

Canada NewsWire: Report on Mining, Oil and Gas Companies CSR Initiatives Released

OTTAWA, Jan. 19, 2012 /CNW/ – The Mining Association of Canada (MAC) today released a report providing an update on the status of recommendations arising from the National Roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the Canadian Extractive Industry in Developing Countries.

In 2007, Mining Association of Canada staff participated on an advisory group to the federal government that included representatives of the extractive industry, the investment community, civil society, academia and government. The advisory group reached an unprecedented consensus and produced a report that included 27 recommendations related to different aspects of CSR in the developing world. These recommendations remain an important reference for on-going discussions about CSR and the extractive industry in Canada.

The report released today by MAC is the result of a research project commissioned by MAC’s International Social Responsibility Committee to review, identify and understand the actions taken by government and other actors to implement the Roundtables’ recommendations, as well to identify current gaps.  The report shows that 18 of the report’s 27 recommendations have been fully or partially implemented, such as the following:

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Still time for Vale [pollution control] – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – December 29, 2011)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

After completing what it calls an in-depth technical review, the Ministry of the Environment has approved Vale Ltd.’s application for more time — 10 years — to comply with new standards for nickel emissions that go into effect in 2016.

The approvals pertain to the Copper Cliff Smelter Complex, which is about to undergo a $2- billion retrofit to reduce sulphur dioxide, nickel and other emissions.

The ministry announced its decision Wednesday on its Environmental Registry. It said it determined it was feasible for Vale to reduce nickel emissions from 15 micrograms per cubic metre currently, averaged over 24 hours, to three micrograms per cubic metre averaged over 24 hours in 2015.

From July 1, 2015, to June 30, 2016, it will maintain that standard of three micrograms per cubic metre on a 24-hour average.

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The Victor Mine: Description of De Beers Canada’s Success – by Canadian Business Ethics Research Network (CBERN)

Canadian Business Ethics Research Network (CBERN)

The Canadian Business Ethics Research Network (CBERN) aims to promote knowledge-sharing and partnerships within the field of business ethics and across private, governmental, voluntary and academic sectors. CBERN also aims to support work from inception to dissemination, from graduate student research and fellowship opportunities to promoting the projects of established professionals. http://www.cbern.ca/home/

The Victor Mine: Description of De Beers Canada’s Success

• The following sections provide insight into the strategy pursued by De Beers and important facts about the Victor project and nearby communities, while providing additional context to the agreements between the company and communities.

In contrast to the conflict-ridden and failed development of exploration claims by Platinex, the recent development and opening of the Victor diamond mine by De Beers Canada has been heralded as “a shining example of responsible development in northern Ontario” (DBC, 2006). Although it has taken years of hard work, De Beers has successfully engaged with nearby First Nations to garner their acceptance and even support of mining operations at Victor.

This acceptance is best exemplified by the signing of three Impact and Benefit Agreements (IBAs) with the First Nations along Ontario’s James Bay coast. In order to better understand the relationship between the company and communities, the following sections provide insight into the strategy pursued by De Beers and important facts about the Victor project and nearby communities, while providing additional context to the agreements between the company and communities.

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Business Network News (BNN) Interview with Jennifer Hooper- Vale VP Sustainability (December 21, 2011)

Vale is spending $2 billion on the largest environmental project in the history of the company to reduce sulpher dioxide emissions at their Sudbury smelter. When the project is completed, the sulpher emissions will have been decreased by over 95% over the past thirty years. BNN interviews Jennifer Hooper: Vale Vice-President of Sustainability: http://watch.bnn.ca/#clip589421

Steel, Vale double donation [to Sudbury United Way] – by Laura Stricker (Sudbury Star – December 21, 2011)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

The temperature was a frigid -40 C. The boy was found drunk, wearing a T-shirt and didn’t know where he lived. Without the outreach organization the Red Coats — and the financial support it gets from United Way — the boy could have died on Sudbury’s streets that night, Jeanne Warwick- Conroy said.

Thanks to a large donation from Vale and the United Steelworkers, and the money raised by Sudburians this year, the United Way is able to continue supporting the community. The annual Vale-United Steelworkers fundraiser more than doubled what it raised in 2010, to the tune of $734,710.

“It’s an amazing amount of money,” Warwick-Conroy, the chair of the 2011 United Way campaign, said Tuesday afternoon. “We are so delighted. They’ve worked so hard, they’re so generous, and they will be helping 54 agencies in the city of Sudbury to meet their goals.”

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NEWS RELEASE: KWG $2 MILLION PLACEMENT TO ASSIST UNITED WAY OF THUNDER BAY & WASAYA GROUP/WASAYA WEE-CHEE-WAY-WIN INC., IN THE FOUNDING OF CROMARTY H.S. RESIDENCES

Montreal, Canada – December 21, 2011 – KWG Resources Inc. (TSXV: KWG) advises that it is working  with the United Way of Thunder Bay to facilitate donations of up to $2 million for the founding by Wasaya Group of residences for students of the Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School.

Chief Theresa Okimaw-Hall, Executive Director of KWG’s transportation subsidiary Canada Chrome Corporation explained,

“KWG will complete a private placement of flow-through shares to fund its half of the current drilling program at the Big Daddy deposit being conducted by Cliffs Natural Resources.  The purchasers of the flow-through shares will then donate the shares to the United Way of Thunder Bay. The funds derived from their sale, through a working agreement with KWG Resources and the Wasaya Group/WasayaWee-Chee-Way-Win Inc. will then be made available for the acquisition, furnishing and maintenance of residences for students attending the Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School.”

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[Noront supported] Fund to cheer up kids near Ring of Fire – by Northwest Bureau (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – December 4, 2011)

Above Photo: Todd Hlushko with Webequie youth during Noront hockey clinic in December, 2010 – photo by Kaitlyn Ferris

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

To make a donation to the Ring of Fire Christmas Fund, visit the website: www.northsouthpartnership.com , click on the icon, Donate Now through CanadaHelps.org , and type in: Christmas Fund-Marten Falls/Webequie FNs.

A Toronto-based mining company wants to ensure that 350 children in two remote First Nations near the Ring of Fire mining district have presents for Christmas. Noront Resources Ltd. in co-operation with the North-South Partnership for Children, is running its third annual Ring of Fire Christmas Fund .

In the past two years the company has raised over $40,000 and has ensured that every child under age 12, both on- and off-reserve in Marten Falls and Webequie has received a wrapped gift.

Funds for the program are raised through donations from Noront, suppliers, investors, employees and friends of the company.

Noront uses 100 per cent of the proceeds towards the gifts, wrapping, and transportation of Santa and his gifts; as well as hosting Christmas festivities in both of the First Nation communities.

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Mining sector supports First Nations – by Pierre Gratton and Tom Ormsby (Saskatoon StarPhoenix – December 16, 2011)

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/index.html

Gratton is president CEO of the Mining Association of Canada and Ormsby is director of external & corporate affairs at De Beers Canada. A recent StarPhoenix editorial reflected on the mining boom underway in Saskatchewan and the need for the mining sector to partner with Canada’s First Nations. We couldn’t agree more.

For evidence that the mining sector understands this fully, one need look no further than Cameco, the world’s largest uranium miner headquartered in Saskatoon, to find the company with the largest number of First Nations employees in Canada.

In fact, there are now close to 200 agreements between mining companies and aboriginal communities across Canada. These typically include hiring targets, business opportunities and training, financial compensation and other components to ensure that local aboriginal communities are primary beneficiaries of mining developments that occur on their traditional lands.

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Public funds wasted on mining ‘counsellor’- by Kate Heartfield (Ottawa Citizen – November 21, 2011)

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/index.html

Kate Heartfield is the Citizen’s deputy editorial pages editor.

Watchdog only valuable if it protects Canada’s reputation, betters industry

In October 2009, the federal government appointed Marketa Evans as the country’s first “counsellor” on the subject of corporate social responsibility in the mining sector. After two years, her taxpayer-funded office has accepted only two cases for review.

The first review ended abruptly and without resolu-tion, when the mining company involved – Excellon Resources Inc. – pulled out. The second review is at an early stage of “trust-building” between the parties, a stage that can last about six months; the next stage is structured dialogue.

This was a predictable result. The Office of the Extractive Sector Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Counsellor (a name designed to glaze eyes) depends on the voluntary participation of both sides – the party that makes the complaint, and the subject of the complaint. The flaw in this system is obvious.

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