Canada: Activists protest open-pit mines by staking claim to Mount Royal

MONTREAL -- The Quebec government's decision to protect the famed Mount Royal from mining companies didn't deter a group of activists from staking their own claims to the Montreal landmark yesterday.

In an effort to draw attention to the many international communities that are forced to live beside Canadian-operated open-pit gold mines, the activists sealed off a large swath of Mount Royal, which dominates the city's landscape.

Dressed in hard hats and white coveralls - the logo of their mock company RoyalOr emblazoned on the back - and toting tape, stakes and surveying equipment, the activists neatly placed the legal documentation affirming their mining rights claim in an envelope addressed to the province's Natural Resources Department and toasted their feat with a bottle of champagne.

"It's going to be a beautiful, beautiful open-pit mine," actor-cum-activist Jason McLean told the group of about 80 participants. "Imagine a big hole right here.

"Yes, we'll have evictions ... nobody will suffer. Everyone will be okay with a mine in Montreal."

The participants included activists from Mexico, Honduras, Chile, Papua New Guinea, Argentina and Malartic, Que. - all of whom are fighting Canadian gold mining companies that have set up in their communities.

Carlos Amador of Honduras said local residents in Valle de Siria are suffering a variety of health problems due to water contamination from mines, while farmers have seen their businesses collapse as rivers and wells have dried out because of the mine's massive consumption of water.

Enrique Rivera Sierra of Mexico said while communities have won court cases against Canadian mining companies, corrupt government officials have allowed environmental and land title abuses to persist and those who speak out have faced beatings, death threats and worse.

Meanwhile, Nicole Kirouac of the 3,800-strong town of Malartic said the mining project in her community in northwestern Quebec has forced the relocation of 200 families and the destruction of five of the town's eight public buildings.

Yesterday's stunt, aimed at drawing attention to the perils of open-pit gold mining and calling for changes to mining laws, drew the attention of the provincial government.

On Friday, the department responsible for mines declared Mount Royal a protected zone that is off limits to surveyors.

A department spokeswoman said it was simply an added precaution as the landmark was declared a historic site in 2005.

"We effectively imposed an additional moratorium but, regardless, a mining company couldn't just stake a claim on Mount Royal without permission from the city [which owns the land] and the Culture Department because it's a historic site," Jolyane Pronovost said.

Daviken Studnicki-Gizbert, a McGill University professor of Mexican history and one of the event organizers, saw it as a small victory.

"The message is to start thinking about what's actually happening elsewhere in the world, what's happening in Quebec and Ontario," he said.

Noting Ontario is the only province so far to look at modernizing its archaic mining laws, he called on Quebec and other provinces to do the same.

His group also wants the government to provide legal recourse to international communities that are adversely affected by the mining practices of Canadian companies abroad.

Two You Tube videos relate to this story:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co7LYXomb8E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCn6ABA4jes