Four warning signs that free expression is at risk in Canada -- by Franke James

Cross-posted from the website of Franke James, environmental artist and activist, with her permission. See also our 2009 post about her green driveway.

Here is the presentation I gave at the Ai Weiwei  event organized by the CJFE and the AGO. I have added notes in italics and a couple of slides, so you can follow along.

And in fact…

Nope. I never thought for a minute I’d get in trouble for speaking up — because I live in Canada! But I did get in trouble. So let me tell you the 4 warning signs I see…

However the artwork I submitted was considered too provocative and off-message from the sponsor’s brand.

I could have given the example of Librarians being muzzled. Or Canada’s wounded soldierswho have been told not to criticize the government online. Or aboriginal groups  who are protesting the government’s failure to consult, but this talk was brief… So I focused on scientists being muzzled, and pointed to how they are protesting  the ‘death of evidence’ . This photo (licensed from CP) shows the protest on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, July 2012. In September 2013, scientists again protested the muzzling of science on the Hill — and on university campuses. “The facts do not change just because the Harper government has chosen ignorance over evidence and ideology over honesty.”

You know Canada has a problem when our friendly neighbours to the south give us sharp rebukes like this recent Editorial in the New York Times, which points out that the Harper government’s silencing of scientists is an attempt to “guarantee public ignorance”. I agree. The Canadian public at large is not worried about climate change because the scientific evidence has been buried. One infuriating example: In 2008, a major Health Canada report on the impact of climate change on human health was suppressed. If Canadians were properly informed they would want to take action rather than hiding their heads in the tar sands.

News of Harper’s Enemy List broke in July 2013. I took the opportunity to write a Letter to the Editor at the Hill Times stating that the PMO’s Enemy List infringes on our rights to free expression. Many people are afraid to speak up lest they get on Harper’s Enemy List too!

See Voices-Voix for who is who on the blacklist flag above. Below is a short summary of how I discovered I was blacklisted by the Harper Government in 2011 and why they were interfering in my proposed European art show… Read the full story in Banned on the Hill.

The AGO crowd cheered and broke out in spontaneous applause  when I said, “If art has to agree with government policies then art is government propaganda”.

In September 2011, I hosted a ‘Blacklisting Party‘ to raise funds for my protest art show in Ottawa in November 2011. The ‘thank you’ note below is a perfect example of a person self-censoring themselves out of fear of government reprisals.

In May 2013, I shared the news of the Guardian UK writing about my new book with a friend from an environmental organization. His response is an example of the culture of fear in Canada — and why an independent individual like me has an important role to play in speaking up.

Here’s the wrap-up on how we can fight for our right to free expression! I had learned some hard lessons in how corporations and the Canadian government can stifle free expression when you are “off-message”. So I turned to the very democratic crowd-funding platformIndiegogo to help me raise funds for an outdoor art show. My pitch…

I wanted to raise $5,000 to put this poster up in Ottawa.

Within 45 days, 221 people had pitched in more than enough money to make it happen! 

The posters went up in Ottawa and succeeded in getting people talking about climate change (and government censorship). There was media coverage from coast-to-coast, in newspapers, online, radio and TV. And some in the USA too.

Enough money was raised to also take the posters to Halifax. Dalhousie University asked me to give a talk to 375 students. and conduct an art workshop. It was a big success. 

So does government censorship of the arts work? Playwright Michael Healey nails it…

Then I showed the audience my new poster opposing the Keystone XL pipeline…

And I announced my BIG news…

The Indiegogo crowd-funding, together with support from Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Sierra Club and National Wildlife Federation has made the Washington DC art show happen!

Censored Canadian Artist Launches DC Anti-Tar Sands Ad Campaign…

Washington, DC – Franke James, a Canadian environmental writer, illustrator and activist is bringing her protest art show to DC in the form of a series of bus stop advertisements along Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenue.

The five-figure ad buy will run through November, and features six pieces of art in protest of Canada’s attempts to silence environmental voices, including hers. The bus stop locations are at 7th & Pennsylvania NW, 10th & Pennsylvania NW, 8th & Pennsylvania SE, 7th & Constitution NW, and 15th & Constitution NW.

One poster shows the Canadian Parliament Buildings dropped into the tar sands with the words, “Do Not Talk about Climate Change. It Is Against Canada’s Policy.” Another uses text from The Guardian that says, “Canada Is The Dirty Old Man” and features a Stephen Harper caricature wearing a trench coat and revealing his tar sands oil barrel undergarments.

“Canadians’ right to free expression is being quietly eroded by a pro-oil government insistent on promoting tar sands and silencing anyone who might interfere with those plans,” said Franke James. “Rather than the friendly neighbor to the north, Canada has become the dirty old man.”

James is part of a Canadian delegation that will be in Washington, DC next week for high-level meetings and to share the Canadian perspective of the Harper government, tar sands, and climate change.

Under the government of Stephen Harper, Canada has been cracking down on dissenting voices, including scientists, activists, and artists. Documents show that James fell victim to this aggressive censorship when her 20-city European art show was cancelled as a direct result of behind-the-scenes government interference by high-level bureaucrats, including the Deputy Director of Climate Change, Jeremy Wallace, a Canadian Ambassador Scott Heatherington and a Senior Trade Commissioner in Berlin Thomas Marr.

James has vigorously and creatively fought back against the government’s interference and censorship calling it an infringement on her right to free expression. James used freedom of information laws to obtain 2,172 internal government documents concerning herself, and used those documents as the basis for Banned on the Hill: A True Story about Dirty Oil and Government Censorship, the book in which James tells how she first discovered she was being censored by the Canadian government—and how she fought back.

Just this week, James participated in a Toronto event to honor the Chinese activist artist Ai Weiwei and pay tribute to his relentless pursuit of free expression, where she gave a presentation titled “Four Warnings Signs that Free Expression is at Risk in Canada.”

Franke James will be giving an illustrated talk, “Speaking up for the climate and against censorship” at Georgetown University on Wednesday, October 9th at 6:30pm. It is open to the public.

The delegation, featuring some of Canada’s leading environmental leaders, including Dr. David Suzuki and Tzeporah Berman, will participate in a briefing at the National Press Club on Friday, October 11th from 9:00-10:30 am about Canada’s failed climate policies, anti-democratic actions, and tar sands expansion goals. See the media release and the six posters…

4 Warning Signs Credits

“Four Warning Signs” copyright Franke James, 2013. All writing, illustration and photography by Franke James with the following exceptions in order of appearance…
“Franke James with cardboard Ai Weiwei” photo by Henry’s Camera staff
Billboard art – “Decked Mackerel” by Mary Pratt
Billboard art – “The Stuff of Life” by Jack Shadbolt “Death of Evidence” photo by Fred Chartrand, Canadian Press
New York Times Editorial: Silencing Scientists by Verlyn Klinkenborg
The Guardian UK: Artist finds inspiration in Canadian government’s attempt to silence herby Suzanne Goldenberg
“Franke James in Halifax” photo by Nick Pearce, Dalhousie News
Michael Healey quote “Art Under Harper” Broken Pencil Magazine
The Ai Weiwei: Voices of Freedom event was organized by the CJFE and the AGO.

Slam Shell -- by Peng! Collective.

Yesterday in Berlin, Shell Oil held a Science Slam to showcase young scientists` ideas about renewable energies and puff up its image of corporate responsibility. 

German activists who oppose Arctic drilling hacked the greenwashing party with a prank reminiscent of North America's Yes men -- reminding Shell that pretending to support 'green' projects is not good enough, that Arctic drilling is an unrecoverable accident waiting to happen.

Peng! Collective may not have the money Shell has, with just €300 budget for what should be a $3 million campaign, but they have passion and imagination.  Visit the website SlamShell.com, inform yourself and donate.   

More about the whole context of Arctic drilling
USGS estimates the Arctic could add 13% to world oil consumption. US National Research Council experts warn Business As Usual trends could bring sudden and surprising climate "tipping points" : floods, droughts, storms, sealevel rise. The SEC fails to demand transparency from extractive industries. The EPA greatly underestimated methane emissions. The US govt is selling more gas and oil leases in the Arctic. Ocean Conservancy and NRDC warn, among other reasons, that spill recovery there could face sea ice up to 25 feet thick, hurricane-force storms and 20-foot swells. They cite last year's near-disaster (only [!] 3 killed, no spill) of Shell’s oil rig, Kulluk, in a place with no access roads, only a few small airports and the nearest Coast Guard station 1,000 miles away. Inuit have called for a moratorium. The Arctic drilling rush includes Russia, Norway, Canada, Denmark and Iceland; with possible armed conflict over boundaries, says the NYTimes, quoting NATO’s top military commander. How many reasons do we need NOT to drill? Then why and how are we doing it?

Cartoon by Seppo Leinonen, www.seppo.net/e/

More at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_exploration_in_the_Arctic

Canada-Africa: The mines and the money -- from Africa Report

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Canada-Africa: The mines and the money, by Travis Lupick -- cross-posted from Africa Report 25 Nov 2013. (our italics)

Buoyed by successes forged in mines and oil sands at home, Canadian companies are moving steadily into Africa. The government, meanwhile, is making sure that aid and private sector activities benefit each other. After decades honing skills at home, Canadian mining companies are on the march. Toronto has established itself as a major fundraising destination for African mining exploration. Canadian oil and natural gas interests in Africa are small but growing, while Canadian firms are winning infrastructure management contracts.

While China may need to nudge its companies to seek natural resources abroad, what is clear is that Canadian mining companies have not waited for the government policy to shift before investing in Africa. "Canada is a pretty large outward investor," says Pierre Gratton, president and chief executive of the Mining Association of Canada. "We're one of the larger players on the continent." According to Natural Resources Canada, a federal ministry, there were 155 Canadian companies with cumulative mining assets totalling more than C$31.6bn ($30.5bn) operating in 39 countries in Africa in 2011, the latest available figures. That was up from $26.9bn in 2010. 

This is not to say that government has stayed idle. Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper has negotiated investment promotion and protection agreements with a number of countries, including Benin, Cameroon, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Zambia. At the 2005 Gleneagles G8 summit in Scotland, Canada pledged to double its annual aid budget for Africa. It met that commitment in 2008-2009 and has since surpassed it, with assistance to Africa rising to C$2.4bn in 2011-2012. But, openly sceptical of aid, his government has attracted praise and criticism for the extent to which it has matched international development with foreign policy and private sector interests. In March 2013, Canada's government amalgamated the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the arm of the government responsible for international aid, into the rebranded Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development. "Imagine the uproar that would have ensued if Barack Obama had folded USAID," one former CIDA official remarked.

Polishing the image

Private sector groups have applauded the new institutional framework. "I think we are moving beyond aid," says Lucien Bradet, president of the Canadian Council on Africa (CCA) [a business lobby that claims to be about aid]. "That's why we have to be more strategic in our approach." But [in Killing CIDA: the wrong solution to real problems] Stephen Brown, an associate professor of political science at the University of Ottawa, recently criticised the Harper government's move against the development organisation, which includes policies that see dollars marked for foreign assistance go to Canadian mining companies funding training programmes. "It does nothing to improve aid effectiveness," Brown argues. "It's really about rehabilitating the image of Canadian mining companies, distracting public attention away from their practices ... and transforming their image from resource extractors to humanitarian actors."

Brown points out that 20 CIDA "countries of focus" have among the top 12 largest reserves of the six most important metals in the world. The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and the TSX Venture Exchange for venture capital firms are the primary destinations to raise capital for mining exploration worldwide. During the first nine months of 2012, 89% of all global mining equity financings occurred on those markets, according to a TSX report from December 2012. Bruce Shapiro, president of MineAfrica, a Toronto-based marketing company, says "there is an appetite for risk because people are used to mining and are used to the risks involved."

Lack of transparency

Some African companies seek listings in Canada because of poor liquidity at home. Oando Energy Resources, a leading Nigerian oil and gas company, began trading on the TSX in July 2012.

South Africa's Delrand Resources, which mines diamonds in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Rockwell Diamonds, which mines in South Africa, both listed on the TSX in 2008. A number of measures, including favourable tax regimes and investment agreements, make Canada an advantageous base for a mining company. In March 2013, the federal government extended a 15% federal mineral exploration tax credit that was due to expire. Junior firms involved in exploration abroad praised the decision. 

Yet Mining Watch Canada, an independent watchdog, cautions that there are very few laws governing the conduct of Canadian companies operating abroad. "In many instances, local governments simply do not have the capacity," Jamie Kneen, a coordinator for MiningWatch says. "There are serious risks for the environment and health of the nearby communities." [World Vision's deal with Ottawa and Barrick Gold to reduce Peruvian peasant protest is a notorious example, despite its expensive TV campaigns asking donations to help "child miners"].

A recent court decision may change the legal dynamics for companies operating abroad. On 22 July 2013, a provincial court ruled that a lawsuit against Hudbay Minerals concerning human rights abuses in Guatemala could proceed to trial in Canada. International investors including pension funds and global asset management companies are also urging Harper to make good on a pledge at the G8 meeting in June to introduce more stringent transparency rules for extractive industry companies listed in Canada. While the Dodd-Frank legislation in the United States and the European Union's Accounting and Transparency Directives have put pressure on companies to disclose payments made to governments, no such legislation exists in Canada. [See our previous post, Canada: the Liberian flag of mining].

AOC-Tullow in Kenya

For now, Canadian oil operations by firms including Canadian Resources and Sunco Energy in West and North Africa have remained largely below the radar. However, junior explorer Africa Oil Corporation's finds in Kenya and Ethiopia have fed the oil rush in East Africa. In September, the firm increased the estimate of the contingent oil reserves in the South Lokichar Basin in Kenya, where it operates with Irish firm Tullow, by 557% to 368m barrels after an independent assessment. In addition to natural resources, the training and services sector is a profitable one for Canadian companies. "We don't export a lot of goods, but we do export a lot of know-how," says the CCA's Bradet. "I would say that every major Canadian engineering firm is present in Africa."

CRC Sogema president and chief executive Michel Côté boasts that his firm's SIGTAS financial software and information systems are running on the computers of eight African governments. Today, the Quebec-based firm is developing taxation management systems in Nigeria, Senegal and Algeria. "Nigeria will now be managing its federal taxes through our systems," he notes. "Bilingualism is an advantage for sure because, for a company like us, it lets us deliver in Nigeria like we can deliver in Senegal," he explains. Yet Peter Kieran, the president and chief executive of CPCS Transcom, wants the Canadian government to act more like China's: "The Chinese government plays such a strong coordinating role that their companies are able to offer projects that go all the way from conceptual design through to financing, engineering and construction." CPCS Transcom is involved in the privatisation of Nigeria's electricity network, acting as the lead transaction adviser for privatisation of generation and distribution companies. The company is also active in railway planning in the East African Community.

Suits and Sandals

David Baron, chief executive of Cowater International, an Ottawa-based management and consulting firm, says Canadian companies lag behind their Australian and American counterparts when it comes to acting as engines for development. Baron says Cowater's business model is made up of projects he calls "suits" and "sandals". A new high-level "suits" project in Malawi — helping the government build internal audit systems — is expected to turn a decent profit. Meanwhile, a "sandals" project building water and sanitation services in northern Mozambique will earn the company less. For now, trade volumes have taken a back seat to investment. Canada's trade minister Ed Fast cautions that the country is not looking to significantly strengthen trade ties just yet. "We'd like to establish a foothold in Africa when it comes to trade," he says. "But right now, most of our focus is on the investment front."

Other examples of Canadian mining ventures in Africa 

Endeavour Mining - Mali  

open-pit gold mine, Côte d'Ivoire

The company claims Mali mine production
almost doubled last year

Political instability has not slowed Endeavour Mining's operation in western Mali. The firm's Tabakoto mine produced 110,301oz of gold in 2012 and estimates production to grow to 135,000-150,000oz in 2013.

Allana's 312 sq.km Dalol project

Allana Potash - Ethiopia
Allana Potash plans to make $642m in capital expenditures for four projects in Ethiopia's northeast. It expects to make good on that investment in just 3 years, with a projected production rate of 1m tn per year of potash, a potassium-based mineral used in fertilizer.

Kansanshi

First Quantum Minerals - Zambia
First Quantum Minerals' Kansanshi mine opened in 2005 and has since expanded to make it the largest copper mine on the continent. Further developments are projected to increase its production of 340,000tn of copper per year to an estimated 400,000tn by 2015.

Platinum Group Metal - South Africa
South Africa's Bushveld Complex is estimated to contain 90% of the world's platinum resources. Platinum Group Metals's project there will not enter the production phase until 2015. It holds 74% of its joint venture and Wesizwe Platinum holds 24%. [Nothing is said about the indigenous San Bushmen, forced out into squalid "resettlement camps".]

Sherritt International - Madagascar
Sherritt International's Ambatovy open-pit mine located 80km east of Antananarivo became fully operational in 2012. It has an annual design capacity of 60,000tn of nickel and 5,600tn of cobalt. It has a projected lifespan of 27 years.

[Sherritt calls this Ambatovy tailings pond "sustainable"-- like it called the one that just broke in Alberta, releasing a billion tons of toxics into the Athabasca River headwaters]