Canada human rights plans fraught with peril, say experts and activists
OTTAWA — Luis Fernando Monroy has literally found himself in the crosshairs of a Canadian foreign policy dilemma: Is Canada truly living up to its commitment to protecting ethnic and minority rights across the globe?
In April 2013, he was shot three times in the face and once in the back by security guards outside the gates of Guatemala’s Escobal mine, operated by Canada’s Tahoe Resources Inc. (TSX:THO).
Monroy was part of group protesting the environmental impact the Canadian mine was having on his rural southeastern Guatemalan community, the disruption of rural life in the indigenous area and a lack of consultation.
That has become a familiar complaint against Canada’s all-dominant mining industry, which owns more the half the companies operating in Latin America, Asia and Africa.