 
A missed opportunity for a new vision:
KAIROS Commentary on Prime Minister Harper's
Trip to Latin America
20 July 2007
Contents
Stephen Harper's decision to renew Canadian engagement with Latin
America is laudable; however, the Prime Minister missed a great
opportunity during his recent visit there to launch a new diplomatic
vision for Canada. Instead, Mr Harper demonstrated a remarkable
lack of creativity, predictably looking at more open markets to
resolve some very difficult social and political issues on the continent.
In Colombia, a country suffering massive human rights violations
and corruption among many of its highest officials, Mr Harper kicked
off discussions of a free trade deal with President Alvaro Uribe,
rewarding the Colombian administration for repression and corruption
rather than insisting on progress toward peace, justice, and reform.
In Chile, at times Mr Harper sounded like the great defender the
welfare state, extolling Canada's “social cohesion”,
while at others he sounded more like a spokesperson for Canada's
big corporate lobby, praising Barrick Gold Corporation for its handling
of a controversial mining project there.
Giving priority to freer trade and more Canadian investment over
human rights and environmental concerns in countries with such deep
social divisions will only lead to greater hardship for groups already
marginalized by their governments, including indigenous groups,
unions, small businesses, and farmers.
Colombia
During the Prime Minister's visit to Colombia, Colombian labour
leaders and human rights activists begged Mr Harper to pay attention
to Colombia's most pressing social problems. Lilia Solano, director
of KAIROS partner organization Project Justice and Life, an organization
that accompanies Colombian victims of state violence, insisted that
human rights issues should be the Canadian leader's priority. “Around
the country we have 30,000 that have been detained or disappeared
in the last 10 years,” Ms Solana said, “three million
internally displaced people, thousands have been killed, so how
can someone say, OK, all this blood is running but business goes
first?"
Mr Harper called the demand to put off trade talks “ridiculous”.
Instead, Stephen Harper gave President Uribe strong support during
his visit, launching talks for a free trade agreement between the
two countries, calling for “greater economic integration through
trade and investment” to alleviate Colombia's social ills.
Colombia has suffered a decades-long civil conflict that has killed
tens of thousands of civilians and displaced millions more, and
many officials of the Colombian state – government and military
– have been deeply implicated. The roots of the conflict are
complicated, but they are grounded in social inequality and the
repression of genuine democracy, including the slaughter of many
progressive activists and politicians by right-wing paramilitary
groups often working together with the Colombian military. These
conditions have continued during the five years that President Alvaro
Uribe has been in power. According to the Colombian Commission of
Jurists, the rate of paramilitary murders -- between 800 and 900
people killed each year -- is essentially unchanged since 2003,
the year the President began “demobilizing” the armed
groups.
Canada's trade with Colombia is about $1.1 billion, making the
country one of our largest hemispheric partners. But, while more
open trade may benefit Canadian corporations, Colombia's most serious
problems will not disappear with a new trade agreement.
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Chile
In Chile, Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold has been the target
of protests over the company's gold and silver Pascua Lama Project
in the Andes Mountains. Indigenous groups and environmental organizations
argue that the mine is displacing indigenous people, polluting rivers
and damaging three glaciers — charges the company denies.
A 2002 environmental report estimates the three glaciers have shrunk
by 50 to 70 per cent, allegedly as a result of work done during
Barrick's exploratory phase, including road building. Runoff from
the glaciers fuels watersheds in the area, supplying water to many
communities. As a result of the destruction of the glaciers, there
may not be water for local communities. Local groups have lodged
a human rights complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights.
Rather than meet with affected communities to hear their concerns,
Mr Harper emerged from meetings with Barrick officials claiming
that, “Barrick follows Canadian standards of corporate social
responsibility,” referring to ethical guidelines for companies
operating abroad. The company “will follow all of the rules
with regards to the project,” he said.
But, as Canadian NGOs have pointed out before, no such standards
exist in Canada. Canada has no official policy regarding how Canadian
companies should operate abroad. In Latin America, where the Canadian
share of global mining investment stands at 37%, this is particularly
worrisome.
The Prime Minister's visit to Barrick will be viewed as a gesture
of support for the project, just as the Chilean congress is considering
steps to evaluate alleged irregularities with the approval process
for the mine. Lucio Cuenca, national co-ordinator of the Latin American
Observatory on Environmental Conflicts, pointed out that Mr Harper's
visit with Barrick implies his “tacit approval” of the
project. Mr Cuenca says that the local defence council is considering
suing Barrick for the alleged destruction of the glaciers.
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Promoting Democracy and
Human Rights
The Prime Minister claims that Canadian policy toward our hemisphere
differs from that of the United States. Unlike the US, which has
a checkered history of interests and interventions in Latin America,
Mr Harper said the region has nothing to fear from Canada. “It
is not in our past, nor within our power, to conquer or dominate,”
he said. Canada, he said, has different cultural values and social
models.
But when it comes to Canada’s impact on many communities
in Latin America, Canadian corporate citizens – with the help
of government subsidies, diplomacy and tax breaks – often
do intervene and disrupt lives and destroy livelihoods. In practice,
Canadian economic and foreign policy toward the South can look remarkably
similar to that of the US.
If the Canadian Prime Minister would only look beyond the narrowness
of ideology toward the people struggling for genuine change in Colombia,
Chile, and other places in the hemisphere, to those very people
who's ideas he termed “ridiculous” in Colombia, he would
see openness and the potential for real change throughout the region.
It's the change that women's groups, labour, victims' organizations
and other social groups are engaged in that demand Canada's support,
and not the tired vision of more foreign investment and government
repression that some leaders are trying to sell.
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