Rights Action co-director Grahame Russell will be in Prince George Oct. 26-28 to talk about how Canadian companies are contributing to human rights violations in Central America.
In May, 2010 Russell partnered with UNBC geography professor Catherine Nolin and eight students from Prince George to investigate the conduct of Canadian mining companies in Guatemala.
Partially as a result of their efforts, a precedent-setting lawsuit was launched in April by 11 Guatemalan women against Canadian mining company HudBay Minerals and its subsidiaries alleging rape, beatings and forced evictions at the site of the Fenix nickel mining project. The lawsuit filed in Ontario court is seeking $55 million in damages on behalf of women of the indigenous Mayan Q'eqchi community of Lote Ocho, which is located on the mine site.
HudBay Minerals categorically denied the allegations, which have not been proven in court. However, on Sept. 9 the company sold its interest in the Fenix project to the Solway Group for $170 million.
Russell will be speaking at Art Space on Oct. 26 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and at UNBC on Oct. 28 from noon to 1:30 p.m. in UNBC room 5-183.
