 Good afternoon everyone and welcome to this webinar on mining tailings dam collapses in Canada and Brazil My name is Vanessa. I am a Humber postgraduate student Completing my placement with Kairos and I will be your facilitator this afternoon To begin I'd like to acknowledge that I am standing in the city known as Tegoronto To deliver this opening for you today and that I and the Kairos Toronto office are on the traditional Territory of the Huron-Wendin Seneca and Mississauga's of the credit indigenous peoples. I further acknowledge the work Knowledge and experience of indigenous women land defenders who are often leaders in the protection of Mother Earth Not just in Turtle Island, but across the globe for your information This webinar is being recorded. The recording will be available In the coming days on the Kairos website. I Encourage you to use the Q&A chat and windows as needed all the questions To our panelists should be posted in the Q&A Window for your information There will be two Q&A sessions So please post your questions as they arise and if you could also please type them in Portuguese That would be helpful for Daniella For those who don't know May is Month of Action for Mining Justice. This webinar was planned by Kairos to close out the month and Transition into June. June is Indigenous Women's Month at Kairos This webinar is the first in the series of four webinars that Kairos is organizing or Cosponsoring during the next few weeks On and with women land defenders the webinar series called Mother Earth and Resource Extraction Focuses on women's roles in the protection of land and water inclusive of gendered impacts and resource extraction The webinar series is also leading up to the launch of the Canadian phase of the mirror Hub a living digital hub created for and in concentration with women land defenders from across the globe This past November Kairos launched the first phase of mirror hub, which highlighted Latin America Like the first phase the Canadian phase will highlight the role of women land defenders in protecting Mother Earth as Well as include links to maps campaigns guides Toolkits and other published documents for and on land and water protection Today's webinar on tailings dam collapses will draw links between Canada and Brazil and We have the honor to have today Judith Marshall and Daniella Campolino Who are both experts on the topic? So Judith Marshall, she spent the 1970s in southern Africa Liberation solidarity activities in Toronto and worked in literacy campaigns in Mozambique in the 1980s in The 1990s she embarked on a 20-year stint in the Global Affairs Department of the Steel Workers Union She has written many articles on mining including recent Comparative studies of mine tailings dam collapses in Canada and Brazil Daniella Campolino lives in a mining community Located between the two biggest tailings dam collapses in the Americas Mariana and Bremadino She is an activist in the movement for mountains and waters of Mina's Jerry's She is a PhD student at the Federal University of Mina Jerry's doing research on the influence of mining in the education system She is in Canada as a Queen Elizabeth scholar at York University with a study grant that links research and activism So without further ado, I welcome Judith Marshall Good day to all of you And thank you for joining us in this conversation about mine tailings dam spills in the Americas Mining companies are very different in shape The way that we see mining in our lives And powerful mining companies like tech and barrack and valley do constant promotion of the mining narrative in-house The mining industry has also set up think tanks like MAC and PDAC In Canada and the London based council on mining and minerals just to make sure that Their message about what mining means is getting out to all of it They employ multitudes of researchers lobbyists and publicists who work tirelessly to promote the revealing narrative about mining In a nutshell their message is that mining is a vital necessity and can't live without it The Mining Association of Canada for example asserts that MAC and its members work with governments on policies affecting the sector And educate the public on the value Mining brings to the economy and daily life of all Canadians PDAC Advocates for federal provincial and territorial governments to put in place an enabling environment for companies mining companies to develop deposits of the minerals and metals that make modern life possible PDAC uses its annual convention in Toronto every spring To reinforce that message Happily activists many of you with us on this webinar once again found ways to disrupt The PDAC convention this year with imaginative actions both inside and outside We need to keep shining a light on the behavior of mining companies and interrupt the corporate narrative Whenever and wherever we can The Kyra's organizers asked Daniela and me to share with you how mining became so important to each of us I expect that probably many of you who chose to join us this afternoon Also have a mining community that you care about deeply Daniela's and my paths were quite different as the Introducer the introduction stated She was born in a mining community in Brazil And some of the things that she'll share with us are the dilemmas of being A high school teacher and trying to promote critical thinking about mining in a mining community totally dominated by big mining companies I myself have never lived in a mining community But during my 20 years in the global affairs department of the steel workers Issues related to mining kept coming my way At a humanity fund meeting just after I started a board member from the tech smelter in trail Told us that mining companies in bc were all packing their exploration equipment and heading to chili This was in 1992 He said his members wanted the union to help them understand why And so we began to focus on chili. We built a course called thinking north south that tackled themes like globalization trade agreements and the power of transnational corporations We promoted work at work exchanges with tech workers in canada and in chili in Peru where tech had also a bit Had new projects In 2006 a mining came my way again in a in a big fashion because brazil's mining giant valley But ink was for nickel mining complexes including those in sudbury and thompson All of those complexes had strong local unions affiliated with the steel workers Then came news that valley had won the competition to develop coal mining in mozambique a country where I worked for eight years So yet more reasons for me to pay attention to mining Then in 2010 amidst prolonged strikes in three of the mining operations valley had purchased from inco brazillian activists Invited the steel workers in canada and other organizations here to attend a meeting about valley in brazil This meeting brought 160 people from valley operations in 14 countries together for the first time They included trade unionists environmentalists social movements like the landless people's movement rights organizations indigenous activists Researcher activists and all recounted their stories of valet's impact on their lives and communities Out of that emerged the international Articulation of men and women affected by valet An articulation that continues to this day and this is how daniella and i met because In that first conference in brazil we did a pre-conference visit to miniaturize And hosted by her organization mozambique and So we met at that time and our paths keep connecting always around this question of mining After my own retirement in 2014. I stayed active in the valley network Wearing a researcher hat linked to york university and ended up writing several articles about tailing stem spills in mount paulian mariana Today we're wanting to talk to you about mining not within that mining company narrative Um as an activity that creates jobs economic growth and makes modern life possible We want to explore with you mining as an activity at the center of the limitless industrial growth that's causing global warming And we want to look at mining as an activity that creates a huge and destructive environmental footprint even at the best of times And then the worst of times it's an activity prone to colossal disasters such as the collapses of tailing stems spilling toxic materials far and wide with huge losses of life and property So in our process presentations today These conversations will take us in several directions As the slide indicates we're going to look at tailings dam breaches in these three places in mount paulian in 2014 in mariana in 2015 and in in brumadino in 2019 and then We could see on the screen the other areas that we're going to talk about We'll move from looking specifically at those three tailings dam collapses To looking at the sosu environmental impact of those collapse And one of the one of the vexing questions is who is affected? By something like a mine tailings dam collapse, which because the footprint is so big becomes Exempted encompasses many people far away from the mine site And they will be looking at corporate and government responses to the collapses. Could we see that second slide? Or is it the third one? and finally so Looking at some of the responses from mining companies and governments to the collapses And out of those responses, I think in both countries the question has come up. What do we do? When governments in fact fail to protect Mining communities miners themselves the land The water the salmon who cares when something happens in a mining community So that's roughly where we are. Um, we've kind of looked a little bit at mining in our lives Now we'll turn to tailings dam collapses And whether these should be understood as an event or a process I'm going to talk a little bit about Mines tailing dams collapsed before we actually look Visually at what happened in mount paulie in 2014 with the collapse fair so A mine's footprint is gigantic for many reasons because the mine is not just the operations of ore extraction Or a maze of underground tunnels A mining complex has many parts including earth enclosures to store mine waste There are some of the largest man-made structures in the world And then just to get to the ore body There's a need to remove the overburden of trees plants and soil first Uh, and then the rock around the ore body and this involves crushers and smelters Introduction of chemicals to get at the market of the ore So mining produces an enormous amount of waste Much of it made toxic through the extraction process And since mining companies in this hyper globalized world are all intent on getting resources to global markets The footprint extends well beyond the mining complex And into transport routes trucks trains ports where there's specialized ore carriers For example in brazil in maranhão specialized ore carriers carrying iron from brazil off to china In brazil there are even ore pipelines with water flushing the ore from extraction site to ports These tailing dams are complex engineering projects Earth enclosures that grow higher as extraction proceeds And they become much more dangerous with global warming and intense weather events In times past it was probably relatively safe for an engineer to design tailing dam specifications Based on precipitation patterns over the last 50 years Today with global warming all bets are off about patterns of precipitation and seismic activity So mining tailing dam storage areas are dangerous sites In bc when mount poly collapsed there were 123 active tailings dams in bc And the most quoted statement from the expert panel appointed to investigate the mount poly breach was the following If the inventory of active tailings dams in the province remains unchanged And performance in the future reflects that That in the past then on average there'll be two failures every 10 years and six every 30 so Mining has always been dangerous mining tailings dams are a danger that we're perhaps newly aware of because of the increased frequency of tailings dam spills and certainly these three in the america is the largest Of the recent tailings dams collapses in the world are all in the america's one in mount poly and the two in brazil And these are where we're going to Take you today to have a look at them So let's have a look at the video of mount poly and what happened in the tailings dam belonging to imperial metals collapsed We do not have the dramatic consequences like those of mariana where a toxic tsunami made its way for 10 days of destruction along this 600 plus kilometer Rio de los river system Through two states and finally arriving at the atlantic ocean And we do not have the worst industrial accident in world history killing 272 people that occurred At bruma dino a few years later And now mount poly no lives were lost No people were left homeless when the dam collapsed spilling into poly lake the hazel time creek And cannell lake a pristine glacial lake and favorite site for ecotourism All is notwithstanding the social and environmental impacts have been profound Although more dispersed both in time and place The first nation's health authority study on the health impact made two years after the collapse Allows an appreciation of the scope and the depth of the impact First The study identified the scope of the impact making contact with 47 communities Of which 23 responded and became engaged in a participatory research project The 22 indigenous communities and one non-indigenous community that responded Were all located within the giant footprint created by the mount poly copper and gold mine These communities stretched along the Fraser river system a vitally important area for salmon Cannell lake itself is the epicenter Which was the epicenter of the spill plays a key role in the salmon spawning cycle being the incubator of 20% 25% of these seas endangered wild salmon Three indigenous communities had their traditional territory directly affected A shuttle first nation also known as soda creek indian ban And the tesomek Also known as williams lake indian banned were recognized immediately by imperial medals and bc government as affected The lh tak denny first nation was also One that lost traditional territory but was not Immediately recognized and the report in fact recommends that it be recognized as a community affected and have possibilities Are claims because of having been directly affected There were also direct impacts on the one non-indigenous community involved at in a place called likely Where the tailings dam entered cannell lake And sank deep the the toxic part sank deep into the central part of this uh, fjord-like body of water The study that was done dealt deeply into the economic social and cultural determinants of health in those 23 communities And the kinds of impacts that people felt included Changes in personal fishing practices diet ability to hunt trap fish forage and travel and on their own land access to traditional territory fears over contaminated fish land and water traditional cultural practices A curtailed conflict and violation of rights The impacts on these small communities And there were many of them was largely invisible to the mining company And I venture to say after the week that daniella and I spent in williams lake In march of this year I venture to say that the impact of the dam collapse on these small communities was probably pretty invisible to most of the general public too Williams lake is a bustling ranching mining and tourism site in a beautiful part of the caribou But the study really showed I'm just going to say the underbelly. That's not a A happy choice of word but got to the real scope of that spill and and the many lives affected The northern shishop national tribal council of which soda creek and williams lake bands are members Was actually finalizing a policy to govern mining in their territory when the collapse occurred Just in the mac whom some of you know was the coordinator of That project Both bands had signed impact benefit agreements with mount paulie mining company Immediately after the collapse the head of mount paulie Mining company was there in the community with the british columbia ministry of energy and mines that aside and he told people that I'd drink the water Strangely enough that was also a comment made in brazil after after the the mariana collapse um The level of distrust was very high however and and the sellers then chief of the schatzel band announced publicly that her community would use funds They had saved up for construction of a community center to hire an independent biologist to test the purity of the water The health study we two years later revealed that the 22 indigenous communities affected All reported decreases in individual fishing practice This is all communities reported increased emotional stress All spoke of an increase in administrative burden and dealing with community members faced with loss of the food source loss of livelihoods and complete absence of information neither mining company nor government issued regular news bulletins Leaving the communities awash with rumors Since the cannell lake watershed supports an important component of the phraser river sockeye salmon run There were immediate concerns about long-term impacts on the movement of salmon from rivers to ocean and back to spawning grounds Monitoring the impact of the toxic waste dumped into cannell lake came even more difficult When the liberal government on the eve of elections, which they subsequently lost Granted mount paulia permit to continue dumping wastewater into cannell lake Claims that claiming it was treated water and therefore safe were Believed by very few people so I'll ask There're just a few slides that picture mount paulia again to show very briefly and then over to daniella Who will tell us more about living in a mining community in brazil and the disaster mariana rumidinho? So here you see paulie lake cannell lake and hazel time creek and the area of the debris there you can see where Mount paulie is located in the map of bc next fees and once again the aerial view of The extensiveness as you can see with a mine. I mean it's when you go to a mine site. You don't think What would happen if that tailings them collapse? Where would That go what are the river systems the watersheds in that area, but the aerial map picks up what happens Again just a little sense of the terrain The beauty of it among the peacefulness of it and and the complete this Destruction of it with what happened with that tailings them collapse I think my face seems to hide a very beautiful salmon lurking in waters to the right for perhaps you all can see it So over to daniella Oh So hello, it's it's very strong start These two videos, but it's very necessary start Because I will speak about Things very strong very hard So I am daniella campolina. I am an activist and movement for the mountains for the in the water Minas Gerais and This is one network and there are many groups many Activist groups and the work together. I am in the Movement salve ganarra ganarra salve a serra do ganarra And for many years I work I have been working in the one city and There are many problems In the cities. There are many things done and it's very difficult work about In education and to speak about mining in and about Tennis down so This is my culture in brazil and brazil is a culture in inish in minerals. There are many kites alchemy copper magnets and specifically there are more and north and amazonia region and and Minas Gerais state here is Is my state and in this part is where I live This place this region. The name is aero quadrilateral Is the center of minas gerais state and consists of 34 35 cities and Include the capital Belo Horizonte Uh, this is one map and the Quadrilateral aero quadrilateral But the movement and the many reserves many reserves speak this water aero quadrilateral Because in this region there are one specificity Uh, the high lines is brown lines Is the mountains are the mountains, but in the aero quadrilateral The water is together. It's between It's between the aero uh in aquifers uh, this part is One actually aquifer is the hawk and this place the rainwater Uh is accumulated here together aero and this In this place there are three watershed uh, for example Paropeba river basin uh, Hilda zealus uh vales river basin and those River basin this color blue is because uh, there are many aquifers and What more dark the blue more water So is the very important place For the supply the water Of the state minas gerais state And so the mountains is the watersheds. It's the vision three watershed and this place. They are two minis minis and Ten is down. This is very important because the usually the ten is done ten is done is building um above the rivers And uh with one with your core one collapse The mud fluid uh for the uh for the river So uh out the ten is done This is the same map but Are the at these dots Are ten is done. Yes, there are many ten is done Dumps and minas gerais state In this place the specific is only Isle quadrilateral. So is around Four hundred ten is done and Look Look at the color and the size because there's different color in the sides is because it's different Kites and the volume and matters cubics And the mud is possible see in this legend the uh They are big big is and The light blue dots Are the ten is done is above the One very important social water Is the this part this region is more population region of minas gerais state and These dots Is around eight dots We feel some this ten is done collapse the more around Millions people is is is not have water for example tomorrow Is possible and this is very complicated because this part this Heave the heave the as well as base is very important for the supply of the social water The capital in this map is the same IO quadrilateral and here is possible see where is the mariana city Here is the first biggest Ten is done collapse because there are many ten is done Occurred in brazil and in minas gerais don't only two but this is the biggest and the first biggest is the mariana city and those river basin uh is the crime uh samarko valley and the edge debilito and occurred in november 5 2019 oh sorry 2015 and here in here is the second violent crime in january 25 2019 and the slimy brown is the The way of mud in the way is the river And here is the capital and i am live here I live in the hildas velhas In velhas river basin. I live near the serra gandarella national park This is on one very important region this region Because many years fight we We have one park, but one very part one Important part This park is not together park so We the movement for the mountains and water minas gerais and serra do gandarella movement fight until today About the preservation of this area because with With uh will have one mine in this area is very very of A big possibility many people don't have more water in the In the next two years And so I will speak about the first video is the cream Asamarko and together valley in Bega debilito describe us Around 40 million cubic meters is the mud toxic And that 90 people This is some images and And the many extortion of Public infrastructure and private profits For example houses, bridges, schools And this is very important because the mud the mud follow for many kilometers this Is for the is in the The way is the way Of the river so here start the collapse and the mud follow for the water shed Dossi river and to And closer to states minas gerais state and espirito santo state and arrive In the ocean atlantic atlantic ocean So this is the road to the land the mud is along 600 kilometers so there are many people affected And there are many problems One problem is the what the water short age because there's enough affect the city around the forest city And the thousand people without water Include the people who do not live near the river And so This is affecting many ways of living and economy economic activities For example, uh, the agriculture this area the people living near the The Sweet river The people is very simple people and many live In the domestic and the greek family agriculture So your So The hand the land and the water is contaminated So there are many problems for the security Food for example And many people so leave a living To fishing or need the fishing for your for food too And this along the river there are many Many cities with the live And tourists and local commerce So the tennis them collapse change many many lives Uh Of course more the the family And your family is dead, but This affect that is is many many people along the many cities so But not all the economy We speak about the impact and social relation and the way of the live on the for example, indigenous and traditional communities These communities live With the river and on the river And uh, and this is is not simple Is is very complex because it's complex include Identify this problem. This is one problem But identify this is is complicated too And this and they are the extrusion of For example, uh preservation areas We pion forests if this is the first our own degree for this is very important for the ecosystems and the destruction Long areas and a plastic forest and We speak about Big ecosystem is and the one river that Yeah, too is the name and the language indigenous You dose the name the river and for the communities. This is one that read And the is the significator. This is very strong and uh, the first time that the Many companies speaking is not not toxic the mud, but yes, it's very toxic So many studies in university speak about this and Many diseases is and not only physical Because physical diseases they are for example, because there are many Many kinds but for example gastrointestinal dermatology key is especially because they have metals But they are two mental diseases. For example, uh, the Consum of drugs depression suicides and mental disease in many communities affected by collapse and epidemic diseases Because the the catch on the many ecosystems is destruction and the it's very common some diseases, for example, uh yellow river Have them are Ella is one kind and the they are one Transmission and don't have one animal for Eat this transmission. So the numbers the cases this diseases is more big after the After the collapses and This all problems is again Some years after And the second crime values value crimes occurred in the 24 January and Brumadinho city and Paralpeba river basin and you You can see the video a I don't know you see but in last two minutes the the things that collapse and for example the workers Is not possible many works in this area and There was one restaurant above I'm sorry restaurant below in very near the The thing is down and this hour in the hour of the collapse Uh, this is the hour after have lunch. So many works Was in have lunch in this hour and here some, uh, the very incredible very Work in the fire and their, uh trying Fought people and until today there are people is not miss There are bodies Is not possible, uh found some bodies today and until today and Say similar the mud follow the river and our own Uh, our own the 300 kilometers and this case, uh is one river Is part that one big big river in brazil some francisco river and this is very problematic Because with one author, uh things done collapse is possible the month Cross for many many states and so it's very important to speak the The things done collapse is not one event Is one is a late event is one process Is is one process is building and for us the the the world is very important because, uh The many companies speak off is one accident is not was that is one crying Is one crying and and two crimes and This crime is start before the day of the colors the collapse For example, this region. They are a mining dependence This economy local is very is specialized is Around the mining and the cash on the commodities. I believe, uh, jude is is playing more about this and They catch the impunity because, uh In brazil and in canada, uh, it's possible. Uh, we now know They are very documents and the after the mining companies know is is not good the paying down but The government Permit the continue and this is very problematic and here I put Because many things Is only Event and the they are long-term effects. So for example the toxic mud don't um The toxic mud is stay and today in the river. This is very problematic And the many people is that and the Contamination is possible. Many people will be That too because uh is fish and uh you Accumulate the heavy metals and it's possible many people. There are many diseases and the that too and along the time and The cash on the water contaminated and the destruction ecosystem is a long-term And the very problems diseases impact in the economy local All the problems is is not simple is not finishing and For us in miniaturized state the things done collapse is not is not stop. It's continual until today So, uh This is one part of this very complex problem And jiu-jitsu now is speaking some things about how The mining uh corporation and how uh the Uh government Responds this the cash on uh after the collapse Okay Judith Judith your your is not possible Your Cell microphone is not ligado Yeah How is that Okay, okay good Um, so as danielas has said Uh, the mining companies tried to treat these collapses as just an incident an accident nobody's fault Treatable through some reparations of the damage and some compensation to people affected But what both of us are arguing is that no that they're not an event They're a process that stretches both backwards and forwards with both deep roots And long-term consequences um in terms of the kind of Interlinking systems that created the conditions of these tailing dams collapses. I think we have to look at the realities of The world order that we're all part of today where whether you're in the south as brazil or the north as in canada Uh, whether you're doing it through trade agreements or through structural adjustment programs this way that come Countries everywhere are now in a situation of following a common recipe of privatizations deregulations cuts in social sector spending austerity And all of them are in situations where the state Has given predominance to the private sector as the engine for a global order based on perpetual economic growth And so these tailings dams fit into that situation There's the reality that in every country if you go to brazil they're talking deindustrialization the same in canada the same in south africa Everybody is doing export oriented development And so this takes us into commodities for global markets mining oil agricultural Honor cultures and the booms and bus cycles which were also a big feature of what caused the tailings dam spills mining companies trying to respond to these huge Chips in the market So looking at how all of this played itself out in the british columbia Um Certainly the government of christie clark and power when mount poly collapsed had absolutely bought into its role as They're simply to enable mining companies to operate in the province And in the aftermath of it all You can look back and see how Many of these things kind of built up into the perfect storm So the downsized governments that were part of this Common recipe throughout the world meant that it was no longer a strong energy and mining Ministry with qualified people in it to do inspections um The companies had pushed for self regulation and they got it and they the companies themselves could hire Professionals to do the inspections of dams, but any consultancy company Hiring itself out to do those kinds of inspections I mean human nature being what it is. Of course, they wanted future contracts So of course the tendency to downplay Problems that they encountered in their inspections was was enormous And to start with it was a kind of fox guarding the hand house kind of arrangement Um So certainly in bc there were reports In 2010 and 2011 that were not acted on There was a point when one of the mine workers blew the whistle and himself wrote letters to the ministry of energy in mines but He was fired for his trouble The At the mount poly mine the a person in charge of the tailings dam had requested Some additional construction materials to shore up something in the mine It was a a bus cycle not a boom cycle so the company was cutting back And cutting back on further investments in a tailings dam, which is not something that creates revenue for you But it's just an expense all these things Resulted in the kind of perfect storm And Interestingly enough at the time when the mount poly mine collapsed the bc auditor was doing Um an audit on compliance and enforcement in the mining sector She had actually she says in her preamble that recognizing That with the collapse of commodity prices many mining companies were struggling to survive And her concern was to ensure A continued protection of british columbia environment whether The market was in a boom or a bust cycle It would be hard to get a more scathing report than the one that she made She pointed to flagrant conflicts of interest where you have a government in which the same government ministry Is in charge of promoting mining And doing all that it can to attract more investments into mining And is responsible for regulating mining and ensuring the safety of workers communities the salmon, etc So her main Recommendation after this very thorough audit because she turned her attention on mount poly once it happened Her main recommendation was to tackle that flagrant conflict of interest and she urged British columbia government to set up an independent body That would be Mandated To carry out compliance and enforcement in the mining sector and to ensure environmental protection And she Urged that this not be housed in the ministry of energy and mining So a very strong recommendation Along with 17 other recommendations that were not as pointed as that one was I'm not surprisingly the christie clark government At the end of its term in office Did not Take up her recommendations But the interesting thing is that the government that did form With the ndp and green party in 2018 electionists which had been so critical of the former government At every step of the way and yet that central recommendation from their own auditor was something that they also Um simply Well simply did not mention it wasn't that they refused to do it. It just never came up on the agenda They tackled a few things like like these professional consultants, but The central recommendation that would have tackled that conflict of interest and Really Put government again into the seat of being the regulator and then not the enabler For mining companies was something that they shied away from So i'm seeing the time going danielle and i are both Passionately interested in mining and we both talk a lot and we've talked a lot this afternoon So i think we would like to open this up to some questions from those of you who have tuned in and we'll see How we go with questions and any final little statements that danielle and i and i might make So we got a couple of questions up so far I'll just read it in english and then i'll try my very best to read it in portuguese as well So for the first question, uh, hello, judith Hello danielle a question for judith How did canadian mining companies deal with those affected by the mount poly dam breach? So Yeah Uh So in brazil, uh, uh, there are one I will end portuguese, okay And we had a lot of problems With relation to the agreements Because the company doesn't Don't recognize all the people who were really affected And until today, for example, let's just give an example about it. There's no one in mariana who is in her own house And in brumadinho Uh Um, so just to kind of summarize what she said, um, there are lots of technical groups kind of assessing, um Post the the dam collapse And they didn't recognize all the affected people And people weren't being taken care of and they weren't getting what they deserved both in brumadinho as well as in mariana I don't know if judith you wanted to jump in and and give your view on In in british columbia Yes, I mean in british columbia I was Not at the epicenter of this when it happened. So I from what I have been able to understand Uh, first of all, I mean compared to brunzel, you didn't have The loss of lives of houses of property um of animals that obviously Pride out for compensation in the way that you did in brazil Um, this study that I was quoting Um was the most comprehensive I've seen in terms of really capturing the scope of The collapse in terms of how many Indigenous communities were affected but most of them I mean Most of those affected by the collapse, um We're not immediately affected in the sense of their their their actual Land um being affected by the spill a lot of the effects are long-term ones the salmon cycle for example, which is both Um a provincial Uh issue in in the sense of salmon as an enormously important resource of vc, but Salmon as the center of the cultural and religious life Of indigenous people in that area And also a staple in their lives in terms of their food source. So so the many many people but I mean even even Uh For them to have an avenue to request compensation for those damages their way down river I mean, this is a question that Daniela Daniela and I were talking about a lot that like this huge footprint of mining That it isn't just what happens in the immediate mine site So many of these communities are sprinkled all along the Fraser river And to the degree that this tailings dam spill um Interrupts the salmon salmon cycle along that river Its food source is its livelihoods But of large numbers of people and individual compensation claims not so much That some of the people in likely the the community closest to this spill Uh, apparently have carried out some private actions. There were lots of Small fishing lodges tourism Ventures small business ventures There and and some of them have had individual compensation for the company But from what I've been able to glean that's kind of what it looks like in terms of of compensation claims Thank you, Judith. There was also a question kind of going off of the long-term effects Was there also mercury poisoning and other metals that poison drinking water and cause cause birth defects later on In children that were born afterwards Yes, the is about the mario lobs Yeah, the problems is is very complex But there are some studies, uh, about more about Rio doce river because there are more time For example, uh, this is one publication Mar di lama da samarco The Rio doce if this publication is uh one university Manuel's own project and there are many studies about this But this is one very long effect Long-term effect many things is is Important continuous studies about this but is but certainly the heavy metals The have many impacts of the health and this Heavy metals stay in the river. So this is one problem Because the people drink the water the people eat The fish is possible in some place and this is is a very problem. Don't only the children but for the people and all age Yeah, but I can for example after Send some studies about specific about this But don't only uh children. It's all age. There are problems because the heavy metals very problem. Yeah in the Sick and the health Yeah, um Judith did you have anything to add there? I believe it is it's uh There's some question here and uh, I believe I and Judith Reply in the next next to uh block. Okay sounds good. Yep. And uh Uh I Judith you can speak some things about this this part or I can continue I think you were going to speak first to some final words. Okay. Okay. Uh, Gabriela, do you know, do you Can you put the Yeah, please So about many There are many questions about how Uh What is the possibility? Uh What things is possible make because it's very complicated Uh, the government is very complicated. The actions the mining company is no possible Uh, believe the mining company is no possible believe the government and uh Uh, you can put the first slide, please Um, can you put the first slide, please? Ah, thank you And in the question how civil society stepped up and the for example The first thing is very important. Uh, the people think about ways to be affected Where does your water come from? Your fish your food Even if the uh, you are not on the mud And can be affected by collapse disaster because um Two big collapse Brumadinho and not only Brumadinho, but it's more strong in Brumadinho But in Parapé the river basin and in Mariana city, but along many cities, too Uh, many people don't know That there are one Things done and things done and one mining uh Below your heads and for example many many along the many many kilometers and only after One big impact many big impact the people know So it's very poor very important one, uh population and know what What is is uh the problem? What's the possibility? I can I can affect it by mining. I can affect it by mud because it's possible one people live Far the river, but will be affected too is the case for example, uh the people in the Have your system the supply water Is is stopping because this is very complicated And it's very important to know what the decision making process is like who they see How do they decide? What are the steps? Uh in canada in brazil is different Laws but it's very important the people know what's the way of the actions the last please The next next Yeah, and so it's very important to I I am a teacher. So I live in Many is the many problems about the cash on the money and Influenced in school. So it's very important training in parliament the communities Uh and it's color education, but popular education too For example, I and my friends teacher Uh, there are many problems because I don't have materials course specific I and my friends for example many times did course make for For many companies Because there are one partnership with this Education Manager, this is very complicated and it's very important the school and communities as technology produces for example, uh How is mud road? What's the types of the dumps? Uh, what's the forms of monitoring monitoring? Make the collection and the monitoring information Is similar one adopt of mining or adopting is done because it's one community Look at all all the moment for the How is the thing is down because this thing down is Above my head. This is is very complicated. So this in this image is some example about this this possibility activities Did that with this this is in gambarello. This ratio is very important The cash on the water is very one conflict because the mine The last place next, please And it's very important to make one visibility of disaster in many Uh, for example, demonstration protests and My own event and important place uh, for example, uh, this many photos is Is one there's no demonstration block One entrance. Oh, sorry And the middle gerais assembly And this Is one Pidak I'm sorry In Pidak demonstration is one big event in Canada, uh about mining and uh This is one demonstration with the group the resistance of toronto resistant toronto make one many lines red Red step with the name the people dead of the mine. For example, this is one example and They have the name the people dead and the collapse for example this name etymar Sons and there are people woman too And this is one form the The in big events Uh And or place the they are one visibility of the disaster is not It's very important. Don't forget This situation Yeah, and I believe you should it is big so And too about some Cations in canada too. This is some examples in brazil and the the cash on In terrysland collapses But the cash on the production and materials about the the region is very important too And should it do you? a you can Continuous in canada the cash ins Okay, I can do so in Very quickly since time is running out about us. Um, I Clearly this need to step up from civil society. This is a theme in both countries Um, when governments are not doing what they should be doing To regulate and defend how do civil society organizations step up and take on new roles and clearly they're Interesting and important initiatives in both countries in canada. I think very important initiatives through universities when things happening through through various projects looking at corporate responsibility and Also Many smaller organizations That responded both to montpoly but also carry on important activities in relation to Any number of questions binding being among them one of the special evenings when we were in British columbia few in march was with the council of canadians there in camloops a mining town for sure and In that evening with people from the council of canadians in camloops Daniela and I who had the day before visited the mine visited the tailings dam Gone to ashcroft where there are trains bringing coal from northern bc and copper from Camloops Putting it on the trains getting it to poor export markets that whole globalized world of mining But people living knowing That tailings dams and their collapses are getting more frequent and not less And so a fascinating evening with people there where at one point the 20 or so people who came Chatted in small groups and we asked them. We'll just think about your own community. Have you ever visited the tailings dam? Do you know how big it is? Do you know what toxic materials are in it? If it were to breach What are the waterways around camloops that it would revert to if if that were to happen Does the mining company have an emergency plan? If it does is it a plan that's known to people in the community? Is there an emergency warning system and other drills? We need If you get close to mining tailings dams collapses in other parts of the world these are not Questions that come just from people who are hyper anxious tailings dam spills are increasing in frequency and anybody living In the proximity of a mine and a tailings dam really needs to be thinking about this So we were laughing about a single kind of an adopt a mine policy, but is this kind of citizen vigilance? Around a mine and a mine tailings dam really what the situation demands in this day and age So i'll just close with that and maybe leave you with four thoughts about mining activism First, I think we just need to take regularly capture as a given and start from there The second we really need to keep our eyes in whatever we do on the corporations and shine a light on their actions Whether it's their lobbying actions or whether it's the discourse they use to wield their power And third we need to look for places whether it's in churches or universities or in our communities Where there are trusted voices asking critical questions about mining and work to enlarge those spaces and And finally, I think we don't measure our success necessarily by what we achieve, but what we become and really Joining up with other people in our communities in our countries internationally Like this action around brumadinha which brought tears to my eyes when I saw all those Red ribbons with names of every person who died in brumadinha down on front street in toronto for the pdc event What we become as we work in solidarity trying to care for each other and care for the earth in in in new ways that respond to the urgent issues of our times So I think we've used most of the time. I don't know if there's time for more questions, but over to our host to let us know Perfect, um, I think we'll just about wrap up. Um, I know that Daniela and I'm sure Judith have no problem With answering the questions that were posted there through their email or such. So we'll get back to you on that But there are some actions that you can take if you'd like to make a difference So in 2018, canada was promised an unbiased person with investigatory powers But in 2019 the government receded this promise and left the core with the inability to investigate human rights abuses connected to canadian companies operating abroad With these without these crucial investigatory powers The undisputed person cannot address the countless human rights and environmental violations that communities across the globe Allege that canadian extractive Companies operating abroad have committed Canadian companies and the extractive companies like valley in brazil Are very often not held accountable for their misconduct such as tailings dan collapses With this I urge you to sign the e petition to empower the core and enact mandatory human rights due diligence legislation to the house of commons The link is going to be added to the chat now After you sign this, I consider taking the empower and enact challenge. So use social media To encourage five people to sign the e petition So on behalf of kairos and myself, I'd like to thank judith and daniella for joining us today and telling us their inspiring stories As a reminder kairos will be posting this recording on their webinar of this webinar on their website in the coming days The next webinar in the mother earth and resource extraction webinar series takes place on tuesday june 2nd at 1 p.m um This webinar called women resisting extractivism is being hosted by the just suite forum for social faith injustice and Cosponsored by kairos and the registration link is also being shared in the chat now Lastly remember to visit the mere hub and follow mere hubs social media pages Which are also being added to the chat So thank you everyone for coming and have a good afternoon