Extractive Imperialism: Canadian Mining Companies in Africa and Latin America

This article was originally published as a print-exclusive feature in Rebel Youth #27 (Spring 2021). Our newest issue is out now — to see more from Rebel Youth – Jeunesse Militante, subscribe here!

Cet article est également disponible en version français

By Brenden Rodri, YCLer in Victoria

Countless struggles are linked to the expansion of extractivism and the capital which it generates for both corporations and states that sponsor extractive imperialist activity. Multiple axes are woven within these struggles – social, political, environmental, and economic – and the Canadian state supports and safeguards the bourgeoisie throughout their exploitative and destructive efforts around the world.

Indigenous peoples and their territories within both the Global North and South are constantly under attack by capitalist extractive expansionism. As capital is constantly unable to sustain its desperate desire for dynamic growth – which inevitably results in stagnation and crisis – it must seek new sources of profit. One key result is the ongoing and vast expansion of capital. The Wet’suwet’en case is an obvious example of this. Canada is unwaveringly supportive of Coastal GasLink, providing capital, resources, and the means to defend their operations across unceded Indigenous territory, in particular, but not limited to RCMP deployment and imperialistic colonial laws that safeguard extractive projects.

Latin America

Honduras

As of 2019, 197 Canadian mining companies have been plundering Latin America. The area has been ravaged by mining companies like Canadian-based Goldcorp, who operated a notorious open-pit gold mine in the Siria Valley of Honduras: the San Martin Mine. The Siria Valley is home to the Lenca Indigenous peoples, but to imperialists, since when has the existence of Indigenous peoples been a reason to halt capitalist extractivism? The predatory mining companies – supported and often directly funded by the Canadian state – have always been free to ravage Indigenous peoples’ territories, communities, and livelihoods wherever their interests are located. 

When the San Martin mine was opened in 2000, 8% of people living within the region suffered from some form of skin disease. By 2010, the rate increased had to a staggering 80%. Women in their 30s were losing their hair, high levels of lead were detected in people’s blood, and one woman even lost her twin babies due to arsenic poisoning. Environmental contamination and destruction was also evident, as lands and waterways surrounding mines such as the San Martin had been thoroughly contaminated by industrial chemicals. This Canadian-owned and operated open-pit mine utilized cheap extraction methods, which in turn produced devastating toxic effects due to the leaching of chemicals like cyanide, which is often used to loosen the earth to assist with gold and mineral extraction. In addition to environmental contamination and destruction, Indigenous peoples – including water and land defenders – have clashed with Honduran police and paramilitary forces, resulting in killings and disappearances. These police and paramilitary forces are often trained by Western forces under the pretext of “counterinsurgency.” 

The devastating effects on the Indigenous peoples and their lands had been (unsurprisingly) ignored by the Canadian state and mainstream Canadian media. Goldcorp has faced no sanctions, even being listed as an “exemplar of corporate responsibility” and one of the best 100 Canadian companies to work for by numerous Canadian media outlets, including The Globe and Mail and the National Post.

Bolivia

In Bolivia, an important chapter of extractive imperialist operations unfolded in November 2019. President Evo Morales of the MAS party was accused of election fraud and unconstitutional actions by the Bolivian opposition following his landslide electoral victory. This lead to a coup spearheaded by Jeanine Áñez – whose party received just 4.24% of the vote – supported by reactionary and fascist military leaders. The Organization of American States (OAS) supported the ousting of Evo Morales and released misleading statements about the election, which directly contributed to the coup and dozens of killings by fascist paramilitary units and pro-coup forces. Áñez declared herself the “interim President of Bolivia” following the resignation of Morales, who had fled to Mexico, and massive marches and protests ensued, largely led by Indigenous peoples and working-class Bolivians. As a result, dozens of people were murdered by Bolivian police and military, hundreds more were injured, and Áñez was able to retain power with the support of her fascist accomplices. One of these accomplices, Luis Fernando Camacho, is a Christian fundamentalist who has been involved with the Santa Cruz Youth Union (UJC), known for using Nazi-style salutes and terrorizing the Indigenous peoples of Bolivia. Áñez herself tweeted back in 2013: “I dream of a Bolivia free of Indigenous satanic rites, the city is not for Indians, they should go back to the mountains or the fields.” 

Unsurprisingly, the despicable, bloody coup in Bolivia was supported by many Western countries, including the United States, Germany, and Canada. This support undoubtedly stems from the fact that Bolivia has the world’s second-largest lithium reserves, and lithium is a crucial component for new green technology used in batteries for electric vehicles and solar panels. The bloody coup was a prime opportunity for imperialist countries like Canada to make new connections with the purpose of lithium extraction for green technology. Just before the coup, Evo Morales had scrapped a plan to hand over lithium resources to a German mining company in favor of a combination of nationalization and Chinese investment. Of course, Canada was one of the many imperialist countries to find this unacceptable, as Morales’ plan would not favour Western corporations like Tesla Motors. Canada’s unsurprising support of the fascist, anti-Indigenous, racist coup in Bolivia remains just one instance in its long history of violence in Latin America.

Chile

Chile provides yet another example of Canada supporting fascist regimes in the name of extractivist profit, and the company Barrick Gold is one of the most notorious fascist-loving corporate imperialists. Barrick Gold is a huge Canada-based mining company that operates internationally, throughout Latin America, North America, Asia, and Africa. This despicable company has ties to the murderous fascist Augusto Pinochet. 

In  September  1973,  democratically-elected President of Chile Dr. Salvador Allende was ousted and murdered following a CIA-backed military coup, led by General Augusto Pinochet. Allende’s socialist plans – such as income redistribution, agricultural reform, and industry nationalization – were a threat to Western industry and extractivism. Days after the coup, thousands of Allende supporters were rounded up and brought to the National Stadium to be executed. Beloved folk singer and artist Victor Jara had his hands smashed, and was hanged outside the stadium. In the years following the coup, tens of thousands of Chileans were kidnapped, tortured, and/or murdered by Pinochet’s fascist authorities; most of these people were socialists, communists, and any who opposed the new regime.

Extensive privatization was carried out under Pinochet’s rule while the working class suffered tremendously. Labour unions were crushed, workers’ rights were smashed, and the number of people in poverty jumped from 20% in 1970 to 41% in 1990. All of this was praised by the IMF, World Bank, and imperialist countries of the Global North, including Canada, which had previously cut all aid to Chile under Allende. It must have been a joy for the imperialists to learn of Pinochet’s El Palacio de las Sonrisas (The Place of Laughter), the notorious torture chamber. Of course, Trudeau Sr. had recognized Augusto Pinochet just weeks after the bloody coup, as Chile was now “open for business.” Pierre Trudeau would have been proud of Justin Trudeau, who supported the similar Bolivian coup regime (like father, like son!), and as blood ran through the streets of Santiago and La Paz, decades apart, Trudeau Sr. and Jr. were both exchanging business plans with the fascist coup governments. Right-wing economists even hailed Pinochet’s extensive destruction of Chile (privatization, systematic murder of leftist opponents, etc.) as “the Chilean miracle.” 

The Fascist Love Triangle: Canada, Pinochet, and Barrick Gold

During Pinochet’s destructive rule over Chile, the country was converted into a low-wage haven for multinational corporations. The Chilean Labour Code actively worked against the proletariat, and Chilean lands and waterways have been ravaged by environmental contamination and destruction. This is all thanks to the fascist Pinochet regime, as little has changed in terms of labour and environmental rules and regulations (or lack thereof) since his time. Canadian companies have established themselves as a dominant presence, as Canada was the largest investor of mining in Chile after Pinochet’s reign of terror (1997), having invested $4 billion in projects. In 2021, Canada still has over $1.4  billion worth of mining assets in Chile. 

In Toronto, on May 9, 1996, Chairman of Barrick Gold Peter Munk praised Augusto Pinochet for “transforming Chile from a wealth-destroying socialist state to a capital-friendly model that is being copied around the world.” The fact is, Canada and its mining companies had taken advantage of the fractured situation of labour in Chile, as well as the lack of environmental regulations that remain largely intact from the Pinochet-era. Chilean miners that had worked for Barrick Gold in the mines of El Indio and Tambo reported that they were receiving a fragment of pay that Canadian workers received (often ¼). Workers were also getting sick from pneumonia, bronchitis, kidney failure, testicular cancer, silicosis, and arsenic poisoning. Furthermore, safety regulations had been ignored by Barrick Gold, as workplace accidents frequently plagued workers – many have been killed by falling debris, avalanches, or poisoning. The war on the proletariat that Pinochet’s fascist government had introduced was an opportunity for predatory multinational companies like Barrick Gold to exploit both workers and the land. When communities organized resistance against mining companies and extractive imperialist operations, Chilean police were hired to brutally repress them. 

Barrick Gold continues to mine in several locations in Chile. Recently (2020), one operation – the Chilean portion of its Pascua Lama mine – was ordered to shut down by Chile’s First Environmental Court following two decades of legal challenges and public protests. Despite this, Barrick Gold remains operational in other areas, and continues to hunt surrounding areas for potential extractive projects.

Canadian Mining Companies in Africa

As of 2019, 94 Canadian mining companies are predatorily operating in Africa, extracting minerals while destabilizing local communities. Military, police, and ideological support is common, extending from Canada to oppressive neoliberal and reactionary regimes in an attempt to secure “untapped” sources of extractivist profit. Latin America is definitely not the only area of the world where this extractive imperialism occurs on such a large scale, as predatory Canadian and Western mining companies also operate within Africa. “West Africa has more potential than any other region in the world. Its geology is similar to that of Northern Ontario, Quebec or Western Australia – exceptionally prolific belts,” said Richard Young, head of the Canadian mining group Teranga Gold Corporation, which is active in Senegal and Burkina Faso. Barrick Gold is also heavily involved in extracting minerals in Africa: the company has been active in Mali (Africa’s 4th largest gold producer) for over 15 years, as well as Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Côte d’Ivoire, while still continuing its extractive imperialism in Chile. Toronto-based IAMGOLD is another company in the area that is currently expanding its operations, as are the companies B2Gold and Robex Industries in Mali. 

When it comes to the question of Canada’s support for imperialist extractivism, it is important to recognize that all of Canada’s major political parties are in lock-step, and in many cases, the “left” has proven no less hawkish than the Conservatives or Liberals. Whether we are discussing BC’s NDP Premier John Horgan and his use of violence to build pipelines across unceded Indigenous territory, or the NDP’s defence critic Randall Garrison, who, for example, has not only voiced support for Canadian involvement in Mali, but after visiting the country in 2019, even pushed the Liberal government on behalf of the NDP for an extension of the Canadian military forces’ campaign there by 6 weeks. Canada has been involved in Mali militarily for many years, and most recently during the UN’s “Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) following a 2012 military coup. Canada provided 230-260 troops and equipment in 2018-2019, and a smaller number of Canadian troops and RCMP officers still remain today. Of course, the “stabilization” of Mali (through foreign occupation, of course) would solidify the presence of Western extractive companies like Barrick Gold and IAMGOLD. Just like in Latin America, Canadian troops have trained Malian military and police forces for extractive imperialist purposes, including some of whom took part in the most recent military coup in August 2020. Previously, Canada supported Operation Serval, a major military offensive led by Mali’s former colonizer, France, which still remains deeply involved in Mali through uranium mining companies like Areva.

Conclusion: Business as Usual for the Imperialists

The vast network of extractive entities has expanded drastically in the past few decades, resulting in a monopolized international mining industry. The excessive and massive growth of industry, and the remarkable concentration of production in enlarging corporate entities, is one of the most characteristic features of capitalism presently. 

Extractive imperialism is entangled within Canadian foreign policy; a vast web of predatory mining companies has ensnared many countries of the Global South, extracting minerals and reaping vast profits, while Canadian companies continue to do the same on unceded Indigenous territories domestically with the blessing and unwavering support of the colonial state. Blood is on the hands of those who benefit from extractive imperialism: the Canadian bourgeoisie, mining companies, supportive politicians, the Canadian state… When will the time come for them to answer for their heinous crimes? Not soon enough. The neoliberal “business as usual” must come to an end. Through global solidarity and class struggle, the international proletariat can strike crushing blows to the extractive imperialist machine.