Activists Confront PDAC and the dark legacy of the Mining Industry
Protesters rally in front of the building where the PDAC mining conference was held. (Daniel Xie/The Canada Files)
Written by: Daniel Xie
On Sunday, activists from various organizations held a rally directed against the annual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) meeting in Toronto. The rally was organized by various groups including Climate Justice Toronto, Rising Tide Toronto, the Mining Injustice Solidarity Network, and many others.
The Mining Injustice Solidarity Network has previously carried out disruptions of PDAC. This is done to call out PDAC lobbying for Canadian mining companies. These actions further perpetuate their various human rights abuses in the Global South(which is something that even PDAC admits, but does not reveal to the public).
This year, the protests focused on climate justice and how the influence of PDAC and mining companies in Canada make it impossible to achieve the goals needed to cut Canada’s environment to a sustainable level.
For instance, Teck, PDAC's top sponsor, tried to push through a tar sands mine that would single-handedly blow through Canada's emissions budget and make it impossible to meet our climate targets, through popular backlash to the megaproject, particularly from indigenous leaders, caused it to cease operations. Organizers also sought to raise awareness of how mining companies are using the PDAC conference to “greenwash” their policies and put on a facade of fighting the climate crisis or proposing “ethical” capitalism.
According to Mining Injustice Solidarity Network organizer Rachel Small, the rally has seen 500 attendees. Many of the activists there came to call out the impact that mining companies had on the environment and the impact mining operations have in perpetuating ecological damage and the forced displacement of indigenous peoples, or were at the frontlines of battles with the mining companies in the communities they lived in.
Indigenous rights in Canada was a key issue raised by many of the demonstrators. Indigenous activists such as Nigel Henri Robinson of Indigenous Climate Action, as well as #IdleNoMore activist Crystal Sinclair showed up during the rally, with Crystal Sinclair giving one of the first speeches during the rally.
Indigenous activists and their allies linked struggles by indigenous peoples in the global south against Mining Industry perpetrated violence, displacement and ecological damage with the struggle of the Land Protectors in the Wet'suwet'en Territory against the planned Coastal GasLink Pipeline supported by BC NDP Premier John Horgan. Teck closing their megaprojects was a moment of celebration for both indigenous activists and their allies.
The demonstrators gathered around the Metro Toronto Convention Centre at 12, a couple of organizers, at the opening of the PDAC conference, disrupted the opening ceremony with a banner drop. They held their banner inside the conference for a few hours before being forced to leave. The banner read “PEOPLE BEFORE PROFIT #ShutdownCanada” and featured a construction machine being portrayed as a monster with teeth, perhaps symbolizing the toll of extractive industries on the environment.
An hour in, half of the demonstrators moved into the parking garage to prevent people from attending the conference, while the rest of the demonstrators went down to the South Building, close to the CN tower, where the organizers played music, held speeches, and tried to block the entry to the south building. The sign that was dropped at the opening ceremony was also displayed at the South Building demonstration. From there, the demonstration moved back to the north building, and demonstrators.
Towards the end of the rally, some of the protesters who were putting signs close to the window were shoved violently by the police in an attempt to remove the signs from the windows, only to back down upon facing the angry shouts of many protesters. No arrests have been made. One of the protesters stated upon interview that she was badly hurt by the police’s attempt to drag them away from the windows.
Rallies and demonstrations such as this year’s PDAC rally, demonized as “disruptive”, “excessively violent” or “counterproductive” by the mainstream media and the right wing do an important job in exposing the dark legacies of individuals and organizations, such as mining companies, whose actions are often covered and whitewashed by the media and placed “beyond” accountability. This in turn allows companies and individuals worsening the climate crisis or accelerating continuing patterns of colonization to continue with their actions, while putting on a facade of “greenwashing” or false promises to embrace progressive ideas, only to continue perpetuation the injustices they currently are perpetuating with little change.
Yet as history has shown, respectability and relying on the “democratic process” rarely achieves lasting change. Rather, change is achieved through varying forms of militant action. With reconciliation dead, killed by Justin Trudeau’s betrayal of the rights of indigenous peoples, rallies such as the PDAC disruptions and blockades in solidarity with Land and Water Defenders against rampant pipeline expansions will be needed more than ever.
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