Canada shuts door on mining critics
A group of farmers critical of Canadian mining interests in their native Dominican Republic has been blocked from travelling to Saskatoon, Toronto and other cities.
“It’s so preposterous,” said Irena Smith of St. Thomas More College at the University of Saskatchewan.
The three farmers, representing La Federacion de Campesinos Hacia el Progreso, were due to arrive in Toronto on Wednesday and travel to Saskatoon on Saturday to speak at various events.
Smith, an organizer for the Saskatoon leg of the speaking tour, said the farmers planned to discuss their work forming co- operatives and implementing environmentally friendly innovations such as shade- grown coffee.
The farmers also planned to speak critically about Canadian mining companies and their multibilliondollar gold and nickel operations in that country.
The cross- Canada speaking tour has been in the works for a year, Smith said.
The farmers went to the Canadian embassy in the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo this month, bringing letters of support from the University of Saskatchewan, the University of Toronto, the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace and its youth wing, Just Youth, as well as other groups.
Canadian embassy officials in Santo Domingo rejected their applications for visitor visas. Smith said they were told there was insufficient evidence they’d return to the Dominican after their tour.
Smith said that’s absurd. The farmers have deep roots, land and families in the Dominican and have spent their lives fighting for their community. They’re not the type of people who would abandon their homes, she said.
Smith and other organizers think the real reason is much different. They believe the Canadian government is blocking the farmers because they could shine a negative light on Canadian business interests abroad. “That’s the bottom line,” she said. Aside from the principle of free speech, Canadians have a right to hear from those affected by Canadian mining operations, she added.
Government spokesman Remi Lariviere of Citizenship and Immigration Canada said in an email he can’t discuss specific cases. Officials “understand the disappointment of those whose visa applications were refused,” he wrote.
“Visa applications are considered on a case- by- case basis ... by professional highly trained independent officers. The onus is on the applicant to show they meet the requirements for a temporary resident visa.”