Projects 2005/2006
Seeking Common Ground
Chiara Barazzuol, Yan Cimon, Craig Kielburger, Cheryl Matthew, Karel Mayrand
As mining companies struggle to meet the expanding mineral demands of a growing global economy, they are also faced with moral and legal requirements to avoid detrimental impacts on local populations.
The Seeking Common Ground group sought to address this dilemma by creating a neutral forum to advance mutual understanding and improve early community engagement in mining projects.
They hosted a breakfast meeting and dialogue forum in Vancouver May 8-9. The breakfast meeting, which featured a number of distinguished speakers, including the Honourable Bill Bennett, B.C.’s minister of state for mining, attracted over 100 members from the B.C. mining community. The dialogue forum attracted 31 representatives from governments, academia, non-governmental organizations, aboriginal communities and mining industries of several countries.
The group then compiled a report of constructive principles and recommendations to potentially be published in Simon Fraser University’s Dialogue Series. The group also established a listserv of dialogue participants for continued sharing of expertise and resources.
Icebreakers
Wade AuCoin, David Eaves, Sheelagh Davis, Hugo Cameron, Pascale Labbe, Jesse Moore
What are the implications for Canada and Northern communities of climate change, melting ice and opening of the Northwest Passage? The Ice Breakers group led the Icebreakers Dialogue Summit on the Future of Canada’s North June 4-7 in Iqaluit directly following the Action Canada working conference in Nunavut.
Supported by the government of Nunavut and sponsored by Action Canada and the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation, the dialogue involved ten participants from government, Inuit organizations, business, nongovernmental organizations, and the legal community, as well as six Action Canada Fellows.
The dialogue, which was based on a scenario of Nunavut in 2020, had three main goals:
- Identify the critical issues and opportunities afforded by opening Arctic waterways;
- Develop a list of key principles and recommendations to guide Canada’s response; and
- Forge relationships between young leaders from Canada’s north and south who share a common interest in these issues.
The group is hopeful that organizations such as the International Polar Year, the Arctic Youth Network and the Nunavut Sivuniksavut College in Ottawa will use the dialogue experience to further discussions between northern and southern Canadians about polar issues. The group has reported results from the Icebreakers Dialogue Summit to policymakers, academics and the media, and will be developing an educational tool to facilitate discussions on issues of concern to Canada’s North.
Stop the Traffic
Alex Boston, David Brock, Guillaume Lavoie, Susanna Haas, Tina Piper
In Canada, as elsewhere, persons who are trafficked face exploitation and oppression. However, their problems don’t end when they are liberated. They need protection and support. Canada wasn’t providing what was needed.
This group sought to draw attention to the issue by initiating a workshop bringing together, for the first time, representatives from academia, non-governmental organizations, media, the federal government and the United Nations. They also developed a website in partnership with the Canadian Council for Refugees’ national human trafficking campaign. It featured five trafficking stories demonstrating how liberated trafficking victims receive little support or protection and are often deported to situations of poverty, instability and shame in their homeland. The site launch, however, was pre-empted by a federal government announcement about new trafficking victim protection.
The group is proud that, in a small way, they contributed to a movement that gained human rights protection for trafficked persons.
