Letter – The rights of citizens in a free society

LETTER — “A community has the right to give or withhold its consent to proposed projects that may affect the lands they customarily own, occupy, or otherwise use.” This is a ‘key’ principle in international law and jurisprudence. It is called the right of “Free Prior Informed Consent” (FPIC).

FPIC is widely accepted by private companies (with a proven policy of corporate responsibility) in extractive industries as well as by agencies involved in environmental impact assessment. However, this right is often violated when there are large scale development projects like dams, mines, highways and logging operations.

This principle of FPIC emerged as a focal point in broader debate around extractive industries. The loss of the right of FPIC is called “Economic Displacement”, i.e. the loss of access to an income or livelihood resulting from loss of access to land. For example: ranchers coerced to leave their land.

FPIC is defined in the following way by Oxfam, a respected international organization:

FREE: from force, intimidation, manipulation, coercion or pressure by a company or government agency.

PRIOR: Citizens must be given enough time to consider all information before government can allot land for a particular purpose.

INFORMED: Citizens must be given all relevant information in:

1) Easy to understand language

2) Information must come from an independent source not just from developers or government

3) Citizens must have access to experts on legal and technical issues if requested

CONSENT: final outcome (‘yes‘ or ‘no’).

Where do Kamloops citizens sit when it comes to FPIC on the Ajax Mine project?

Let us consider one issue that is of concern to many citizens… the protection of their famillies from toxic substances and the health issues that can occur. I like to think of it as ‘toxic trespass‘: the ingestion of unknown chemicals without consent. It should not be up to the citizens of Kamloops to prove there will be toxic substances as a biproduct of the copper/gold mine proposed by the proponent, but, it should be up to that proponent to prove there will not be!

Toxicity is not a consumer choice. Are chemicals like people? Innocent until proven guilty! It is my understanding that the right to FPIC is enshrined by the UN for Indigenous Communities. Unfortunately, this is not the case for the citizenry of other jurisdictions. However, socially responsible companies abide by the intent with good will.

We should expect nothing less from KGHM.

S. ABRAHAM

Kamloops