As a Canadian First Nation I have seen the damage first hand of what NGOs (like Mining Watch Canada) have done in our communities…..

Up until the 1980s our people had a vibrant fur trade that was systematically destroyed by so called-well meaning NGOs who ran around Urban Canada, Europe and the United States raising money to stop a renewable, sustainable industry which has been a part of culture for thousands of years…

As a result of their global (and so called - environmental) efforts against our fur trade - nearly 80,000 of our people were thrown out of work and nothing was offered by these so called “well meaning” environmental groups - now our people live in poverty, ravaged by social, health and economic ills and our people remain on the margins of Canadian society……..

NGOs like Mining Watch Canada under the guise of environmentalism have no interest in the well being of people economicaly, culturally or socially and really are raising funds for their own agenda. They could care less that the majority of our remote northern communities have nothing but welfare - yet once upon a time we had vibrant fur trading communities and I remember as a boy how these environmental NGO types told my dad and grandpa that we can do eco-tourism which was suppose to solve our communities unemployment problems as a result of no longer having a fur trade. Well - eco-tourism hasn’t solved our poverty issues and as a matter of fact Canadian First Nations people rank 63rd on the human development index while I am sure that the people at Mining Watch Canada rank in with non-First Nations people of Canada at having the 4th best quality of life on the planet……

I also find it very ironic that once again we see a similar situation to what happened to our fur trade at the hands of NGOs in Ecuador, whereby Indigenous leaders want to access their resources to create a life with hope and diginity for their people while NGOs like Mining Watch Canada want to keep Indians poor……

Be rest assured though, I will be sure to contact as many of our First Nations communities and leaders here in Canada in support of these Ecuadorian Indigneous leaders as it is very clear to me that all Mining Watch wants to do is raise money keep Indigenous peoples poor……

Jeff

Another point of view.