Canadian Indigenous leaders travel to see Ecuador environmental disaster

“This is how much money I made working with oil pipelines in Canada.”  Phil Fontaine, right, speaks to Indigenous leaders in Ecuador Wednesday. (Karen Hinton/Submitted)

The group hopes to ally with 60 Indigenous tribes in Ecuador to help them fight Chevron in Canadian court

By Brandi Morin, CBC News, September 27, 2017

Canadian Indigenous leaders witnessed first hand this week the devastation and pollution left behind by oil companies in Indigenous lands in Ecuador.

“What we’ve witnessed here is tragic…shocking,” said former Assembly of First Nations (AFN) leader Phil Fontaine, speaking from Quito via telephone.

Ecuadoreans can sue Chevron in Canada, Supreme Court rules

Oil spilled from Chevron facility in Ecuador.

Sean Fine, The Globe and Mail, Sept 4, 2015

Ecuadorean villagers can sue Chevron and its Canadian subsidiary in an Ontario court to enforce a $9.5-billion (U.S.) judgment from Ecuador, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled Friday.

The ruling has major implications for Canadian multinational companies whose business activities raise environmental or human-rights concerns around the globe. The ruling weakens the so-called “corporate veil” that has shielded subsidiaries from responsibility for the actions of their corporate parents.

Tear gas, clashes as thousands protest in Ecuador capital

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Russia Today, August 14, 2015

Clashes between protesters and security forces erupted as a rally against Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa swept the capital of Quito and several other cities Thursday.

After riot police tried to block around 10,000 protesters near the San Francisco Plaza, they fired tear gas while protesters threw sticks and rocks. More than a dozen police officers were reportedly injured.

Ecuador indigenous leader found dead days before planned Lima protest

José Isidro Tendetza Antún.

Shuar leader José Isidro Tendetza Antún missing since 28 November

Activists believe death linked to opposition to state-Chinese mine project

by Jonathan Watts and Dan Collyns, The Guardian, Dec 6, 2014

The body of an indigenous leader who was opposed to a major mining project in Ecuador has been found bound and buried, days before he planned to take his campaign to climate talks in Lima.

The killing highlights the violence and harassment facing environmental activists in Ecuador, following the confiscation last week of a bus carrying climate campaigners who planned to denounce president Rafael Correa at the United Nations conference.