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About the conference organizers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday March 5 2009
3:00 - 7:00 pm	Lobby, Accolade West	Registration
3:30 - 6:00 pm	Nat Taylor Cinema	Documentary film screening : "Under Rich Earth" (Intag Valley, northern Ecuador)	Presenters: Liisa North, Political Science, Centre for Research on Latin America & the Caribbean (CERLAC), York University; Malcolm Rogge, filmmaker; Carlos Zorilla and Marcia Ramirez, members of the Intag community
7:00 - 7:15 pm	109 Accolade West	Welcome	Eduardo Canel, Director, Centre for Research on Latin America & the Caribbean (CERLAC), York University
7:15 - 9:00 pm	109 Accolade West	Keynote address	Watch the keynote presentation in streaming video   Rosemary Thorp, Senior Researcher, Latin American Programme, Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security, and Ethnicity (CRISE), Department of International Development, Oxford University; former director, Latin American Centre Dilemmas and Conflicts in the Mining sector: what history teaches   Discussant: Catherine Coumans, Research Coordinator and Asia-Pacific Program Coordinator, MiningWatch Canada

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday March 6 2009
8:30 - 9:00	Lobby, Accolade West	Coffee & registration
9:00 - 10:45	006 Accolade West	Panel 1A: Corporate-Community Relations: Negotiating Agreements This panel will examine attempts to regulate extractive industry activities (e.g. environmental management, resolution of grievances, revenue sharing) through the negotiation and implementation of formal agreements with affected communities. Presentations will compare Canadian experiences (including environmental agreements and Impact and Benefit Agreements) with experiences elsewhere, consider how they actually 'work' on the ground, and examine the role played by state regulatory mechanisms.	Chair/discussant: Gabrielle Slowey, Ass’t. Professor, Political Science, York University   Ciaran O’ Faircheallaigh, Professor, Politics and Public Policy, Griffith University, Australia Understanding Corporate-Indigenous Agreements on Mineral Development: A Conceptual Framework   Ben Bradshaw, Associate Professor, Geography, Guelph University An Evaluation of Impact & Benefit Agreements in the Canadian Mining Sector with Case Studies from Diamond Mining in the Northwest Territories   Courtney Fidler & Michael Hitch, University of British Columbia Used and Abused: Negotiated Agreements   Catherine Coumans, Research Coordinator and Asia-Pacific Program Coordinator, MiningWatch Canada Alternative accountability mechanisms: What conditions benefit communities?
9:00 - 10:45	013 Accolade East	Panel 1B: Corporate-Community Relations: Negotiating Agreements	Listen to an audio recording of this panel here Watch the session in streaming video   Chair/discussant: Anna Zalik, Assistant Professor, faculty of Environmental Studies, York University   Andre M. Xavier & Sarah Kimball, Norman Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering, University of British Columbia Can Impact & Benefit Agreements Work as a Bridge Towards More Sustainable Practices in Mining Industry?   Marieme Lo, Assistant Professor, Global Gender Studies Department, University of Buffalo Revisiting the Chad-Cameroon pipeline compensation modality, local communities’ discontent, & accountability mechanisms   Virginia Gibson, Anthropologist, Community Consultant Implementation & Accountability: Challenges in Canadian IBAs   John B. Zoe, Tlicho Executive Officer; lead negotiator for the Tlicho land claim Mining history in the Tlicho Region
10:45 - 11:00		COFFEE BREAK
11:00 - 12:45	006 Accolade West	Panel 2A: Socio-Environmental Histories of Extraction. Case Studies: Mexico and Canada How have particular sectors emerged globally and in particular sites, which key actors and historical conjunctures shaped them, and how do the historical legacies in different countries influence contemporary regulatory debates?	Chair/discussant: Rosemary Thorp, Senior Researcher, Latin American Programme, Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security, and Ethnicity (CRISE), Department of International Development, Oxford University   Daviken Studnicki-Gizbert, Associate Professor, Latin American and Global History, McGill University, Montreal Exhausting the Sierra Madre: Long-Term Trends in the Environmental Impacts of Mining in Mexico   Myrna Santiago, Associate Professor, Saint Mary’s College of California The Ecology of Oil: The Case of Mexico, 1900-1938   Ugo Lapointe, Researcher, Groupe de recherche sur les activités minières en Afrique (GRAMA), Université du Québec à Montréal Les origines des régimes miniers au Canada: l’héritage du système du free mining (The Origins of Mining Regimes in Canada : the Legacy of the ‘Free Mining’ System) [Click on title for the paper in PDF; click here to see the accompanying slides]   Rodolfo Uribe, Professor-Researcher, Centro Regional de Investigaciones Multidisciplinarias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, México El Colonialismo Interno del Petróleo: Petróleos Mexicanos en Tabasco 1973-2008 (Oil’s Internal Colonialism: Mexican Petroleum in Tabasco 1973-2008)
11:00 - 12:45	013 Accolade East	Panel 2B: Small-Scale Mining – Case Studies This panel will explore experiences in small-scale mining in Africa, Asia, and the Americas, with particular concern paid to issues of regulation, sustainability, and livelihoods.	Listen to an audio recording of this panel here Watch the session in streaming video   Chair/discussant: Ravi de Costa, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University   Logan Hennessy, Assistant Professor, Social Sciences, Liberal Studies Program, San Francisco State University, San Francisco Where there is no company: indigenous peoples, sustainability, & the challenges of mid-stream mining reforms in Guyana’s small-scale gold sector   Gavin Hilson, y Lecturer, Environment & Development, School of Agriculture, Policy & Development, The University of Reading Challenges with eradicating child labour in African small-scale mining communities: A case study of the Talensi-Nabdam District, Upper East Region of Ghana   Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt,Resource Management in Asia Pacific Program, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University Rethinking illegitimacy in mineral extraction: Mining, communities and livelihoods in India
1:00 - 2:00		LUNCH
2:00 - 3:45	013 Accolade East	Panel 3A: The Political Economy of Resource Control - Resource & Energy Sovereignties – Country Studies This panel will examine ownership & tax/royalty structures & their varying implications for national governments & residents of extractive sites.	Listen to an audio recording of this panel here Watch the session in streaming video   Chair/discussant: Ricardo Grinspun, Associate Professor, Economics, CERLAC, York University   Carlos Larrea, Professor, Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, Ecuador Yasuni: Keeping the Oil in the Soil in the Ecuadorian Amazon   Gordon Laxer, The Director of Parkland Institute and Political Economist, University of Alberta Promises, Promises: The Irony of Energy Dependence in the US & Canada   Paul Ragusa, Oil and Gas Specialist, Americas Directorate, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) Resource Revenue in Bolivia
2:00 - 3:45	006 Accolade West	Panel 3B: The Political Economy of Resource Control -Regulation of Extractive Economies: Case Studies & Theoretical Considerations This panel will examine experiences in setting regulatory frameworks in Canada, Africa & the US.	Chair/discussant: Peter Vandergeest, Associate Professor, Sociology, York University   Myriam Laforce, Researcher, Groupe de recherche sur les activités minières en Afrique (GRAMA), Université du Québec à Montréal L’évolution des régimes miniers au Canada et les conditions d’émergence de nouvelles formes de régulation (The Evolution of Mining Regimes in Canada & the Conditions for the Emergence of New Forms of Regulation)   Bonnie Campbell, Professor, Department of Political Science and Groupe de recherche sur les activités minières en Afrique (GRAMA), Université du Québec à Montréal National Mining Codes & Global Regulation- African Cases   Angela V. Carter, Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies Program, Grenfell College, Memorial University; Doctoral candidate, Government Department, Cornell University Environmental Policy & Petro-Polities: Regulation Trends in Oil-Dependent Canada & the U.S.
3:45 - 4:00		COFFEE BREAK
4:00 - 5:45	006 Accolade West	Panel 4A: Critical and Comparative Studies of Indigenous/Community Protest and Consultation: Case Studies - Peru & Ecuador This panel will address the dynamics of protest and consultation. Consultation is a globalizing norm for corporate-state-community engagement in relation to extractive activities. It is mandated by ILO 169, the IFC Performance Standards, and Canadian constitutional jurisprudence. Recent disputes in Ontario and elsewhere, however, disclose considerable differences among indigenous, government, and corporate actors concerning the conceptual and political foundations, and the practical meaning of a duty to carry out consultations.	Chair/discussant: Liisa North, Professor, Political Science, Centre for Research on Latin America & the Caribbean (CERLAC), York University   Mirtha Vasquez, Executive Director, GRUFIDES, Training & Intervention Group for Sustainable Development, Peru   Susan T. Wildau, Maria Chappuis, David Atkins, Meg Taylor, CDR Associates Power, Rights & Interests: Lessons from the Mesa de Diálogo y Consenso CAO-Cajamarca, Peru   Fabiana Li, Doctoral candidate, University of California at Davis The Perils of Participation: Environmental Impact Assessment in a Peruvian Mining Project   Paúl Cisneros, Doctoral candidate, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales / Observatorio Socioambiental, Quito, Ecuador El diálogo minero en el Ecuador: nuevas señales de una nueva relación entre comunidades y empresas extractivas? (Mining Dialogue in Ecuador: Signs of a New Relation Between Communities & Extractive Industries?”)
4:00 - 5:45	013 Accolade East	Panel 4B: Critical & Comparative Studies of Indigenous/Community Consultation This panel will address the dynamics of protest and consultation. Consultation is a globalizing norm for corporate-state-community engagement in relation to extractive activities. It is mandated by ILO 169, the IFC Performance Standards, and Canadian constitutional jurisprudence. Recent disputes in Ontario and elsewhere, however, disclose considerable differences among indigenous, government, and corporate actors concerning the conceptual and political foundations, and the practical meaning of a duty to carry out consultations.	Listen to an audio recording of this panel here Watch the session in streaming video   Chair/discussant: Dayna Nadine Scott, Assistant Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School and the Faculty of Environmental Studies; Director, National Network on Environments and Women's Health   Viviane Weitzner, Senior Researcher, The North-South Institute, Ottawa Indigenous Participation in Multi-Party Dialogues on Extractives: What lessons can Canada & others share?   Rachel Ariss, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Lakehead University, & David Peerla, Advisor to Deputy Grand Chief, Nishnawbe Aski The Law in the Making and Unmaking of the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug Struggle for the Right to Say No   Robert Lovelace, Adjunct Professor, Global Development Studies, Queen`s University; Professor, Eco-Systems Management, Sir Sandford Fleming College; Chief Negotiator, Ardoch Algonquin First Nation Consultation Smokescreen - Colonialism in Disguise
5:45 - 6:45		DINNER BREAK
7:00 - 8:45	006 Accolade West	Panel 5A: Science, Environmental Assessment & Accountability This panel will look at the role played by (both natural & social) scientific knowledge in disputes concerning extractive industry development. In what conditions is scientific knowledge created? How & by whom is it deployed? What questions is scientific knowledge used to answer? What mechanisms are in place to ensure review & scientific rigour? How does scientific knowledge interact with other forms of knowledge?	Chair/discussant: Alan Simmons, Professor, Sociology, CERLAC, York University   Martí Orta, PhD candidate, Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Science for indigenous activism: maps against oil companies impacts   Gail Fraser, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University Access to Data & Government Management of the Canadian Offshore Petroleum Industry   Matthew Himley, Doctoral candidate, Department of Geography, Syracuse University Monitoring Extraction in Andean Peru: A Participatory Process?
7:00 - 8:45	013 Accolade East	Panel 5B: Transnational Lawsuits These mechanisms are generally used to create leverage to promote settlement using networks linking activists, lawyers, NGOs, & indigenous &/or community organizations. What are some of the implications & consequences of channeling these disputes through judicial institutions transnationally? What do/can these mechanisms deliver & for whom?	Chair/discussant: Shin Imai, Associate Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University   Stuart Kirsch, Associate Professor, Anthropology, University of Michigan Courting Difference: The adjudication of indigenous claims   Suzana Sawyer, Associate Professor, Anthropology, University of Calfornia, Davis Law, Science & Risk in an Ecuadorian Class Action Against the Chevron Corporation   Cory Wanless, Student-at-law, Klippensteins Barristers & Solicitors; Carlos Zorilla and Marcia Ramirez, members of an Ecuadorean community pursuing mining-related legal action Transnational Tort as a Means to Corporate Accountability

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday March 7 2009
8:30 - 9:00	Lobby, Accolade West	Coffee & registration
9:00 - 10:45	004 Accolade West	Panel 6A: Critical & Comparative Studies of Social Movements Have communities & social movements beensuccessful in dealing with extractive industries & changing their practices? What accounts for the differences in the impact (if any) of social movements on mining & oil operations? How is success defined?	Watch this session in streaming video   Chair/discussant: David Szablowski, Law & Society, Division of Social Science, CERLAC, York University   Anthony Bebbington, Professor of Nature, Society and Development in the School of Environment and Development, University of Manchester; ESRC Professorial Fellow; Research Associate, Centro Peruano de Estudios Sociales, Peru Localizing the Transnational: Scaled Civil Society responses to Extractive Industry in South America   Keith Slack, Extractive Industries Program Manager, Oxfam US Comparing Mining Resistance in Africa & Latin America   Cyril Obi, Coordinator, Post-Conflict Transition, the State and Civil Society in Africa research programme, Nordic Africa Institute (NAI), Uppsala, Sweden; Associate research professor, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Lagos Oil Extraction, Dispossession, Resistance & Conflict in Nigeria’s Oil Rich Niger Delta
9:00 - 10:45	206 Accolade West	Panel 6B: Critical & Comparative Studies of Social Movements – The Challenges of Building North-South Networks On the basis of their own experiences, two sets ofparticipants in North-South Networks analyze the challenges of building cooperation & obtaining changes in public polices & mining industrypractices. One set involves non-governmental organizations & the other, workers' unions.	Watch this session in streaming video   Chair/discussant: Daviken Studnicki-Gizbert, Associate Professor, Latin American and Global History, McGill University, Montreal   Rusa Jeremic, Global Economic Justice Program Coordinator for KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives, Canada Solidarity for Communities Resisting Canadian Mining Companies: Cases from Mexico & the Philippines   Ana Maria Alvarado, Member, Frente Amplio Opositor (FAO), Nucleo Agrario Cerro de San Pedro, Mexico The Case of Metallica Resources in Cerro San Pedro, Mexico: Implications for Mexican Tribunals, Canadian legislation & the Commission for Environmental Cooperation of NAFTA   Jorge Alfonso Flores Navea & Rene Larrain, President & Vice-President, Workers' Trade Union (Teck), Quebrada Blanca Mining Company, Iquique, Chile; Richard Boyce, President, United Steelworkers (USW) 7619,  (Teck)  Highland Valley Mining Company; Judith Marshall and Laura Ramirez, Department of Global Affairs and Workplace Issues, USW Building the Teck-Cominco network
10:45 - 11:00		COFFEE BREAK
11:00 - 12:45	206 Accolade West	Panel 7A: Searching for Sustainable and Socially Responsible Practices: Good Governance & Corporate Social Responsibility in Theory & Practice This panel will examine CSR programs and/or governmental and intergovernmental initiatives in terms of their ability to foster good governance, sustainability, socially responsible practices, and accountability to a broad range of stakeholders.	Chair/discussant: Albert Berry, Professor of Economics, Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto   Wesley Cragg, Professor Emeritus; Director, Business Ethics Program, Schulich School of Business Mining, Human Rights & the work of John Ruggie, special advisor to the UN Secretary General   Uwem Ite, Team Lead, Information, Education and Communication & Capacity Building, The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited Perspectives on Best Practices of Sustainable Corporate Responsibility   Karyn Keenan, Program Officer, Halifax Initiative The National Roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility & the Canadian Extractive Industry in Developing Countries: Enhanced Accountability?   John Burton, Fellow, Resource Management in Asia-Pacific Program, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University Corporate Social Responsibility reporting, resource conflict, and the concept of ‘materiality’ in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands
11:00 - 12:45	004 Accolade West	Panel 7B: Searching for Sustainable and Socially Responsible Practices: Good Governance & Corporate Social Responsibility in Theory & Practice This panel will examine CSR programs and/or governmental and intergovernmental initiatives in terms of their ability to foster good governance, sustainability, socially responsible practices, and accountability to a broad range of stakeholders.	Chair/discussant: Uwa Idemudia, International Development/African Studies, Division of Social Science, York University   Kernaghan Webb & Gregory Klages, Founding Director / Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Institute for the Study of Corporate Social Responsibility, Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University Canadian & Australian Approaches to Sustainable & Socially Responsible Mining in South America: Illustrations from Chile   André Bourassa, Natural Resources Canada Mining Good Governance: Perspectives and Issues   Nicole Lindsay, Doctoral candidate, School of Communication, Simon Fraser University Mining, Sustainability & the Economic Imaginary: Canadian Multinationals in Latin America & the Political-Economic Limits of CSR Discourse
1:00 - 2:00		LUNCH
2:00 - 3:45	004 Accolade West	Panel 8A: Critical & Comparative Studies of Social Movements & Civil Society Interventions What have been the strategies employed by communities, social movements, and civil society organizations in their relations with extractive industries? Have these strategies ensured that their concerns were addressed? What accounts for the differences in the impact (if any) of community and social movement mobilization on mining and oil operations? How is success defined?	Watch this session in streaming video   Chair/discussant: Pablo Idahosa, Professor, Social Science, Co-ordinator African Studies, York University   Terisa Turner, International Oil Group, United Nations; Sociology & Anthropology, University of Guelph Gendered Encounters with Extractive Industries: The Curse of Nakedness Against the Curse of Oil   Asume Osuoka, Doctoral candidate, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University & Social Action Nigeria, Gulf of Guinea Citizens Network Global & Regional Advocacy Networks   Ben Naanen, Professorial Candidate, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria The Curse of Oil: Conflict, Criminality & Underdevelopment in the Níger Delta
2:00 - 3:45	206 Accolade West	Panel 8B: Critical & Comparative Studies of Social Movements What have been the strategies employed by communities, social movements, and civil society organizations in their relations with extractive industries? Have these strategies ensured that their concerns were addressed? What accounts for the differences in the impact (if any) of community and social movement mobilization on mining and oil operations? How is success defined?	Watch this session in streaming video   Chair/discussant: Viviana Patroni, Associate Professor, International Development/Latin American & Caribbean Studies, Division of Social Science, CERLAC, York University   José De Echave, Doctor in Economics; Director, Programa de Minería y Comunidades de CooperAccion del Perú Los retos actuales del movimiento social vinculado a la lucha por los derechos de las comunidades frente a las industrias extractivas: el caso Peruano (Current Challenges Facing the Social Movement Struggling for the Rights of Communities in Relation to Extractive Industries: the Peruvian Case)   Purificación Hernández, Técnico Minería, ASONOG (Asociación de Organismos No Gubernamentales), Honduras Experiencia e incidencia politica de la acd ante los impactos sociales y ambientales de la mineria en Honduras (The Experience & Political Impact of ACD Given the Social & Environmental Impacts of Mining in Honduras)   Mariana Walter, Doctoral Candidate, Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambiental, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain Communities opposing & banning mining activities in Argentina; Or, how to be heard when nobody wants to listen
3:45 - 4:00		COFFEE BREAK
4:00 - 5:45	206 Accolade West	Panel 9A: Searching for Sustainable and Socially Responsible Practices: Good Governance & Corporate Social Responsibility in Theory & Practice This panel will examine CSR programs and/or governmental and intergovernmental initiatives in terms of their ability to foster good governance, sustainability, socially responsible practices, and accountability to a broad range of stakeholders.	Watch this session in streaming video   Chair/discussant: Ana Garcia Muller, PhD candidate, International Relations at PUC - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil   Vicente Ugalde, Centro de Estudios Demograficos, Urbanos y Ambientales, El Colegio de México La producción y reproducción de la cuestión ambiental a través de las controversias socio-ambientales: el caso de los conflictos asociados a la industria minera en México (The Production & Reproduction of the Environmental Question Through Socio-Environmental Controversies: the Case of Conflicts Associated with the Mining Industry in Mexico)   Marco Arana Zegarra, Miembro Directivo de la RED MUQUI, Minería Propuesta y Acción de Perú Conflictos mineros, responsabilidad social empresarial e institucionalidad ambiental en Peru (Mining Conflicts, Corporate Social Responsibility & Environmental Institutionality in Peru)   Maria Amélia R da S Enríquez, Economics Department, University Federal of Pará (UFPA) & University of Amazonia (UNAMA), Brazil Curse or blessing? The sustainable development dilemma of the mining regions in Brazil   Arianto Sangadji, Visiting Fellow, Asian Institute, University of Toronto; former Director and co-founder, Yayasan Tanah Merdeka (Free Land Foundation), Indonesia The Mining Sector and Local People in the Era of Decentralization in Indonesia
4:00 - 5:45	004 Accolade West	Panel 9B: Searching for Sustainable and Socially Responsible Practices: Good Governance & Corporate Social Responsibility in Theory & Practice This panel will examine CSR programs and/or governmental and intergovernmental initiatives in terms of their ability to foster good governance, sustainability, socially responsible practices, and accountability to a broad range of stakeholders.	Watch this session in streaming video   Chair/discussant: Cynthia Williams, Professor (Osler Chair), Osgoode Hall Law School, York University   Romy Kraemer, Doctoral candidate, department of Business-Society Management, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, & Gail Whiteman, Rotterdam School of Management, The Netherlands Reports from the Front Stage of CSR: An Ethnographic Account of the 19th World Petroleum Congress   Elizabeth Emma Ferry, Associate Professor, Anthropology, Brandeis University Thinking the Social: the Intellectual Roots of CSR in Guanajuato   Hevina S. Dashwood, Associate Professor of Political Science, Brock University Organizational Learning & CSR in the Mining Sector
7:30 - 9:00	206 Accolade West	Closing Roundtable Looking Ahead: Research Agendas and Policy Recommendations Participants in this session will summarize the main ideas raised by the conference, chart agendas for future research, and make policy recommendations.	Watch this session in streaming video   Moderator: David Szablowski, Law and Society, Division of Social Science, CERLAC, York University Speakers: Anthony Bebbington, Manchester University Robert Lovelace, Department of Global Development Studies, Queen’s University, former chief, Ardoch Algonquin First Nation André Bourassa, Natural Resources Canada Ben Naanen, Professorial Candidate, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria Viviane Weitzner, Senior Researcher, The North-South Institute, Ottawa Others to be confirmed