The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Hudbay can be held legally responsible in Canada for alleged atrocities at an overseas property it once owned, an Ontario judge ruled Monday. The ruling paves the way for a trial in three lawsuits alleging rapes, a murder and an unprovoked shooting by security forces at the Fenix nickel project in Guatemala. 'As a result of this ruling, Canadian mining corporations can no longer hide behind their legal corporate structure to abdicate responsibility for human rights abuses that take place at foreign mines under their control at various locations throughout the world,' Murray Klippenstein, lawyer for the 13 Guatemalan plaintiffs, said in a press statement. See 'Trial' on pg. Continued from pg. 'There will now be a trial regarding the abuses that were committed in Guatemala, and this trial will be in a courtroom in Canada (in Toronto), a few blocks from Hudbay's headquarters, exactly where it belongs. We would never tolerate these abuses in Canada, and Canadian companies should not be able to take advantage of broken-down or extremely weak legal systems in other countries to get away with them there.' Hudbay, which denies any wrongdoing, reportedly argued that Canada was the wrong venue for the case given that the alleged crimes occurred in Guatemala. John Vincic, Hudbay's vice-president, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications, said Monday's ruling does not speak to the validity of the lawsuits. 'The judge's decision on July 22, 2013 involved a ruling on a question of law in a preliminary motion and did not involve a determination of the merits of the case,' Vincic said. 'It also did not consider the likelihood that the plaintiffs would be able to establish the facts they are alleging. After having an opportunity to cross-examine the plaintiffs, we are confident that their allegations are untrue and the cases will be favourably resolved on the merits at trial.' Nonetheless, the ruling, handed down by Superior Court of Ontario Justice Carole Brown, could have a ripple effect across Canada's legal system. Klippenstein told QMI Agency that this marks the first time a lawsuit will be allowed to proceed against a Canadian company for alleged actions by a subsidiary operation in another country. Two of the lawsuits _ those involving the alleged rapes and one murder _ together seek $67 million in damages from Hudbay. Financial details on the third lawsuit, for an unprovoked shooting, were unavailable. Eleven women claim that in 2007, they were gang-raped during evictions from Fenix. Their lawsuit seeks $55 million in compensation. The alleged rapes occurred before Hudbay was involved in Guatemala. In August 2008, HudBay merged with junior miner Skye Resources, now known as HMI Nickel, so it could own Fenix. A second lawsuit involves the alleged Sept. 2009 killing of Adolfo Ich, described by a media report as 'an indigenous community leader and an outspoken critic of Canadian mining activities in his community.' Ich was allegedly hacked and shot to death by security personnel employed at Fenix. This lawsuit seeks $12 million. The third lawsuit was filed by German Chub Choc, a man who claims he was paralyzed after being needlessly shot by a security worker at Fenix in Sept. 2009. Fenix is reportedly the site of a tense land dispute between local residents who illegally occupy the land and the companies that have sought to mine there. HudBay no longer owns the Fenix project, having sold it to a Russian company.
