Suggestions:
Be as personal as you can. This template is simply a guide, and you may choose from among the many concerns listed in it. We have been told that a handwritten note on a card often receives more attention, but an email is also fine.
Send a copy, or write separately, to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and the Minister of International Trade, who is responsible for the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE). Their contact information follows below.
Please let us know that you have written, by sending a quick e-mail to grandmothersadvocacy@gmail.com, so we will know how many letters have been sent.
Thank you!
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Date
The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, P.C, M.P.
Prime Minister of Canada
Ottawa,ON
K1A 0A6
Via email: justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca
Cc The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson
Minister of Environment and Climate Change
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0A6
Via email: ec.ministre-minister.ec@canada.ca
The Honourable Mary Ng
Minister of International Trade
Ottawa ON
K1A 0A6
Via email: mary.ng@international.gc.ca
Dear Prime Minister,
All letters should include this message in one form or another:
I am a member of the Grandmothers Advocacy Network (GRAN) and am writing to you about my deep concern regarding activities of the Canadian mining company, Reconnaissance Africa (ReconAfrica), which is currently drilling exploratory oil and gas wells in Namibia and Botswana, home to one of the world’s most vulnerable and biodiverse ecosystems.
Then include reasons for your concern, choose one or more reasons from this list:
- The ReconAfrica project poses dire threats to the human rights of the indigenous people of southern Africa and to all the citizens of Namibia and Botswana.
- Although both Namibia and Botswana have signed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, land for drilling wells has been appropriated without the permission of or consultation with the San, who depend on this land to produce food for their families. Dispossessed farmers at both drill sites have resorted to suing ReconAfrica.
- Namibia and Botswana are extremely arid countries and are already facing serious challenges from water and food scarcity. The potential for pollution of their watershed with toxic chemicals from oil drilling would be a disaster for over a million people who rely on the Kavango Basin for drinking water and for crop irrigation.
- Drilling for oil endangers the survival of this ecologically sensitive area. The Okavango Delta - a World Heritage Site - is one of the world’s largest inland deltas and is home to 100,000 people and a spectacular diversity of wildlife and plants. This area is visited by thousands of tourists each year, providing much-needed employment and providing $500 million a year in sustainable revenue for the people.
- Environmental assessment professionals around the world have found gross inadequacies in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) put out by ReconAfrica. There is a lack of transparency about their future plans, and an inability to listen to the concerns of the people most affected by their actions. There needs to be an independent Strategic Environmental Assessment covering all the affected countries.
- There is a grave lack of transparency around the possibility of hydraulic fracking. This possibility is frightening, as each of the numerous wells would use 1.5 million gallons of water, devastating this arid ecosystem.
- This project is a threat to the world’s climate. ReconAfrica claims that they will produce 120 billion barrels of oil, equal to 5 billion tons of carbon dioxide, which will make a significant contribution to global warming. Exploiting this oil would run directly counter to the Paris agreement, making it impossible to meet the goal of limiting the rise of global temperatures to 1.5 °C
Then tell the government what actions you would like them to take. Again, choose from the list below:
- These threats can be averted if government action is taken now. The original mandate of the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) must be restored. With the power to require companies to provide witnesses and documents, complaints of human rights or environmental violations can be legitimately investigated and remedies can be enforced.
- Minister Trudeau, you have frequently stated that your government is committed to tackling climate change. To reach your stated climate goals and to keep your promises, this project must be stopped. The International Energy Agency has recently concluded that, “There is no need for investment in new fossil fuel supply in our net-zero pathway.” Therefore, Canada must halt all new fossil fuel projects, especially ReconAfrica’s project to produce 120 billion barrels of oil.
- Action must be taken to enact mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation. This legislation would require Canadian companies to identify and eliminate human rights and environmental risks in their global operations and supply chains.
- We urge the government to encourage and support Canadian companies to invest in green energy projects such as the US solar power project planned for Botswana and Namibia.
Conclusion – choose one of the following sentences (or create your own)
- Canada must uphold its international responsibilities on human rights and the environment by investigating and taking action to prevent ReconAfrica’s harmful activities from going forward.
- I am ashamed/angry that a Canadian mining company is contributing to human rights abuses abroad. Please stop this project before any further damage is done.
- If climate change is the biggest challenge facing the world today, how can Canada support this project? Please do all in your power to halt it before we see irreversible environmental devastation.
Sincerely,
(Name)
Grandmothers Advocacy Network (GRAN)
(City/Province or Territory)
