>> today on "earth focus," canada's rush for gold. human rights watch exposes the brutal side of canadian goal morning -- go mining. in british columbia, the chilcote and people to gun the mining industry -- people take on the mining industry. gold has been a symbol of power and influence for civilizations for thousands of years. but it has been associated with gods, immortality, and wealth. the pursuit of gold has changed history. the spanish conquest of south

america to the gold rush in the american and canadian west. little else has had so much power to inspire or to corrupt. over the years, gold mining became industrialized. today, most mining is done by big corporations, and of the world's four largest companies, two of them are canadian. >> three percent of canada's gdp is mining based. >> there is but a handful of attempts to hold canadian companies to account -- has been a handful of attempts to hold canadian companies to account.

>> because oil prices are high, they're trying to get oil out of the ground -- gold out of the ground as quickly as possible. that means they are rushing. >> it really is a david and goliath struggle. >> the reach of canadian gold- mining is international. 95% operated and owned by toronto-based barrick gold. if every 2011, humans rights watch report identified failures by garrett gold to identify to respond and address mining related health and environmental concerns. -- barrick gold to identify to

respond and address mining related health and environmental concerns. >> papa new guinea is beautiful, much of it very sparsely populated. natural resources form the backbone of the economy, especially mining, timber, and oil. and now, an enormous liquid natural gas project is being headed up by exxon mobil. >> up until a couple of decades ago, this area was incredibly isolated. with the discovery of a gold deposit, the place has become home to one of the world's most successful gold mines. >> papa new guinea is probably one of the best examples of the really cruel ironies that often go hand-in-hand with these big extractive industries. they're supposed to lead to development, uplifting people from poverty, and yet

paradoxically things only seem to get worse. barrick has its private security force in order basically because there aren't nearly enough police there to do the job. the permanent police presence stationed in the nearby town is usually only 16 or 17 officers, who often don't even possess a car that works. we are on the road to a town where we have been investigating a range of human rights abuses, gang rapes carried out by the mine security guards.

>> some of the women interviewed said that when they were arrested by security guards at the mine, the guards give them a choice. either they could go to prison and either face jail time or hefty hefty fine, or they could submit to being raped by all of the menu had arrested them. -- man who had arrested them. -- men who had arrested them. none of the women we interviewed reported the crimes. in many cases, the security guards told them if they went to the police, they would then be arrested because he had been engaging in illegal activity. -- they had then been engaging in illegal activity. >> i think it is important for people to understand, there was

awareness of this issue for years before peopl the company started to take action. both the violence by the security guards in terms of killings and alleged rape had been mentioned. barrick is aware of it, because this was the whole board of directors being told about these issues. in addition, harvard university and new york university have been contacting barrick and telling them about the findings that they were finding in interviews they were doing, for years. barrick denied quite publicly that there was any issues with violence associated with the security guards, until just before he human rights report was about to come out. that was the tipping point for the company realized they could not just keep denying -- when

the company realized they could not just keep denying these issues. >> we are hiking up to the mine. going on to the dump is trespassing. almost all of the victims of the worst abuses that we documented were illegal miners, people who trespass onto the mine site, go onto the waste dumps, and and try to eat out a living by finding pieces of rock that the mine has discarded. -- eke out a living by finding pieces of rock that the mine has discarded. >> a lot of the people we interviewed were arrested right at this point, standing in the flow of the mine.

there were a lot of children working as illegal miners, including a lot of very young children. those children by and large are not going to school, and they are working in a very dangerous profession. yesterday i was sitting in the mine manager's office, they were being chased away by security. if people are arrested down there, they will be taken to court, tried for illegal mining , and they can be sentenced to very high fines, higher than most people here can pay, and a fairly lengthy prison term if they don't pay. >> a lot of the lands is leased by the company. the company often say to the landowners for that land, but the fact remains there is a lot less land than there used to be. the waste dumps himselthemselves consume what used to be farmland, and the waste dumps are growing with every truck full of rocks that is dumped onto them. >> i first visited the mine in

2000 and was stunned at the environmental impact. i flew over the mine in a helicopter. the mine is dumping 6 million tons of tailings and waste rock. the river system goes all the way from the highlands down to the coast papa new guinea. what people need to understand is the worst is clearly at the upper reaches, where there has not been a lot of other streams that have fed into this river system to dilute the contamination. the mining company has a mixing zone, one hundred 60 kilometers long, and in this mixing zone, the waste does not have to meet even papa new guinea standards for metal contamination. it is not until after 160 kilometers downstream that the waste from this mine is supposed to meet metal levels that the papa new guinea government sets.

that means all the people who live along this river for 160 kilometers are exposed to metal levels that are higher than even the papa new guinea government would allow. >> the mine disposes of all of its tailings, which is liquid waste, made up mostly of heavy metals that aren't byproduct of processing -- are made up of byproducts of processing. this is an extremely controversial practice. one thing we heard time and time again from people was because they have no land that they can use to form on, they have no choice but to go down on to those waste dumps. >> people do want to be living

there anymore. they recognize how hazardous -- do not want to be living there anymore. they recognize how hazardous it is and want to be moved. we find that people often don't want to be resettled, but here they are saying the mine is already there, the problems are there, and the best solution would be for them to be moved away. at every mine, there are winners and losers. the winners are the people who manage to get a job at a mine. in this case, that is a small portion of the communities around the mine. >> the combined mercury with the [no audio]the mercury will stick to the gold in the pan.

this is particularly dangerous, and will remains will be pure gold. >> inhaling mercury is incredibly dangerous, and people allover on a daily basis are burning mercury off inside their homes, often over the same fires the cook over. illegal miners can buy vials of mercury from shops all over town. it is easy to find, and cheap enough that people can afford it. >> we have cases of mercury for sale. they are like zombies. >> he has chosen to operate in a country whose government ignores a lot of its most asic human rights obligations. that does not mean a canadian

multinational company should do the same -- basic human rights obligations. that does not mean a canadian multinational company should do the same. >> there is no binding standards, so multinational mining companies are supposed to follow the regulations of the country in which they are operating. however, many of these multinational mining companies are operating in zones where either the regulation is weak, or their enforcement is weak. canada certainly sets no binding regulations for the operation of our mining companies operating overseas. >> 75% of the world is major mining next duration companies -- world's major mining companies are from canada. canada unfortunately does nothing to regulate big companies operating overseas. but we are doing is looking at this mine and trying to determine whether or not the company and the government are living up to their own poor human rights obligations.

if this mine is going to be open, is the company operating in a responsible way that ensures the people's human rights are protected? he answer to that question until now has been no. -- the answer to that question until now has been no.

>> the spirit shows what can go wrong when canada undertakes large-scale -- this shows what can go wrong when canada undertakes large-scale operations overseas. but what happens at home raise similar questions. in canada, more than 1000 first nations communities live near mineral deposits and minds. they have had little say about mining on or near their ancestral lands. they have benefited little from it. but that is changing. canada's first nations people are increasingly recognizing their rights to land and title, and enbridge colombia, they are taking on the mining industry -- british columbia, they are taking on the mining industry.

>> everything you need right here, you can get. >> this is always been a part of who we are. >> this water, all the plants, all the air that we breathe in are very sacred to us. >> if canada is found out by the world, people will be surprised. >> the heart of their country is

the chilcote and river -- chilcotan river. they have fought to protect it ever since the european settlers came here. now the chilcotan nation is fighting a new battle. the claim the land sits on one of canada's largest mineral deposits. a local mining company wants to tap it. >> the project is go back -- does go back into the 1970's and 1980's, particularly in the 1990's, when it was shut out by the department of fish and oceans and they look at the project and the impact of the project and were not interested in allowing the project to go forward. time went on. blago climates changed in british columbia and canada --

climates change in british columbia and canada. the company tried again. the project was problematic in large part because in order to construct the mine, they were going to drain very highly productive lake, which was full of rainbow trout, impact streams and another lake, which is part of the greater system -- ecosystem there. and the taking of a diverse and ecosystem wasuctive lake very controversial. but for the government, and for the chilcotan people, especally iacially. >> susan and her team made a film. their aim, to preven present th. >> making this film was something that was one of the hugest privileges of my filmmaking career. it was obvious that a film

needed to be made. there needs to be a film shot anyway that they are comfortable where they can tell the story of what is at stake, because only by hearing their story, only by understanding from them what really is at stake, could people empathize, could people connect, and could we perhaps get the change that was needed. people at first could not believe it. when it heard about it -- you heard about it -- the truth was , the company had a lot more resources. a small grassroots organization dug in, dug deep, and just worked at it by bit --b bit by bit, and finally the message

started to get across to canadians. money started to flow in. based on the best money and science available, they were able to prove that the plan as presented by the mine company was not viable and was it logically permanently destructive -- was not ecologically permanently destructive -- was it logically permanently destructive. >> -- ecologically terminally destructive -- permanently di eestructive. >> the mento environmental impat statement from the mining company suggests are is a risk of a cadmium plume -- that there is a risk of a cadmium plume out into adjacent water bodies. the waste disposal area itself would obliterate smaller,

helping and productive lake full of rainbow trout called little fish lake -. a risks to downstream audit quality into the future. we do not -- water quality into the future. if there was contamination going downstream, that would put it at risk. the area is also an important grizzly bear habitat. >> the mine company could yield 235,000 ounces of gold, and that means big bucks per british columbia. new jobs, and a boost to the economy. >> taseko emphasized the benefits of the project. they haven't really assessed the

long-term cost of maintaining the site into the future. they haven't assessed the risks for the salmon downstream. some of their economic arguments are very much based on an economy that continues to grow and grow, that assumes there'll be a big demand for gold in india and china into the future. those are all assumptions that are not necessarily guaranteed. >> the campaign to save fish lake was really a small group of incredibly dedicated people that started with the chilcotans. i think if you're going to work with someone, you need to consult with them and communicate with them. it has got to be a partnership between the two.

>> i don't see the benefits of destroying our land and our waters and our fish. >> they say it will create jobs, but it is going to ruin our land. the land is priceless, to me -- you cannot replace it after it has been minined. >> the best of our people, in a way. the way i see it, it is an informal genocide. some people may not see it that way, but i do. >> they say in 20 years or so you will get your land back. i don't believe it. >> how does that make you feel? >> sad.

>> after an environmental review, the canadian government agreed in 2010, giving it the taseko mining project a thumbs down. this came just after a mining lease had been granted to taseko in british columbia. >> there's inevitably going to be conflict if it gets the authorization from the government to go ahead. i can't conflict is not good for other businesses in british columbia, other mining projects -- that kind of conflict is not good for other businesses in british columbia, other mining projects. that will scare way investment from british columbia.

we were told that this project needs to be approved to do the opposite, to send a strong signal of support for mining in british columbia to encourage investment. >> in january 2011, taseko mines submitted its new proposal for the same site. the company proposes not to drain fish lake, and move detailing facility to another location. opponents say fish lake would still be affected by toxic waste. the federal review process is expected to take a year. >> many of us walked away with the first win on prosperity ceiling, isn't that great? now we are a bit shaken, but it is just shaken our resolve to stay strong. in talking with the chilcotans, they are ready to hunker down and say, i'm sorry. a second time around is not mean

it's right, doesn't mean it can go. -- does not mean it's right, does not mean it can go. >[singing] [drum beating] [drum beating]

[applause] >> thank you, nina. it's just wonderful to be here today, and i thank kenny and nina for inviting me. when i get up in the morning and open my closet door, i see a sign that says, "good morning, beautiful business," and it's a daily reminder to me of just how beautiful business can be when we put our creativity and our energy and our care into producing a service or a product for our community. economic exchange can really be one of the most meaningful of human interactions. when i see that sign in the morning, i--i think about the farmers out in the fields