Thank you.

The UN working group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations has called on all states to negotiate only such international investment agreements that are compatible with their international human rights obligations. The UN working group has also called on all states to conduct impact assessments of international investment agreements on human rights and the environment.

Canada must comply with this recommendation to ensure that trade and investment objectives do not put human rights obligations at risk. So far, we have heard only that Canada’s trade minister will table an economic impact assessment in Parliament alongside the text of any agreement reached with Ecuador. This suggests that human rights goals and indigenous rights goals are not a serious consideration. They must be.

We are equally concerned that while stakeholders in Canada were invited to a consultation about a possible FTA with Ecuador, human rights, environmental and indigenous peoples' organizations in Ecuador have been neither informed nor consulted. Canada says that mining and critical minerals are key areas for Canadian investment and avenues for growth in Ecuador. Those who will be impacted must be consulted. That’s why we made space in our input to get consultation for the voices of women human rights defenders with an organization called Amazonian Women Defending the Forest.

These indigenous women have faced death threats and attacks for speaking up about the impacts of resource extraction projects in their territories. This includes elevated levels of gender violence against women and girls, which have coincided with the arrival of mining and oil companies and militarization.

This is what Amazonian women had to say in a public statement and want you to know. They state:

Currently, our rights and our territories are being seriously threatened by Canadian companies like Solaris Resources and Aurania Resources, which do not respect the collective rights of Indigenous peoples and operate illegitimately in Indigenous territories in Morona Santiago. Therefore, without the participation and the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous peoples, such an agreement would pose a clear violation to our rights, which have been recognized at the international level by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Convention 169 of the ILO on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, and the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Indigenous peoples' rights are not respected in Ecuador, even though it is a party to the ILO convention 169 and other international instruments. Authorities and companies disregard indigenous peoples’ rights through policies and large-scale projects, such as oil and mining, that have not received their free, prior and informed consent and have affected their territories, environment, health, water and food sources.

Last May, Executive Decree No. 754 was issued. It allows mining companies to commence activities without indigenous peoples’ free, prior and informed consent. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has expressed deep concern.

There are other issues of deep concern. Companies are being allowed to continue to install climate-destroying gas flares on their oil platforms, despite a court ruling. Human rights defenders who speak out against irresponsible resource extraction suffer false accusations and attacks. Indigenous leader, Eduardo Mendúa, was shot dead last February.

Let me finish by sharing the words of Pablo Fajardo, an environmental defender who is at risk because of dangerous false accusations made against him by Ecuador's Minister of Energy and Mining. This is what Pablo Fajardo authorized me to share with you. He states,

In all operations of Canadian companies in Ecuador, respect for human rights must come first. We cannot continue allowing more sacrifice zones. We are not against extractive activity. What we are against is the way things are being done now. The economic rights of corporations cannot be allowed to prevail over our rights to water, clean air, land, community harmony...

It is essential that this committee invite Pablo Fajardo and other witnesses from civil society organizations in Ecuador, who will be impacted by a free trade agreement between Ecuador and Canada, to provide input about the goals. This would be inclusive, progressive trade and investment.

Thank you.

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