CCPA is proud to co-sponsor this terrific video from our colleagues at Corporate Europe Observatory. It chronicles grassroots resistance to efforts by Canadian mining company Gabriel Resources to build Europe’s largest open-pit gold mine in a culturally rich and environmentally sensitive region of Romania. After this unimaginably destructive project was refused by the Romanian public and courts, the Canadian investors turned to the investor-state (ISDS) dispute settlement mechanism of an obscure 1989 investment protection agreement to sue Romania for $US 4.4 billion in damages (1.8% of the value of the country’s economy). Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. CCPA’s study Digging for Dividends by Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood and Ben Smith finds that environmental policy is a favoured target of ISDS lawsuits brought by Canadian mining companies. Our report calls for the removal of ISDS from all Canadian investment and trade treaties.
Watch the video, Save Roşia Montană: The fight against ISDS in Romania, streaming on YouTube now.