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subjected to abusive labour practices by a state-run con- tractor engaged by Vancouver-headquartered Nevsun Resources for the construction of its Bisha mine in Eritrea, on the Red Sea in Northeast Africa. The original three plainti•s have since been joined by more than a dozen other former Bisha employees, and this mass tort claim over allegations of modern slavery is another ignominious •rst for Canada's mining industry. (Nevsun didn't respond to interview requests.) Unlike with Tahoe, the Supreme Court has let Nevsun appeal a lower court's decision allowing the case to pro- ceed. But lawyer Amanda Ghahremani, acting legal direc- tor of the Ottawa-based Canadian Centre for International Justice, believes it would be hard for the company to suc- cessfully argue that Eritrea is an appropriate venue for the plainti•s to seek justice. The country of •ve million, which fought a protracted war of independence with Ethiopia that ended in 2000, is a de facto one-party state with a dismal human rights record that "continues unabated," according to a 2018 report by United Nations special rapporteur Sheila Keetharuth. "I hope Canadian mining companies are paying atten- tion to these court cases. They should be," Ghahremani says. "It's important for them to understand that they cannot go into foreign countries and commit human rights violations and not be held responsible." Industry executives are likely paying close attention to a third lawsuit involving another Canadian company, Hudbay Minerals, that as of October remained at examina- tion and discovery in Ontario. The company chose not to pursue an appeal of this suit, •led back in 2011 by 11 Indig- enous Mayan women in Superior Court of Ontario alleg- ing gang rape by security personnel that Toronto-based Hudbay and subsidiary HMI Nickel hired at its Fenix mine in eastern Guatemala. (Hudbay has since divested its inter- est in this property.) Not surprisingly, many Canadian law •rms with mining industry clients are also closely following these courtroom DECEMBER/JANUARY 2019 BCBUSINESS 43 BCBUSINESS.CA Question of Ownership DO CANADIAN MINING COMPANIES BEHAVE WORSE THAN THEIR PEERS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES? Paul Haslam, an associate professor at the University of Ottawa's School of International Development and Global Studies, set out to answer that question with two colleagues. Their findings, published in the September 2018 issue of the Canadian Journal of Political Science, examine 634 mining properties in five Latin American nations: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru. The verdict: "Canadian mining firms perform slightly better than other foreign firms, but worse than locally owned firms." 24.6% 39.1% 36.3% 506 Mining properties among the 634 surveyed that weren't associated with a known social conflict as of the end of 2012 73.4% Mines with a known social conflict that had foreign headquarters 32.8% Mines with such a conflict that had Canadian head- quarters, versus 26.6 percent locally headquartered 42.3% Mines without a known social conflict that were locally owned, versus 37.2 percent for Canadian- owned operations Mining properties in the study headquartered in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru Headquartered in Canada Headquartered in another country "I hope Canadian mining companies are paying attention to these cases. They should be. It's impor- tant for them to understand that they cannot go into foreign countries and commit human rights viola- tions and not be held responsible" –Amanda Ghahremani, acting legal director, Canadian Centre for International Justice

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