From November 16-18, one hundred and fifty activists from 50 countries convened in Montreal for a three-day conference hosted by Publish What You Pay, the global campaign for transparency and accountability in the oil, gas and mining industries.

The delegates were representing hundreds of organizations around the globe that work to ensure that citizens are able to benefit from their countries’ natural resource wealth. Oil, gas and mining revenues – when properly managed – can serve as a basis for poverty reduction, economic growth and development. Citizens who know how much money is earned from these resources are better able to hold companies and governments accountable. Lifting this veil of secrecy is crucial to ensuring that natural resource wealth benefits the country as a whole, and not just a powerful few. It provides citizens with the information they need to demand more investment in education, health care and social services.

Canada was chosen as the location for this conference because it is home to some of the world’s largest extractives companies, particularly those in the mining sector. In 2008 over 75 per cent of the world’s mining exploration and production companies were headquartered in Canada. These companies operate in over 100 countries around the world. The conference offered an opportunity for civil society organizations from many countries where Canadian companies are active to dialogue with the Canadian government and private sector.

The following recommendations were made at the close of the three day international conference:

Recommendations to the government of Canada

With regards to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), the government of Canada should:

• implement the EITI;
• ensure that all Canadian extractive companies support and adhere to the EITI;
• provide increased political, financial and technical support to resource-rich developing countries to ensure full and timely implementation of the EITI.

With regards to corporate social responsibility (CSR), the government of Canada should:

• review and strengthen its new strategy promoting voluntary CSR efforts in the extractive industries by including a regulatory framework to hold Canadian companies accountable for their operations abroad;
• ensure that its capacity building programme accompanying the CSR strategy includes capacity building for civil society.

With regards to mandatory initiatives, the government of Canada should:

• explore similar legislation to the Energy Security Through Transparency Act, which was introduced in the United States Senate in September 2009;
• ensure that Canadian oil, gas and mining companies are held accountable for their operations abroad through legislative efforts such as Bill C-300 on Corporate Accountability for the Activities of Mining, Oil or Gas in Developing Countries, which is currently being debated in the Canadian Parliament;
• integrate the mandatory disclosure of extractive industry payments into the agendas of the G8 and G20 (Canada will host G8 and G20 Summits of world leaders in 2010).

With regards to the safety and security of civil society activists and communities affected by extraction, the government of Canada should:

• work to ensure that basic human rights are safeguarded and safety and security is guaranteed by mobilizing its embassies and through its representation on the EITI Board.

Furthermore, the conference made the following recommendations to all stakeholders, including the governments of resource-rich countries, the governments of OECD countries, extractive companies and the international financial institutions to:

• consider transparency in the decision to extract and contract transparency to be key issues that should be addressed in any policy with regard to the management of oil, gas and mining resources;
• strongly support the adoption of national legislation in resource-rich developing countries to ensure better management of natural resource revenues;
• strongly support the adoption of national legislation in ‘home countries’ to hold companies accountable for their operations abroad;
• ensure that countries facing a deadline for EITI validation are receiving the necessary political, financial and technical support;
• redouble efforts to ensure that civil society activists can successfully carry out their mission as watchdogs and as the voice of communities without facing harassment, intimidation, false accusations and reprisals for their actions.

The conference welcomed the introduction of legislation in the United States Congress which would require U.S.-listed oil, gas and mining companies to publish their payments to governments on a country-by-country basis. The conference urged the government of the United States to enact this legislation as quickly as possible and encouraged other ‘home’ countries to pass similar regulations.

Montreal, 18 November 2009

Download the Communiqué here.

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