Dear members of the UBC Board of Governors,
Last week, on April 14, you held a meeting during which — and after little discussion — you voted on and passed a resolution to approve a contribution agreement with Canada’s federal government for the Canadian International Resources and Development Institute's (CIRDI) project with the Ethiopian Ministry of Mines (Supporting the Ministry of Mines – SUMM Project).
The project summary posted online was likely the primary documentation informing board members prior to casting votes. Its “consultation” section states, “Internally, CIRDI has consulted with the UBC Dept. of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (EOAS), the Norman B. Keevil of Mining Engineering, the Mineral Development Research Unit (MDRU), the Liu Institute of Global Issues and the vice-president, Research & International” and concludes, “It is expected that further consultation will take place across UBC and the coalition universities during the inception phase of the project.”
The inception phase of this project is identified as April-September 2016, leaving little time for further “consultations” on our campus. The decision to move this forward is baffling. I make the following requests for you as members of the UBC Board of Governors:
1. Acknowledge and engage duly with the broad and conscientious critiques of CIRDI, of its mandate, of its leadership and funding structures, of its partner network and of its secrecy to date.
The critique has been growing and gaining legitimacy despite CIRDI’s embarrassing attempts to make it just go away by stonewalling and deploying its “management strategy to address student activists.” CIRDI’s dismissal of concern does not align with standards of “consultation.” Insist that CIRDI replace the “management strategy to address student activists” with a policy of diligently engaging with concerned students and their insights.
2. Recognize the well-supported petition (1,000+ signatures) related to CIRDI that was submitted last year to the UBC Board of Governors.
The petition articulated critical flaws in the design and intentions of CIRDI and identified the need to dissolve it. This concern has not been considered in UBC’s “consultation” to date. The board can recognize the UBC community’s expressed concerns by convening formal public discussions with critical faculty and students for the board to better grasp the issues raised.
3. Commit to the university community that any of the planned further consultation across UBC will involve honest, vulnerable and sincere consideration of the fundamental critiques of CIRDI and its mandate.
The CIRDI mandate of poverty-alleviation-through-fixing-foreign-mining-governance is based on a narrative of “Canadian exceptionalism” and advances a model of resource extraction that arrogantly rejects communities’ right to say no to extraction projects. To date, CIRDI leadership has not sought open, on-the-record dialogue with its critics, nor attempted to truly, publicly engage with the leveled critiques. Moving forward, legitimate consultation at UBC about CIRDI’s projects must transparently consider and respond to these concerns. The board can insist on these terms with CIRDI.
4. Outline specifically the “consultation” that is to be carried out by an institute like CIRDI.
This request is critical for CIRDI in particular since a major issue in “mining governance” centres on what exactly is meant by “consultation” when a mining proponent advances a project where local communities have not given consent. It is important to clarify whether the “consultation” and “management” of critique practiced by CIRDI and its partners in the countries where it operates is more or less stringent than the farcical version carried out on this campus. Simply consulting with departments aligned with mining interests and with high-level officials known for advocating for mining interests measures far from standards of due diligence.
5. Suspend your support for CIRDI until a formal review has been conducted.
This is a basic interim measure that ensures that any inevitable delays do not mean carrying on with the status quo. With a default path set as continued suspension of UBC support, CIRDI leadership will be more motivated to submit to review and corrective action.
As an academic community, we all expect honest and forthright dialogue on matters with grave implications for the lives of others. The UBC Board of Governors has been challenged recently for opaque and unaccountable practices. If the board hopes to regain trust from the UBC community, demonstration of diligence in halting CIRDI’s careless and paternalistic advancement of the Canadian mining “model” is one place to start.
I await your response and your accompanying action on this matter.
Sincerely,
Bjorn Stime Bjorn Stime is a third-year PhD student in the Faculty of Medicine and is involved in the Stop The Institute initiative.