COMMUNITY RESISTANCE TO CANADIAN TRANSNATIONAL MINING OPERATIONS IN LATIN AMERICA

The practices of Canadian mining companies operating in Latin America, and the Canadian government’s role in supporting these practices, have been duly criticized for the blatant social, environmental, and economic injustices created and perpetuated by transnational mining. The violation of human and Indigenous rights has elicited widespread resistance to mining from surrounding communities. A considerable amount of literature has explored the dynamics of this anti-mining activism, with most articles exploring a particular case study or feature of a few cases. However, a region-wide systematic synthesis of qualitative themes on the topic has not been found. Given the extent and nature of Canadian mining companies operating Latin America, the purpose of this project was to scope the published literature to characterize the nature of community resistance to Canadian transnational mining in Latin America. A scoping review method was employed to systematically search the literature, select studies for inclusion, chart qualitative data, and synthesize the literature reviewed. After screening, 61 articles discussing a total of 26 conflicts were included in this review. Conflicts in several Latin American countries with various Canadian mining companies were represented in this literature. In 69 percent of conflicts, the literature explicitly states the involvement of Indigenous groups in anti-mining resistance. Seventy-three percent of communities in the 26 conflicts were involved in agricultural livelihood activities. Sixty-five percent of conflicts occurred during the exploration stages of mining with all but one of these communities expressing complete rejections of mining, while 27 percent of conflicts occurred during the exploitation stages of mining with all of these communities seeking to change the conditions under which mining occurred. Communities had several interrelated concerns about mining that motivated their resistance, and used a variety of tactics to enact their activism. Furthermore, only five of 61 articles discussed at length the gendered dimensions of resistance, providing insights into gendered adversities, narratives, and tactics of resistance, and revealing a need for a gendered lens in the study of anti-mining movements. The literature reveals promising and important insights as well as clear gaps in research on the complexity and nuances of anti-mining movements in Latin America