The month of March marked a significant turning point for the Shuar Arutam People (PSHA), turning the tide against Canadian mining company Solaris Resources, Inc. and its highly contested Warintza project, located in the Ecuadorian Amazon, one of the most biodiverse places on the planet.
Over three weeks, the PSHA launched a series of actions in quick succession in an ongoing campaign to keep mining out of their territory with a growing coalition of allies, including Amazon Watch. The PSHA challenged Solaris with a complaint in Canada at the British Columbia Securities Commission, denounced unexpected appearance of Ecuador’s president, Daniel Noboa, and his mining expansion plans at the world’s largest mining conference in Toronto, and won a long-sought opinion from the International Labor Organization on the lack of consultation with communities for mining projects on their territory.
Despite facing daunting adversaries, the PSHA achieved major victories locally, nationally, and internationally, building momentum and unity against mining. Three major victories stand out.
Solaris’ misleading information exposed in media and securities commision in Canada
February 29, 2024: PSHA files complaint to British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC), asking the commission to investigate Solaris Resources for misleading investors. This complaint gained significant media attention, causing a drop in the company’s share price and prompting a disclosure review in Canada two weeks later.
The PSHA filed a complaint with the British Columbia Securities Commission, which oversees Canada’s investment marketplace, asking them to investigate Solaris for not disclosing material information to shareholders regarding its Warintza project, which overlaps PSHA’s ancestral territory. In the complaint, PSHA argues that the company failed to properly disclose information regarding its relationship with Indigenous opposition to the project. Additionally, Solaris only provided partial information about significant political and legal risks in Ecuador that may impede the development of the mine.
Backing PSHA’s complaint was a broad coalition of Indigenous organizations and civil society groups, including the the National Federation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon (CONFENIAE), Amazon Watch, MiningWatch, and WITNESS.
The complaint, which could set a precedent for future actions against advancing Canadian extractive industry projects without consulting and obtaining consent from Indigenous peoples, quickly gained widespread attention soon after its release. It received significant coverage in prominent news outlets, including Canada’s National Observer, Radio Canada, Canada Dimension, and other international outlets. The critical media attention caused Solaris’ share price to drop immediately on the same day.
After the complaint was filed, Solaris announced in a news release on March 13 that it had made amendments to its 2022 Technical Report on the Warintza project following a disclosure review by the BCSC. Despite this, the company still failed to cite Indigenous opposition and legal risks as significant threat to the project in its updated disclosure. However, the company is now required to make substantial changes to its report. It is very rare for the BCSC to take such forceful action, and it was likely influenced by the complaint’s success in the media and messages from over 5,000 Amazon Watch supporters in a digital campaign urging the commission to investigate Solaris.
Indigenous movement rallies behind PSHA
March 4, 2024: President Noboa of Ecuador attends the world’s largest mining conference. Two days later, PSHA and the broader Ecuadorian Indigenous movement responded by mobilizing in Quito for a major press conference denouncing the visit.
The complaint was filed on the eve of the world’s largest gathering of mining companies, investors, and government officials in Toronto, Canada. The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference kicked off with “Ecuador Day,” where government representatives and company executives, including Solaris, touted projects to investors and aimed to establish the country as a major new mining destination. In an unprecedented move, Ecuador’s President Noboa made a surprise appearance, hoping to ease investor concerns about the country’s security and legal risks, as well as the numerous stalled mining projects. Noboa specifically mentioned Solaris’ Warintza project as part of his broader push to revitalize the country’s mining sector.
In a resounding response, Ecuador’s broader Indigenous movement, which includes prominent federations, strongly denounced the president’s statements in rapid fashion. Just two days after Noboa’s appearance at the conference, CONAIE, CONFENIAE, PSHA, and a united front of Ecuador’s local, regional, and national organizations, unanimously rejected the Warintza project and the president’s plans to expand mining operations and open Ecuador to new concessions in a press conference that garnered national attention. Although Noboa’s visit to Canada sought to undermine the self-determination of Indigenous peoples in opposition to mining, its actual result was to strengthen the movement on the ground and demonstrate that PSHA’s coalition of allies is rapidly growing. Their advocacy continues.
International Labour Organization backs PSHA claims
March 15, 2024: Results from a 2021 complaint filed at the United Nations’ International Labour Organization (ILO) by PSHA and members of civil society concluded that PSHA had not been consulted on the Warintza project and affirmed that Indigenous peoples must be consulted over national mining policy.
Just a week after the events that unfolded before the BCSC and PDAC, the Shuar notched yet another victory in defense of their collective and territorial rights.
In 2021, Public Services International, a global union federation representing more than 300 million workers in 154 countries through over 700 trade unions, alongside Ecuadorian counterparts, filed a complaint on behalf of PSHA to the International Labour Organization (ILO) documenting the lack of consultation of PSHA on both the Warintza project as well as the Panantza San Carlos project, which also overlaps their territory. The ILO is an agency under the United Nations that seeks to promote fundamental principles and rights. It houses Convention 169, the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, which is a binding convention enshrined in Ecuador’s constitution that recognizes the self-determination of Indigenous peoples in a nation-state. The complaint received support from attorney Mario Melo, Amazon Watch, and other members of civil society.
After filing the ILO complaint, PSHA leaders and Amazon Watch traveled to the United Nations in Geneva to advance its progress. In February 2023, Amazon Watch accompanied former PSHA President Josefina Tunki, who provided testimony before the ILO’s International Standards Department regarding personal threats from Solaris officials and abuses suffered by affected communities resisting mining activities. After his election as PSHA current president, Jaime Palomino also met with ILO representatives to provide updates from the ground regarding Solaris’ efforts to advance the project without consultation or consent of the Shuar Arutam.
Three years after the case was first filed, the ILO issued its report on March 15 that concluded that PSHA had not been properly consulted over both the Warintza and Panantza San Carlos mining projects on their territory. The ILO’s decision puts Warintza in legal jeopardy and may likely impact its future viability, as argued in the BCSC complaint.
How can you support the PSHA?
Continue supporting the PSHA in their fight to protect their territory, rights, and culture, stop the Warintza project, and end mining concessions on their territory!
The PSHA, alongside Amazon Watch and other organizations, will take action to maintain the momentum. Join us to continue amplifying PSHA’s demands!
