Toronto-based documentary photographer Allan Cedillo Lissner has spent the last two years documenting mining operations by Canadian companies in Tanzania and the Philippines. The resulting photo essay, Someone Else’s Treasure, contains rare visual evidence of the exploits of Barrick Gold, the world’s largest gold mining corporation,. On Wednesday, Lissner took the podium at Hart House and told a group of 30 the stories of communities adjacent to often-hazardous mining operations.
“Just a few metres past the dam, contaminated water—carrying with it cyanide, lead, copper, and mercury—joins together with the clean water coming from the mountain springs into the river system,” said Lissner, describing a photo from the Philippines, where mining sites are often in mountains and contaminate their river systems.
Lissner’s photos exhibited the detrimental effects of these hazardous wastes on the local people. Their stories were filled with sickness, death, destitution and the loss of habitat. Acid mine drainage employs extremely hazardous chemicals, including cyanide, in the extraction of resources. Waste is not properly disposed of and mixes with water that local communities rely on.
The essay included photos of mining activists from Australia, Papa New Guinea, and Chile protesting Barrick Gold’s annual general meeting along with Canadian activists. “Reactions were mixed,” said Lissner. “We were told that one shareholder said that he did not know what the company was doing, and now that he has been informed he will divest his share.”
U of T’s relationship with Peter Munk, former CEO of Barrick Gold, has often been protested on the U of T campus. Munk donated $6 million to found the Centre for International Relations named after him, and has since given another $6 million.
Although U of T’s relationship with Barrick Gold is an important issue, said Paul York, “The main focus is changing the Canadian laws, which requires letting people know what is happening abroad with their tax dollars.” York is a member of the Toronto Mining Support Group, who co-hosted the talk.
York said that Canadian Pension Plan and Ontario Teachers Pension have shares in Barrick Gold, so any Canadian that has a pension is indirectly funding the abuses perpetrated by Barrick.
“The slideshow was the first public showing in Canada of photos of victims of the Bulyanhulu mine in Tanzania, which forced the displacement of approximately 400,000 people,” York said.
“The photos were very sad, yet they also showed the dignity, resilience and persistence of the people in surviving and where possible, opposing this crime against humanity.”
