At Pan American Silver’s Annual General Meeting of shareholders on May 12, Ross Beaty retired as chairman of the board. Beaty founded Pan American Silver in 1994 and is considered Canadian mining-industry royalty, given the millions of dollars he has raised for himself and shareholders.

He has also constructed a public image as an environmentalist and philanthropist through the grant-making of the Sitka Foundation and individual donations to higher education institutions, like the University of British Columbia’s Beaty Biodiversity Museum. Lately, the media has also portrayed him as a leader in corporate social responsibility.

None of these portrayals reveal the true legacy of community harm and environmental destruction that Beaty’s investments have wrought throughout Latin America.

This online forum, held on May 11, 2021, brought together local voices on the harm left behind by Pan American Silver in Peru, Mexico, Guatemala and Argentina. It also included participation from communities in Mexico, Ecuador and Brazil impacted by Equinox Gold, the rapidly growing Canadian company Ross Beaty plans to focus on after retiring from Pan American Silver.

With participation from: 

  • Paul Maquet, Cooperacción, Peru
  • Ivan Paillalaf, from the Mapuche – Tehuelche community of Laguna Fría Chacay Oeste and the Union of Community Assemblies of Chubut, Argentina
  • Blanca Oliva, from the community La Cuchilla and in representation of the Xinka Parliament of Guatemala
  • Community members from La Colorada, Zacatecas, México
  • Community member form Carrizalillo, Guerrero & representatives of the Mexican Network of Mining Affected People (REMA), México
  • Marco Martínez, Shuar Arutam People (PSHA), Ecuador
  • Jonias Pinheiro, from the community of Aurizona, Brazil

Event sponsored by : Allard Centre for Law and the Environment – University of British Columbia, B.C. Casa/Cafe Justicia – Vancouver, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Comité pour les droits humains en Amérique Latine (CDHAL) – Montreal, Common Frontiers, Earthworks, EJAtlas, Guatemala Scholar Activists – University of California, Berkeley, Institute for Policy Studies – Global Economy Project, Inter Pares, Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network, Mining Justice Action Committee – Victoria, Mining Justice Alliance – Vancouver, UBC Students for Mining Justice – Vancouver, Mining Injustice Solidarity Network – Toronto, MIGRANTE B.C., MiningWatch Canada, Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA), Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) Social Justice Fund, Rights Action, United Steelworkers, Victoria Central America Support Committee, Our Time Vancouver, Projet Accompagnement Québec-Guatemala (PAQG), Victoria Friends of Cuba