On 26 March, Canadian Jesuits International (CJI) organized a public event in Toronto on the topic “Africa: Tax justice and the common good.” The guest speaker was Charles Chilufya SJ, Director of the Justice and Ecology Network of Africa (JENA) in the Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar.
In his address, Fr Chilufya described the role that tax avoidance and illicit financial flows (IFFs) play in depriving African countries of crucial resources. The wealth that is siphoned out of developing countries by rich individuals and multinational corporations is badly needed for the common good of their citizens—for food, water, housing, healthcare, education and basic infrastructure. He emphasized that the global economic and financial systems that allow billions of dollars to be taken out of Africa without proper taxation is a moral issue, a blatant violation of the basic human rights of African people.
For people in wealthier countries like Canada, Fr Chilufya had a clear message: we have “duty of care,” meaning that as fellow human beings there are implicit responsibilities we bear toward others in our global context. He remarked that between 50% and 60% of the world’s resource extraction companies are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and that Canadians should be concerned how these companies do business around the world. Recently, for example, Acacia Mining, of which Canada’s Barrick Gold is the majority owner, was charged by the Tanzanian government of corruption, breach of environmental regulations, money laundering and tax evasion amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars. Barrick Gold and the Tanzania government have since arrived at a tentative agreement to settle the tax evasion part of the dispute with a $300 million payment by Acacia. Clearly, such a large amount of money could go a long way in providing basic social services to Tanzanians.
Fr Chilufya urged people to get involved in advocating for fair and transparent laws and practices aimed at greater equality, both within Canada and at the level of the United Nations, where global tax rules could be reformed.