Leoncia Ramos (centre), together with Ludovino Fernández and Sonia Perdomo, speaks about human rights abuse at Climate Justice Week in Sto Domingo, Dominican Republic last August 2021. Photo: Centro Montalvo.

“Our greatest misfortune is to be born on top of gold,” says Leoncia Ramos, spokesperson for Comité Nuevo Renacer de Cotuí. Her words describe the reality of people across the Dominican Republic impacted by Canadian mining companies. Their land and water resources have been poisoned by these corporations. This has caused the breakdown of traditional farming systems, endangered food security and threatened people’s livelihoods. It has also affected the health and quality of life of people, especially women and girls.

Leoncia shares the stories of communities like “La Piñita” in the province of Sánchez Ramírez. They have been impacted by the mining operations of Barrick Gold, a company headquartered in Canada. The people of La Piñita have been struggling for decades against evictions, forcible displacement and the violation of human rights. These abuses are also happening to other communities in the region. Leoncia echoes their cries for justice: “we demand the immediate and dignified relocation of 400 families from the 6 communities of El Naranjo, La Piñita, La Cerca, Las Lagunas, Jurungo and Ojos Claros, to a place where we can continue to work the land, far from the poison of Barrick Gold and their tailings dam.”

Centro Montalvo, a Jesuit social centre, supports grassroots organizations like Comité Nuevo Renacer de Cotuí in their struggle against the extractive industry. We help build local community identity and capacity through workshops on environmental justice, human rights defence and community action. We engage community members in dialogue and promote critical thinking on the impact of mining on their lives and land. We help them develop strategies to address the marginalization they experience.

Such support is necessary because the operations of Canadian mining companies in the Dominican Republic do not lead to the sustainable development of communities or the empowerment of local people. Communities are marginalized because the extractive industry’s activities often lead to environmental harm and worsen poverty. For example, Barrick Gold’s activities in Pueblo Viejo has led to deforestation, soil degradation, the contamination of water and the disappearance of rivers and streams such as the Margajita, El Naranjo, El Caño and several others. Community members claim that Barrick Gold has blocked their underground water sources by diverting them towards the dam built for the mine. Those who once had water in abundance now have to beg for it.

Loss of land and water resources has impacted agriculture. The collective identity of our people has been linked to agriculture for many generations. The loss of farming dehumanizes us, weakens our traditions and our solidarity and replaces them with values alien to our culture.

Centro Montalvo supports local communities so they can mobilize, denounce the oppressive activities of mining companies and make their voices heard in our country and internationally.

Ultimately, we would like Canadians and your government to comprehend the magnitude of the environmental harm and human rights abuses in the Dominican Republic caused by your mining companies. We hope that by listening to us, your government will make them accountable for their actions before it is too late.