Report on Canadian mining companies' failure to disclose information on community conflict, violence and Indigenous consent in Latin America
"Empirical Data On How Investors Are Harmed When Companies Do not Disclose Information About Violence and Lack of Indigenous Consent", 15 September 2020.
The Justice and Corporate Accountability has filed a number of complaints to the Ontario Securities Commission, the British Columbia Securities Commission and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission relating to the failure of Canadian mining companies to disclose information on community conflict, violence and Indigenous consent....
We found four indicia that showed that the information disclosed in our complaint (but not disclosed by the companies) was important material information relating to the health of the company.
- Media coverage of JCAP’s complaints were followed by a drop in the share price.
- Institutional investors divested specifically because of concerns with the human rights record of the mine.
- A subsequent owner of mine immediately addressed concerns raised in our complaint.
- Shareholders began class action law suits based on a company’s failure to disclose material information.
In our study of violence associated with Canadian mining companies in Latin America, we found that publicly listed companies reported only 24.2% of the deaths and 12.3% of the injuries listed in the report.
...We add two recommendations applicable to specifically to extractive companies.
- Extractive companies should have more explicit guidance related to disclosure of violence and human rights issues, and securities regulators should be required to enforce disclosures on these issues.
- There should be specific disclosure requirements relating to free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous peoples (FPIC) for extractive companies, and securities regulators should be required to enforce these disclosure requirements.
...More fulsome disclosure will not create a burden on reporting companies because they already know, or ought to know, about violence, Indigenous consent and the human rights impact of their projects.