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Article

4 Apr 2019

Author:
Dismantle Corporate Power

The case of Chevron in the Ecuadorian Amazon: the ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada closes the doors to end impunity

The Global Campaign to Reclaim Peoples´ Sovereignty, Dismantle Corporate Power and End Impunity, a global network of over 200 organizations, movements, trade unions and communities affected by transnational corporations worldwide, regrets the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada, which has refused to admit the appeals filed by the communities affected by Chevron -formerly Texaco- in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

In 2015, the seven judges of the Supreme Court of Canada decided to accept jurisdiction to carry out an enforcement or “exequatur process” in Canada, upholding the legitimacy of the Ecuador Supreme Court´s decision on Chevron. This decision brought strong hopes to the indigenous communities...that justice could be achieved. However on May 23, 2018, the Court of Appeals of Ontario rejected the demands of the affected people, arguing that Chevron Canada is an autonomous and independent entity from the parent company Chevron and therefore with no obligation to the Ecuadorian justice system. This represented another heavy blow for the Ecuadorian indigenous people, who filed the appeal that has been rejected today.

It is worth remembering that Chevron´s operations in the Amazon deeply and negatively affected the lives of indigenous people, the ecosystem, water and common goods...

The ruling of the Ecuadorian Supreme Court is final and irrevocable, and therefore, the affected people will persist in their struggle for access to justice in other foreign jurisdictions until the damage is redressed.

The decision of the Supreme Court of Canada exposes once again the legal architecture that protects the impunity of transnational corporations...

Part of the following timelines

Canadian Supreme Court rejects communities’ appeal to seize Chevron’s assets for enforcement of $9.5 billion Ecuador ruling over pollution of Amazon

Texaco/Chevron lawsuits (re Ecuador)