Barrick Gold Corporation

For various reasons, the Canadian government continues harmful practices in lieu of the concerns from Aboriginal peoples. Returning to McGregor (2004), the power imbalance that exists between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people is apparent (p. 398), especially regarding oil extraction. So long as “western” theories of production and management are followed, opposing ideals will not dominate. There are large profits to be made in the Athabasca region from resource extraction. As a result, the Canadian government reduces the region to a marketable commodity (Latulippe,

The Britannia Mines has played such a major role in the building blocks of British Columbia’s economic development and early history. Behind the unforgotten community that once flourished with 60,000 miners of different races and religions, lies a rich history that captures the hearts of many who pass by one of the most successful copper sites of its time. With that being said, the legend behind the discovery of affluent minerals in Britannia Mines is by a doctor who was searching for gold in the year, 1888. After many failed attempts to set up a mining industry, the Britannia Mine and Smelting Company Ltd. took interest in this discovery and developed operation systems and communities. The Britannia Mines in the 1920s became such a successful

For instance, in the year of 2013, the economic cycle was not in favor of Canadian miners as they were forced to tighten their production. But, the problem for Barrick Gold was exaggerated by the environmental and social issues in Canada which also made headlines across the world.

Canada, which is the headquarters of Barrick Gold Corporation, runs 60 percent of the world’s mining corporations across the globe. Notwithstanding the fact that even though it is the forerunner in this industry, Canada has not taken the lead on mediating or taking responsibility for the behavior of their corporations abroad. The consequence of this carelessness is, Canada has drawn criticisms from around the world, first from the environmental, religious and human rights organizations, and now increasingly from international institutions, such as the United Nations.

Mining companies haven’t improved the conditions of these communities rather, they’ve mistreated and abused their power. Something’s that attribute to mining is displacement of communities, poor work conditions, mining induces violence and conflict. Therefore, turning a blind to these issues is an easy way to disregard the fact that Canadian policies are false and

Mining is one of Canada’s primary industries and involves the extraction, refining, and/or processing of economically valuable rocks and minerals. Mineral products – including gold, silver, iron, copper, zinc, nickel – are critical to modern industrial society. Although mining has been key to Canadian settlement and development, in recent decades the industry has also been criticized for its environmental and social impacts. Canada remains one of the world’s leading mining countries and has become a centre of global mining finance and expertise.

Canada is home to some of the largest mining corporations in the world. In fact, seventy-five percent of the world’s mining companies are based in Canada (Dean, 2013). These companies are involved in the extraction of numerous resources, including silver, petroleum, bitumen and coal. Canadian mining operations also have a particular focus in gold, as twenty-one of the country’s top forty mining companies are involved in gold extraction. With billion dollar annual revenues and interests in almost every continent, these multinational companies are making a large impact around the globe (Canadian Mining Journal, 2014). However, these impacts are not necessarily positive. Canadian mining corporations have failed to implement CSR policies and

Mining is a staple industry of Canadian History. Regardless of the controversies that arise in today’s modern society, debating its environmental effects, economical benefits or the undetermined future of where it will lead the country, the mining industry is always a factor for the government to consider. Thus, by extension the task of reaching an informed decision weighs heavily on politicians; but unknowingly, presses on the concerns of citizens, as what the government decides will reflect on the population. Consequently, readers will wish to understand the significance of the mining industry for their future, yet, an understanding of the industry’s influence on Canada throughout time must have clarification.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is something that affects all companies and should be an active factor in the company’s decision making. It is something all corporations need to care about. CSR is when business’ or corporations take part in an initiative or campaign for a cause that will benefit society and/or in some way make the world a better place (Taylor, 2015). Initially, Corporate Social Responsibility started to take shape around the 1950’s, but some say that it dates all the way back to the 1800s, the idea of CSR was seen (Carroll, 2007). One may think that because it is dated so long ago, it doesn’t have an important impact today nevertheless, it is proven that Corporate Social Responsibility is a pathway for entities to self benefit as they are in the process of benefitting society.

Brueckner, M., Durey, A., Mayes, R., & Pforr, C. (2013). The mining boom and Western Australia’s changing landscape: Towards sustainability or business as usual?. Rural Society, 22(2), 111-124. doi: 10.5172/rsj.2013.22.2.111

In today’s world of global trading, multinational corporations that are looking to expand on profits turn out to operate against the welfares of the world’s poorest countries. In the documentary, “Stealing Africa,” the film director, Christoffer Guldbrandsen, brings forward the concerning economic attention of the country of Zambia, located in South Africa. Zambia is known as the third largest copper reserves across the world, owned by multinational corporations globally. Due to such a heavy abundance of natural resources in Africa, the majority of the economy of Zambia revolves around the mining industry, which is like the backbone of the country. As the natural resources in Zambia remain rich, multinational companies, specifically Glencore, grew in investments resulting in the guilt of tax avoidance and undervaluing copper, which resulted in a downfall for the revenue of copper in the nation of Zambia. Guldbrandsen talks about the country of Zambia’s abundance of natural resources, yet their struggle to remain above the poverty line, as it is ranked in the top 20 poorest countries. Guldbrandsen insists that due to privatization starting from the year of 2001, the mining industry in Zambia has taken a downfall. Although the country of Zambia is very rich in resources, maintains the top copper mine in the world, a person a day lives below a dollar and almost eighty percent of the population remains unemployed.

The superimposing factor that gives South Africa such an advantage over other prospective African business environments is that it possesses of a very powerful and sophisticated vantage-point geographically. South Africa is strategically located for manufacturing and exportation into several regions globally and can be an unmitigated platform for MNC’s who may be interested in a venture within this region. The important advantages include regional competitiveness, combined with reduced operational costs and a significantly prominent market access (Safrica.info, 2011).

In Switzerland, a company such as Nestle dedicates a certain amount of information in its annual report to the value it generates to society at large. Surprisingly, their annual report seems to lend itself to the practices of equity-oriented countries likely due to its international presence and immense exposure to the United States. In any event, their annual report discloses their compliance with applicable laws and international conventions in order to ensure the activities protect the environment (Nestle Annual Report 2010, p. 8). Furthermore, Nestles’ report includes communication reemphasizing their dedication and efforts in the issue areas of human rights, labor practices, the environment and anti-corruption.

Starbucks is an American multinational corporation that is arguably considered as the best coffee house in the globe in terms of global performance. The company has for a long time considered CSR as an important part of its operations and currently, it adopts an Anglo-American model of corporate social responsibility. This is an approach to CSR that maintains close links between shareholder interests with the operations of the organization. The company ensures that its CSR initiatives are appropriately audited so that it is able to learn of its CSR performance and not as an effort of complying with legal regulations and this is what makes the strategies adopted by the company very relevant. The corporate social responsibility codes that are derived from Starbucks’ Anglo American model have contributed to great product development by the company, efficient production and quality customer service. All these have been made possible through the company’s Corporate Governance Codes . At starbucks, the codes have provisions for the code of conduct which acts as guidelines as to how the employees at the organization behave. The code of conduct guides the entire organization including the board of

The emergence of the term SLO can be traced back to the mining sector in the 1990’s and arose primarily as a result of the public concerns about the negative social and environmental impacts of mining projects (Boutilier, 2014). Boutilier (2014) attributed the coining of the term to James Cooney, Vice President of the now defunct Vancouver-based gold mining company Placer Dome Inc. (p. 263). According to Boutilier, Cooney is said to have used the term to refer to the risks associated with community resistance to mining projects (p. 263). Other contributing factors to the development of the SLO approach include: the emerging corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability paradigms (Hall & Jeanneret, 2015, p. 214); a shift in governance towards a civil society perspective; growing public desire to be more involved in the decision-making process and get their “fair share” of benefits and adequate assurance that operations will be managed safely and responsibly (Prno & Slocombe 2014 p. 672). According to the literature, these shifts are reframing the dynamics between corporations and its stakeholders at the local, national and global level, particularly in the extractive sectors.