According to a press release from Investigative Media, “Flin Flon Flim Flam“, a documentary film critical of Hudbay Minerals’ worldwide operations and plans for the Rosemont mine, will make its Canadian premiere at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Royal Cinema in Toronto.
The Toronto screening opens a 13-city tour across Canada including Montreal on May 25, Ottawa on May 26 and concluding in Victoria, B.C. on July 15.
“Hudbay has a long history of tightly controlling information released to the media and the public under Canada’s right to reputation law,” Arizona investigative journalist and filmmaker John Dougherty said in the release.
“This film produced in the United States provides a rare glimpse into the operations of one of Canada’s oldest mining companies without the threat of a defamation lawsuit that has been used by Canadian mining companies to stop publication of critical information in Canada,” he says.
The film will be screened on June 10 in Flin Flon, a remote mining community 500 miles north of Winnipeg where Hudbay has had its main operations for more than 85 years. The documentary triggered vigorous community discussion after Mr. Dougherty asked the community school board for access to Flin Flon’s only theatre to show the film.
“The documentary reveals a company that knowingly poisoned people in Flin Flon with heavy metals, used strong-arm tactics with a First Nation, stands accused of heinous crimes in Guatemala, deployed Peruvian police to tear gas and beat women in Peru and is now seeking to destroy a rare desert aquatic environment in the Coronado National Forest in Arizona that is home to the only known wild jaguar in the United States,” Mr. Dougherty said in the press release.
“This is not information Hudbay wants to have anyone share with Canadians,” he says. “That’s why I’m bringing the film to Canada.”
The Canadian release of Mr. Dougherty’s exposé comes shortly after a New York Times April 2 front-page story reported on Hudbay’s dismal human rights record in Guatemala and pending civil litigation in Ontario that has national consequences for Canadian mining companies operating abroad.
Hudbay stands accused of murder, a shooting and gang rapes in connection with conflicts with indigenous communities in Guatemala. The film includes interviews conducted in September 2014 with many of the same Guatemalans featured in the Times story.
Mr. Dougherty will be available to answer questions after the screening and will have different guests appear with him during the tour. Additional screening locations can be added to the tour by contacting Mr. Dougherty at www.investigativemedia.com.
The truth is being relentlessly pursued. HudBay would rather sweep their unscrupulous
actions under the rug. Greed is the order of the day and John Dougherty courageously takes the message to the good people of Canada. My hat’s off to John and his dedicated entourage.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT HUDBAY IS A MEMBER OF A MINING FRATERNITY THAT REPRESENTS THE MOST EVIL INDUSTRY IN THE WORLD . MINING EXPLOITS NON-RENEWABLE RESOURCES FOR MAXIMUM PROFIT REGARDLESS OF THE COLLATERAL DEVASTATION THAT IT PRODUCES IN THE PROCESS .
IN CANADA , THE ISSUES OF INCO AND SUDBURY FAR OVERSHADOW THE ACTIVITIES OF HUDBAY AND FLIN FLON . IT APPEARS THAT HUDBAY IS BEING FURTHER VILIFIED BECAUSE IT PLANS TO OPERATE IN THE USA .
THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE IS THE FACT THAT GOVERNMENT AGENCIES ARE PREPARED TO PERMIT MINING COMPANIES IN ORDER THAT THEY CAN RAPE MOTHER NATURE’S TREASURES , REAP MAXIMUM PROFITS AND LEAVE BEHIND ENVIRONMENTAL CARNAGE .
HUDBAY IS WELL AWARE OF THEIR ACTIVITIES AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT , INDIGENOUS PEOPLES , ETC. BUT PROCEED WITH POLICIES THAT ARE ALL ABOUT MAKING MONEY REGARDLESS OF THE CONSEQUENCES .
I AM HOPING THAT CONCERNED PEOPLE WILL ATTEND THE CROSS-CANADA PRESENTATIONS IN ORDER TO EXPRESS THEIR CONCERNS . ACCOUNTABILITY IS PARAMOUNT ALONG WITH TRANSPARENCY .
HUDBAY HAS BEEN SPENDING MONEY ON THE ROSEMONT COPPER PROJECT IN ARIZONA ALONG WITH SELLING OFF NEW MINING EQUIPMENT ORIGINALLY PURCHASED BY AUGUSTA . WHAT ARE THEY REALLY UP TO ? IS THERE A NEW MINE PROPOSAL IN THE MAKING ? IT IS TIME THAT THE FOREST SERVICE ISSUE AN UPDATE AS TO WHERE THINGS STAND IN THE OVERALL PERMITTING PROCEDURE .
And what does that say about you? As a consumer of goods derived from mining you benefit from their alleged misdeeds.
Mr. Doughtery has also stated that all mining companies use the same tactics as those he claims have been used by Hudbay Minerals.
Yet he has remained strangely silent about the impacts opposition of projects like Rosemont and Resolution Copper have had on indigenous peoples around the world. Denying projects here only increases the likelihood of increased impacts abroad. Arizonans use the products of mining everyday. As consumers of mined products, we also have the responsibility to deal with the impacts that result from our consumption of those products.
Mr. Dougherty claims to care about indigenous peoples around the world, who have been impacted by mining. In realty, using their situation as a reason to halt the Rosemont Copper project (the primary purpose of his documentary) only increases the impacts of mining on those he claims have been harmed the most by the impacts of mining.
Great read and a powerful alert.
A great read and a powerful alert! Thanks.
It is obvious the web site that claims to be the place to find the truth about Rosemont does not want the public to hear the real truth about their opposition to this project.
Why didn’t you post the comment I submitted yesterday? What are you afraid of?