While Attawapiskat faced crisis after crisis, the community was sitting on a literal diamond mine run by the world’s most famous mining company.
January 11, 2023
COMMONS
MINING #8 – The Crying of Lot 8
Many Canadian mining companies are pariahs around the world. So why does Canada allow this to happen? And is this industry violent by its very nature?
February 2, 2022
COMMONS
MINING #7 – Barrick and the Cruelty of Gold
Papua New Guinea is a part of the world that few Canadians ever think about. But for the people of Porgera, their lives have been shaped by the decisions of Canadian companies.
January 19, 2022
COMMONS
MINING #6 – Diamonds of Attawapiskat
Attawapiskat has become famous across Canada and around the world. Not for the natural beauty that surrounds it, or for the Cree culture of the people who live there. Instead, it’s become a byword for the toxic legacy of Canadian colonialism.
December 22, 2021
COMMONS
MINING #5 – The North’s Giant Monster
Giant Mine may be a big reason why Yellowknife exists. But for seven decades, it’s been a unique source of suffering for the people in the region.
December 8, 2021
COMMONS
MINING #4 – The Westray Disaster
Twenty-six men were working underground when an explosion tore through the Westray Mine in Nova Scotia. Their friends and colleagues went into the wreckage to try to save them.
November 24, 2021
COMMONS
MINING #3 – Before Bitcoin, Bre-X
Bre-X was a national obsession that made many overnight millionaires. It also happened to be the biggest fraud in the history of mining.
November 10, 2021
COMMONS
MINING #2 – Life and Death in Asbestos, QC
For a century, Canada was one of the world’s leading exporters of asbestos, most of it mined from the small town of Asbestos, Quebec. But during that time, governments and corporations in Canada did everything they could to hide the fact that asbestos is deadly.
October 27, 2021
COMMONS
MINING #1 – The Myth of the Klondike
The Klondike Gold Rush was many things: a media conspiracy, a ponzi scheme, a land grab. But above all, it was a humanitarian disaster that stretched over much of the Pacific Northwest.
October 13, 2021
COMMONS
Introducing our new season… Mining
Stories about the dirty business of Canadian mining.