“Accumulation by Dispossession” by the Global Extractive Industry: The Case of Canada

• Main Author: Kinuthia, Wanyee
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa 2013
• Subjects: natural resources; raw materials; global extractive industry; mining; accumulation by dispossession; primitive accumulation; resource curse; free, prior, and informed consent FPIC; consultation; free entry; Bill C-300; Omnibus Bill; self-determination; madaraka; multinational / transnational corporations; land grabs; governance gap; enforcement vacuum; regulatory gap; landlessness; involuntary resettlement; displacement; liberalization; financial markets; capitalism; International Monetary Fund IMF; Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability CNCA; Environmental Impact Assessment EIA; Impact and Benefits Agreement IBA; corporate social responsibility CSR; international political economy IPE; Washington Consensus; Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper PRSP; sustainable development; rare earth; oil; fossil fuels; Whitehorse Mining Initiative WMI; foreign direct investment FDI; privatization; Canadian Centre for the Study of Resource Conflict CCSRC; Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade SCFAIT; Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada DFATD; neoliberal / corporate globalization; Northern Gateway pipeline project; Ring of Fire; centre-periphery; metropolitan-hinterland; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development OECD; Gross Domestic Product GDP; Extractive Industries Review EIR; Sub-Saharan Africa; war on terror; terrorists; false flag terrorism; Fisheries Act; Navigable Waters Protection Act; primary goods; aid; Third World debt; free trade; modernization; dependency; tariffs; trade barriers; HudBay; home country liability; state; Toronto Stock Exchange TSX; Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada PDAC; spatio-temporal fix; militarism; Sudbury; Atlantic Canada; Crown; neo-colonialism; industrial revolution; imperialism; public policy; democracy; justice; Canadian International Development Agency CIDA; Export Development Corporation EDC; Kimberley Process; International Council on Mining and Metals ICMM; Mining Association of Canada; National Roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility CSR and the Canadian Extractive Industry in Developing Countries; equity; austerity measures; Environmental Commissioner of Ontario ECO; Mining Act reforms; proletariat; aboriginal; Least Developed Countries LDCs; developing country; comparative advantage; human rights; export-led development; Tiomin; Government of Kenya; Government of Canada; Economic and Social Council ECOSOC; World Bank Group WBG; World Trade Organization WTO; United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples UNDRIP; Bill C-38; Bill C-45; Assembly of First Nations AFN; Idle No More; meaningful participation; AFRICOM; titanium; Base Resources Australia; House of Commons; conditionalities; Structural Adjustment Programmes SAPs; World Business Council for Sustainable Development WBCSD; Canada; Eia; First Nations
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-3366; http://www.ruor.uottawa.ca/handle/10393/30170

This thesis draws on David Harvey’s concept of “accumulation by dispossession” and an international political economy (IPE) approach centred on the institutional arrangements and power structures that privilege certain actors and values, in order to critique current capitalist practices of primitive accumulation by the global corporate extractive industry. The thesis examines how accumulation by dispossession by the global extractive industry is facilitated by the “free entry” or “free mining” principle. It does so by focusing on Canada as a leader in the global extractive industry and the spread of this country’s mining laws to other countries – in other words, the transnationalisation of norms in the global extractive industry – so as to maintain a consistent and familiar operating environment for Canadian extractive companies. The transnationalisation of norms is further promoted by key international institutions such as the World Bank, which is also the world’s largest development lender and also plays a key role in shaping the regulations that govern natural resource extraction. The thesis briefly investigates some Canadian examples of resource extraction projects, in order to demonstrate the weaknesses of Canadian mining laws, particularly the lack of protection of landowners’ rights under the free entry system and the subsequent need for “free, prior and informed consent” (FPIC). The thesis also considers some of the challenges to the adoption and implementation of the right to FPIC. These challenges include embedded institutional structures like the free entry mining system, international political economy (IPE) as shaped by international institutions and powerful corporations, as well as concerns regarding ‘local’ power structures or the legitimacy of representatives of communities affected by extractive projects. The thesis concludes that in order for Canada to be truly recognized as a leader in the global extractive industry, it must establish legal norms domestically to ensure that Canadian mining companies and residents can be held accountable when there is evidence of environmental and/or human rights violations associated with the activities of Canadian mining companies abroad. The thesis also concludes that Canada needs to address underlying structural issues such as the free entry mining system and implement FPIC, in order to curb “accumulation by dispossession” by the extractive industry, both domestically and abroad.