October 18, 2007
Connecting the dots, from abuses by global mining companies to one’s own investments.
What Canadians need to know about their pension plans and investments.
As Rights Action prepares to take an international delegation to Honduras (October 26-31) to investigate health, environmental and other human rights harms caused by Canada’s Goldcorp mining company in Honduras, we send this information [prepared by www.miningwatch.ca] about Canadian investment plans.
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Please re-distribute this information all around. To get on-off this elist: info@rightsaction.org
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THE CANADA PENSION PLAN
Every working Canadian pays into the Canada Pension Plan (CPP). The CPP was created in 1966 and is meant to guarantee some level of income to Canadians in their retirement. Previous to 1997, the CPP was held in government bonds. Since 1997, the CPP has been managed by the CPP Investment Board and has been invested in the stock market instead of being held in bonds. The CPP is heavily invested in mining companies, oil and gas companies, arms manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies and the like.
INVESTMENTS IN GOLDCORP
Many public pensions in Canada are invested in Goldcorp. Here are a few examples:
Canada Pension Plan: $181,000,000 (As of March 31, 2007).
Québec Pension Plan (RRQ): $165,200,000 (Annual Report, 2006).
Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan: $147,000,000 (Annual Report, 2006).
BC Investment Management Corporation1: $100,736,030 (Annual Report, 2006).
Alberta Teachers’ Retirement Fund: $4,446,000 (Annual Report, 2006).
WHAT TO DO!?
ACT for the Earth has developed campaign tools for pension fund activism. Pensions for Peace: http://www.actfortheearth.org/ (Click on “Pensions for Peace”) Learn about ACT for the Earth’s campaign for peaceful pensions, access petitions and sample union resolutions.
Within your own unions, it is worth asking your representatives if you can be put in contact with the people who manage your union funds. The structure is often that there is one meeting a year to decide how to invest funds. Pensions at Work: http://www.pensionsatwork.ca. This project responds to a call from the trade union movement for more research and educational resources to assist union pension trustees, activists and pension staff in shaping a union pension agenda.
COAT (Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade) has an online petition against CPP investments in war: http://coat.openconcept.ca/. Sign this petition to urge the government to stop the CPP from investing in businesses that profit from war and demand that they divest now!
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, http://www.cppib.ca/
La Caisse de depot et placement du Québec, http://www.lacaisse.com
Alberta Teachers' Retirement Fund Board, http://www.atrf.com/home/default.aspx
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, http://www.otpp.com/web/website.nsf/web/home
British Columbia Investment Corporation, http://www.bcimc.com/
UN Principles for Responsible Investment, http://www.unpri.org/
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WHAT TO DO: ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE, … EVERY DAY
Rights Action is a tax-deductible organization (Canada and the USA) that directly funds and works with community-based development, environment and human rights organizations in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and southern Mexico (Oaxaca, Chiapas); and educates about and is involved in activism related to global development, environmental and human rights struggles.
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