Canada keeps the peace, poisons the planet

Published on Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Canada's troops give their lives to protect the poor in one country while politicians fight for the right to continue exporting toxic waste to other poor nations.

The war in Afghanistan wages on and our soldiers believe they are there helping build a better future for the impoverished citizens. Many of our brothers and sisters in Canadian uniforms have died for this belief and few people would claim that defending the vulnerable is a meaningless act.

As it happens though, while one hand of government justifies the use of force to protect innocent lives, another works against it.

This was the case yesterday when Canadian government representatives meeting in Bali opposed a critical amendment to the Basel Convention - an international treaty which regulates the trade of toxic waste between rich and poor nations. The amendment would forbid the traffic of toxic waste to any country for any purpose, including for recycling.

"This amendment is important because it would boost domestic recycling enterprises" says Patrick Hebert, president of Barrie, Ontario based social enterprise Thriftopia.com. His company creates employment opportunities for people with disabilities to refurbish computers for reuse while recycling obsolete electronic equipment through responsible local recyclers. "Exporting e-waste poisons the poor and our planet while also robbing the local economy of jobs" he explained.

Many organizations that currently claim to recycle electronic waste are actually involved in the export of these items to developing nations for crude processing.

"Municipalities, small and large businesses, medical institutions, and even some academic organizations may be unaware that they are actually paying to export harmful toxic waste instead of being part of the solution here at home,"� Patrick continued. "Since labor costs less and environmental regulations are lacking in many of the places where e-waste ends up, it is simply cheaper for these organizations to send the items elsewhere for someone else to deal with."�

As the Canadian Armed Forces continue to fight for the rights and privileges of the poorest abroad, perhaps the politicians who are in much more comfortable surroundings will consider how they can justify poisoning the same group of people.