Angelica Choc, widow of Adolfo Ich Chamán, attends a demonstration in Toronto in 2013. She said in a statement on Monday that 'nothing can bring my husband back or undo the anguish felt by me, my family and the other plaintiffs, but I am glad that some measure of justice has been achieved.'Peter Power/The Globe and Mail
Hudbay Minerals Inc. HBM-T has settled a long-standing series of lawsuits in an Ontario court that centred around alleged human-rights abuses at a Guatemalan nickel mine more than a decade ago.
The allegations heard in the Ontario Superior Court are based on clashes between Indigenous Mayan protesters and security personnel at the Fenix nickel mine in eastern Guatemala in 2007 and 2009.
A local Mayan community leader, Adolfo Ich Chamán, who spoke out against the mine, was killed in 2009 after he was allegedly grabbed by mine security guards, beaten, hacked with a machete, and shot in the neck.
Another Mayan man, German Chub Choc, was allegedly shot and paralyzed by security personnel in 2009.
In addition, 11 Mayan women alleged they were gang raped by security staff at the Fenix site in 2007 during a forced eviction of the site. The sexual-assault allegations came before Toronto-based Hudbay acquired ownership of the site. Hudbay bought Fenix from fellow Canadian company Skye Resources Inc. in 2008, and as a result incurred liability over the asset.
The incidents sparked three separate claims against Hudbay in 2010 and 2011 by the alleged victims, and family members of the alleged victims.
Hudbay did not admit liability in the settlement announced on Monday, and in a statement said that both sides have “fundamentally differing views on the facts underlying the allegations, including the allegations of misconduct by Hudbay’s subsidiaries.”
All of the plaintiffs were compensated through the settlement although the amounts paid were not made public.
Hudbay chief executive Peter Kukielski in the statement said that by settling the suits, Hudbay recognized “the difficult economic and social circumstances of the plaintiffs.”
Murray Klippenstein, a lawyer with Klippensteins Barristers & Solicitors who represented the plaintiffs, called the settlement “fair and reasonable,” in a statement.
One of the plaintiffs, Angelica Choc, widow of Mr. Ich, had brought a claim of negligence and wrongful death against Hudbay and its subsidiary, and had been seeking $12-million in damages.
In a statement on Monday she said that “nothing can bring my husband back or undo the anguish felt by me, my family and the other plaintiffs, but I am glad that some measure of justice has been achieved.”
Canadian mining companies are increasingly dealing with lawsuits in their home jurisdictions for alleged infractions overseas.
The Supreme Court of Canada in 2020 ruled that Canadian mining company Nevsun Resources Ltd. could be sued in Canada for alleged human-rights abuses abroad, a decision that widened the potential legal liability for many Canadian corporations. Nevsun later reached a settlement with a trio of Eritrean workers who had sued the company for alleged human-rights abuses during the construction of a mine in the African country.
Hudbay sold the Fenix project in 2011 to Solway Group.
With a report from Jeff Gray