Undermined, a 35-minute film documentary set in Aishalton in the Rupununi, was screened on Thursday at the Library and Archives Canada Theatre in Ottawa.
The film, produced by Canadians Emily Wilson and Brent Parker, who are international and natural resource development experts, a report in the Ottawa Citizen said on Wednesday, seeks to give a voice to Wapishiana Amerindians who are concerned about land titles, consultation and corporate accountability in Guyana.
Wilson and Parker, who had both been here before, returned in February last year, with Cdn$6,200 in grant funds and borrowed video equipment to produce Undermined. The documentary features eight Amerindians, including David James, Guyana’s first Amerindian attorney and Gavin Winter, a village councillor, who argue that until now, they have not had much say in the mining operations that take place on their soil. They give a series of recommendations for improved relations between the Guyana government, the indigenous population and external mining corporations.
According to the report, “As foreign extraction companies place their stakes in Guyana’s expanding mining industry, non-indigenous workers are flocking to the country’s hinterland region and trampling over Amerindian land and resource rights along the way”.
James, Winter and the others agree that in a country rife with land disputes, title rights should be addressed before more mining permits are issued and in cases where the government has already authorized mining in disputed areas, indigenous tenants should be made aware of it through a formal process. “We have the right to free, prior and informed consent,” James says in the film.
Most of the documentary takes place in the primitive riverside village of Aishalton, an 18-hour truck ride south of the capital, Georgetown, the report said.
It describes Aishalton as an indigenous community surrounded by dense, hot rainforest, and comprising one hospital, a general store, two power generators and a couple of computers. “Its 1,200 residents – a short, muscular people with dark skin and westernized clothing – live in thatch-roofed mud huts and subsist mainly by fishing, hunting and gathering.”
The filmmakers say the Wapishianas of Aishalton have fortunately not seen the severe impacts of large-scale mining experienced in northern Guyana, where pollution, prostitution, kidnapping and substance abuse are all too common. Still, these southern Amerindians have faced their own share of issues with a small, Canada-based exploration team operating near the village, they add.
According to the report, Wilson said that while the Canadian company has obtained the necessary mining permits from the Guyana government, a lack of communication and shared knowledge between company, government and residents has frustrated villagers. “This company has been in the area doing exploration work for ten years, and there is no formal relationship with the communities. There has been no effort to try and engage them in a discussion or to try and involve them in decision-making.”
The company flies into and drives through the titled lands of the village without consulting with the village leaders, sometimes leaving equipment behind, Parker says.
To make matters worse, he adds, amongst several peaks being surveyed for extraction is Marudi Mountain, a historical and cultural landmark for the Wapishiana people, which is not covered under the land title issued to them.
The report said that while the documentary raises mining-related issues, its producers say it is not meant to be “an anti-mining, anti-industry film,” nor is it intended to target specific mining companies. Its aim is to raise awareness and educate Amerindians in Guyana, eventually using the film as part of capacity-building workshops in mining-affected communities, they add.
Wilson, 30, first travelled to Guyana in 2004 to conduct research for her master’s degree in environmental studies at Carleton University. Parker, a 33-year-old environmental policy adviser and University of Waterloo graduate, first visited in 1999 while working on a rainforest conservation project.
The report said DVD copies of Undermined are available at www.undermined.ca .
