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Canadian Pension Plan investments Support Burma's military junta

The CPP invests hundreds of millions of dollars in companies that support Burma's military junta.  More than 17 million Canadians are unknowingly supporting the corrupt military regime in Burma with every dollar they contribute to the CPP. 

It is a bitter irony that refugees from eastern Burma now living in Canada,  who were forced to flee their homes because of the construction of the infamous Yadana natural gas pipeline, now find themselves forced by the CPP to be unwilling investors in Total, the very company whose gas project caused them to flee their homes in Burma.

The CPP currently invests in a long list of firms that are working in cooperation with the brutal Burmese junta. 

Following is a partial list of some of the major firms the CPP invests in:

$67 Million in Ivanhoe Mines, a Canadian mining company that has a 50% stake in Burma's largest mine .*

*After more than a decade in Burma, Ivanhoe Mines controlled by infamous mining promoter Robert Friedland (AKA Toxic Bob) is still profiting from the Monywa copper project, Burma’s largest mine. The mine is run in a 50/50 partnership with the military junta. In February 2007 Ivanhoe placed its 50% share in an “independent trust” in preparation for an apparent sale.  The firm however refuses to provide more details about the ‘trust’ and will continue to profit from the mine until its stake is sold.

$152 Million in TransCanada Corp., a gas transportation company that has issued a letter of interest declaring its desire to be involved with the Shwe pipeline that is set to be built from Arkan State to India.

$17 Million in CHC Helicopter, a Canadian company that provides transportation services for oil and gas companies and is reputed to be training Burmese military staff to fly helicopters.

 $263 Million in Chevron (which now also owns UNOCOL), an American oil company that conducts business in over 180 countries. This company has a stake in the Yadana pipeline, which sends natural gas from Burma to Thailand.

$254 Million in Power Corp, a Canadian umbrella corporation with significant interests in Total and Suez, two firms very active in Burma.  Power Corp has a seat on the board of directors of Total. (see below)

$304 Million in Total, a French oil company that operates the Yadana gas pipeline with Chevron and the Burmese junta.  During construction of the pipeline Total and its American partner hired the Burmese military to assist in the building and provide security.  The result of this partnership caused great suffering to the local population as the Burma's military used forced labour and violence to get the job down.

These corporations are providing billions to the military regime of Burma that will never trickle down to the general public. The money that the Junta receives will instead be used against Burma's population, bankrolling the general’s latest arms purchases from China.

CPP's connection to Burma implicates millions of working Canadians

By law all working Canadians must pay into the CPP (except workers in Quebec who pay into a separate but similar provincial plan).  The CPP Investment Board was started in 1998 when the federal government decided to invest Canadian workers pension payments on the stock market. The Investment Board operates at an arm's length from the federal and provincial governments,  the federal government however retains a significant oversight role. 

By law the CPP Investment Board has a fiduciary responsibility to manage the CPP's huge pool of funds.  It is the firm believe of the Canadian Friends of Burma and our allies that environmental, health and human rights concerns must be taken in to account when the CPP makes decisions as to where our pension money should be invested.  Does it really make financial sense to invest in firms that are engaged in dubious business ventures with military dictatorships that result in severe human rights abuses.   Firms such as UNOCAL and Total have been subject to costly law suits because their projects in Burma have caused gross human rights abuses.

The CPP's Investment Board does not include anyone with experience in the environmental or human rights fields, instead it is solely comprised of Canadian corporate executives like Dale G. Parker. Mr. Parker served on the board of Talisman Energy throughout the entire period the firm ran a notorious oil project in the south of Sudan. Mr. Parker has served on the CPP's Investment Board since his appointment in October 1998.  He retired from Talisman's board in 2006.

According to the rules put forth by the legislation enacted to create the CPP Investment Board, candidates to the board of directors of the CPP Investment Board are supposed to have “ethical character and a commitment to serving the public, preferably with a sensitivity to the public environment in which the CPP operates”. It is hard to understand how an individual who served on the board of Talisman when it went into Sudan and stayed on during the firms entire period of operations in Sudan, could fit any of the above criteria.

The CPP must divest from firms whose activities are causing harm to Burma.

What can we do?

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