Huicholes film lands in Vancouver amidst promises canadian mining companies will change
Nov 18, 2014 (COAST SALISH TERRITORY/VANCOUVER) ––Canada’s government last week promised renewed protection for communities facing Canadian mining companies, as a film tour of the Wixárika (Huichol) People of Mexico made its way to Vancouver to give its own report on Vancouver mining companies.
The film Huicholes: The Last Peyote Guardians is an award-winning documentary presenting the emblematic case of the defense of Wirikuta, sacred territory to the Wixárika (Huichol) people, against the threat of Vancouver mining companies First Majestic Silver and Revolution Resources (now IDM Mining LTD). The Wixárika people, native to the Sierra Madre, have since time immemorial made their pilgrimages to this land; now they find themselves at the forefront of a campaign to protect life and defend lands, thanks in part to Canada’s lax approach to corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Minister for International Trade Ed Fast announced on Friday that Ottawa will start punishing resource firms that break social-responsibility rules abroad. It is still industry-led however, and media watchers suggest it is no more than more social-washing. “There is ample evidence of the government’s failure to take seriously the issue of Canadian companies’ impunity for human rights abuses abroad,” states Irwin Oostindie, with W2 Media, the local event producer. “After years of consulting with industry and a year without anyone filling the vacant CSR post, today the feds claim the start of transparency and results. This appears to be spin,” said Oostindie.
Mining and human rights critics are concerned that Canada has abandoned the Indigenous and local communities which have been negatively impacted by Canadian companies abroad and which have sought redress through a Canadian process. Representatives of impacted communities in Mexico will be in Vancouver Nov 28-30, 2014, for a weekend of education presentations and visits to First Nations communities. First Majestic Silver and Revolution Resources (now IDM Mining LTD) — at the centre of the controversy—purchased underground mineral rights in Wirikuta.
The Western Canadian premiere screening will be Friday, Nov 28, at SFU Woodward’s 350-seat Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema. Argentine director Hernan Vilchez and two Mara’kate (Huichol spiritual leaders), the father and son protagonists, will be in Vancouver for three events and a ceremony with Sundance Chief Reuben George (Tsleil-Waututh). Local hosts include S.F.U. Institute for Humanities, Vancouver Indigenous Media Arts Festival, and W2 Media.
The documentary speaks about an uneven and controversial fight, which stimulates the complex global debate between ancestral cultural values, the exploitation of nature and community self-determination in the face of imposed models of ‘development.’
“This documentary combines stunning cinematography with engaged and compassionate storytelling to bring an underrepresented tale of resistance to Canadian audiences,” said Ezra Winton, co-founder of Montreal’s Cinema Politica, host for the Montreal screenings.
“This is more than a movie – it’s a movement,” said Vilchez, the film’s director, who received the request to make the movie from the Wixárika Elders’ Council when he visited a remote mountain community on a different assignment. Vilchez left his job and took the challenge, following the deeply spiritual Huichol people for more than three years. Together with the production crew he interviewed more than 30 individuals, documenting the growing storm as a movement swelled in Mexico’s civil society to support the Huicholes in their quest to save the Birthplace of the Sun.
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