Speaker: Paul Dewar, MP, on Civil War and Mining in the Congo

Paul Dewar, MP for Ottawa-Centre and NDP Foreign Affairs Critic, on "The Congo: Civil War and Mining"
Date: Tuesday February 2nd - from 3:15-4:15
Place: McConnell Engineering, room 12
Hosted by Amnesty McGill as part of their "Five Days for Human Dignity" campaign.

Civil war has raged for over a decade in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, spawning horrors including child soldiers and systematic rape, and resulting in the loss of over 3 million lives.

The fighting continues in part due to various militas' desire to control the mining of coltan, a metal essential to many consumer electronics, including cellphones. Some miners are child slaves. A number of Canadian mining companies have been, or are involved in, the mining of coltan in Congo.

Paul Dewar, MP (Ottawa-Centre), NDP Foreign Affairs Critic, and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Prevention of Genocide and Other Crimes Against Humanity, will visit McGill to speak about this issue, his trip to the Congo last year, and his efforts (including Bill C-298) to have Canadian companies held responsible for their operations overseas. There will be time for questions and discussion, and admission is free.