Burnaby

SFU AGAINST GOLDCORP & GENTRIFICATION

3:00pm
Friday October 1 2010

first meeting of
SFU AGAINST GOLDCORP & GENTRIFICATION
Friday October 1
3pm
AQ 5135 at the Burnaby SFU campus
Contact: antigoldcorp@gmail.com 604-809-2417

Directions: Directions: Go to SFU bus loop (via bus #135 from DT or others from University Production Way Skytrain) / The Academic Quadrangle (AQ) is the big building, ask around / AQ 5135 is on the fifth floor

Last week the office of the SFU president announced that Canadian mining giant *Goldcorp* has donated $10million to the Woodwards based SFU branch… which has been rebranded "The Goldcorp Centre for the Arts."

A notorious environmental, human rights, and colonial criminal company, Goldcorp is facing federal criminal charges in Honduras and have been involved in legal battles in Argentina and Guatemala. The Inter-American Commission for Human Rights recommended that a Goldcorp mine in Guatemala be shut down because of widespread destruction and contamination of land and water affecting territories of at least 18 communities of the Maya people.

Goldcorp claims that they considered the welfare of the "depressed" Downtown Eastside and think they can be part of creating a "more sustainable future" there. But according to the Carnegie Community Action Project, the Woodwards project has had an immediate ripple effect of massive rent increases and gentrification. No one, not SFU's senior administration and certainly not Goldcorp ever asked if the mining corporation was welcome in the community, or at our school. Despite the rhetoric, the Goldcorp Arts Centre project is clearly something the University is doing to the neighbourhood, not with it.

SFU students and faculty are being marred by this project. We are NOT proud to be associated with a gentrification project, and we refuse to be bought out by Goldcorp. We can join the struggles against gentrification and colonial mining projects, and begin to create a culture of accountability at SFU that holds the administration to the ethics implied by their motto: "Thinking of the World."

You are invited to an organizing meeting this Friday to begin planning actions to oppose the "Goldcorp Centre for the Arts."

For more info:

http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/blog/dawn/4695

http://www.straight.com/article-349701/vancouver/sfu-under-fire-acceptin...

And from the SFU website:

“Goldcorp is committed to making a positive difference here in Vancouver as well as those where we operate our mines,” says Goldcorp president Chuck Jeannes. “Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside has become one of Canada’s most depressed neighbourhoods, and we are optimistic that by working with Simon Fraser University, we will be able to reach out to its businesses and residents to help create a more sustainable future.”

SFU president Andrew Petter is enthusiastic about the opportunities that the Goldcorp endowment will provide for the university to strengthen its ties with the community. “This gift will ensure that our Contemporary Arts program is not just located in the Downtown Eastside, but also is a vital and contributing member of the neighbourhood. It will enable us to offer new programs that are specially tailored to the needs of the local community.”

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For info about the meeting and coming actions:

SFU Against Goldcorp and Gentrification
antigoldcorp@gmail.com