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A Word from the Executive Director
As incoming Executive Director of the Canadian Foundation for the Americas (FOCAL), I would like to extend my thanks to you for your faithful readership and the contributions that many of you have made to FOCAL POINT: Spotlight on the Americas over the past 8 years. This is a natural timeto reflect upon the evolution of FOCAL’s mission to inform and strengthen linkages between Canada and the Americas.
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Op-Ed
Finish the Canada–Central America Four Trade Negotiations
In September 2000 Canada met with the leaders of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua (CA4) and agreed to the negotiation of a free trade agreement (FTA). Formal negotiations were launched in November 2001. Since that time, Canada has had three Prime Ministers and the negotiations have yet to be concluded. New Data Sheds Light on Remittance Sending Patterns of Immigrants in Canada
Policy makers, take note: approximately 21% of landed immigrants remit money to friends or relatives abroad during their first two years in Canada. Preliminary estimates—using 2003 figures from Statistics Canada’s Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC)—indicate that this translates into an average of CAN$62.9 million sent abroad annually by this group of immigrants, or CAN$1,966 per capita each year.
Governance and the Extractive Industries on Indigenous Territories
High levels of investment in research, infrastructure and development, all within a context of substantial risk, are common activities of the extractive industries. This is also common to some degree in public investments in community development. However, in many cases, private investments have had greater success than public ones in reaching rural areas in Latin America. Public investments often create conflict that results from both a perceived and an actual lack of priorities and coordination within institutions. Conflicts of interest also develop when social, economic, and environmental policies do not properly match incentives with a model for sustainable development. Governance involves the interaction of all stakeholders (the government, communities, and the private sector) in an effort to build sustainability under a framework of respect for human rights. This view was captured by the World Bank in the Extractive Industries Review published in 2004: “Extractive industries can contribute to sustainable development, when projects are implemented well and preserve the rights of affected people, and if the benefits they generate are well-used” (Executive Summary, p.iii.)
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