Like our Palestinian allies in this struggle, we refuse to be patronized by Canadian policymakers. We refuse to be told that we are making a mountain out of a molehill. And we refuse to be told that we lack understanding by politicians who are in fact contradicting themselves. Our demands are simple and we will not stop pressing for them until they are realized.

One hundred and seventy-six years on, the Canadian state today remains more committed to — and dependent upon — the mining business than any other government in the world. Three-quarters of the world’s mining companies today are headquartered in Canada. The bulk of this investment comes from outside of Canada, while the majority of the production it finances also occurs abroad.

Toronto is a city built on mining. Nearly 75% of mining companies globally are headquartered in Canada and almost 60% are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). In 2015, more than half of all capital investment in the mining business travelled through the exchange. In fact, few, if any, other capital markets around the world are as specialised in a single industry as Toronto is in mining.