Guatemalan women take on Canada's mining giants over 'horrific human rights abuses'

A group of indigenous Maya Q'eqchi' women has launched a precedent-setting legal challenge that could cast a chill over Canada's vast mining interestsOn the 20th floor of an office tower in the heart of Toronto's financial district, Irma Yolanda Choc Cac's bright pink embroidered blouse and handwoven skirt contrasted with the suits of the lawyers around her as she detailed the hardest day of her life.It was the first time Choc Cac had ever left Guatemala. But the story that she and 10 other Maya Q'eqchi' women had come to tell is at the heart of a precedent-setting legal challenge pitting indigenous people against a transnational corporation - and cast a chill over Canada's vast mining industry. Continue reading...