"One place where all our worries come together is in northeastern Alberta, Canada. There, in an area the size of Florida, is a massive deposit of oil mixed with sand. It's the second largest oil reserve after Saudi Arabia, and work has begun to extract it. Processing these so-called tar sands is a nasty business that involves large amounts of water and natural gas. It's hard to imagine a worse situation."
- The William & Hewlett Foundation
Background
The Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation and the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation are billion-dollar American foundations based in San Francisco. Both the Moore Foundation and the Hewlett Foundation have clear agendas to "reform" resource-based industries in Canada, particularly the oil and gas industry, the mining industry and the salmon farming industry. The Moore Foundation funded an "antifarming campaign" to shift consumer and retailer demand away from farmed salmon and has granted $13 Million for campaigns to "reform" the salmon farming industry, including funds for its "immobilization." The Moore Foundation has also granted $2.1 million for the "reform" of the B.C. mining industry ($710,000 and $1.3 million).
The Hewlett Foundation has described the Alberta oil industry as "nasty business." "Its hard to imagine a worse situation," the Hewlett Foundation has said about the Alberta oil industry.
In 2004, the Moore Foundation paid Tides Canada $70,000 "to develop a strategic plan to address the oil and gas industry in British Columbia."
The question is, what did that "strategic plan involve? Did it involve, for instance, the channeling of tens of millions of dollars through Tides Canada and Ducks Unlimited to a large number of small environmental groups, First Nations, scientists and P.R. firms? Since 2003, the Hewlett Foundation has granted a total of $25.7 Million for various projects to "address" the energy sector in Canada, including the Boreal Forest Initiative which is heavily funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts - and co-ordinated by Ducks Unlimited?
The Moore Foundation has granted at least $80 million to environmental organizations working in Canada, primarily in British Columbia. The largest recipient of all three of these American foundations (Hewlett, Packard & Moore) is Tides Canada, which then re-grants American money to smaller environmental organizations - in the name of Tides Canada. The Moore Foundation alone has granted $26.6 million to Tides Canada.
Given that these billion-dollar, American foundations have clear agendas and that they have huge resources at their disposal, it is important for Canada to know which environmental organizations and campaigns are tapping into their deep pockets - either directly or indirectly, through Tides Canada and/or Ducks Unlimited, for example.
In a previous post, I mentioned that, according to my calculations, Canadian environmental groups reported at least $45.7 million in foreign funding for 2009 alone. That's what was reported to Revenue Canada in fiscal 2009. Of that, $32 million (70 percent) was reported by a single organization: Ducks Unlimited Canada. For 2010, tax returns are available for some ENGOs but not for all so the most recent, comprehensive data is for 2009.
For Ducks Unlimited Canada, tax returns are available for both 2009 and 2010. According to these publicly available returns, Ducks Unlimited received $65 million in foreign funding in 2009/2010 ($31.9 million in 2009 and $33.3 million in 2010).
Considering the hefty influence that Ducks Unlimited has in Canada, I believe that its fair to inquire about Ducks Unlimited's foreign funding. My questions are:
1) What is the origin of the $65 million that Ducks Unlimited Canada received from sources outside Canada, in 2009/2010?
2) Who were the ultimate recipients of this $65 million, and how were these foreign funds used?
Ducks Unlimited Canada was asked these questions in an exchange of e-mails during mid May of 2011. Ducks Unlimited Canada replied but didn't answer my questions.
From the on-line database of the Pew Charitable Trusts, I notice that Pew has granted to Ducks Unlimited USA a total of $44 Million (2000 - 2009) that was ear-marked for the Canadian Boreal Forest Initiative.
In particular, would like to inquire regarding several grants that originated from the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation and the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, and how this money finally was spent, and by whom. My question is whether this money from Moore & Hewlett went through the Pew Charitable Trusts, and then through Ducks Unlimited in Tennessee, before it was ultimately transfered to Ducks Unlimited Canada. And if so, I have concerns and questions about how the stated purposes of those grants appear to me to have been re-written as the money went from the Moore Foundation to the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Specifically, the grants about which I would like to inquire are $710,000 that originated from the Moore Foundation and $10.5 million that originated from the Hewlett Foundation. On top of that, the Hewlett Foundation also granted $1,835,000 in 2004 and $1.1 Million in 2011 for the Boreal Forest Initiative. Did that money also go through Pew to Ducks Unlimited USA, and then on to Canada?
$710,000 Granted from Pew to Ducks Unlimited USA, in 2008
- In 2008, the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation granted $710,000 to the Pew Charitable Trusts for "British Columbia Mining Reform." The on-line database of the Moore Foundation states, "The purpose of this grant is to reform the conventional approach to mining exploration and development to reduce the impacts on British Columbia's wild salmon ecosystems, including the Taku, Stikine and Skeena watersheds. This will be accomplished by assisting the senior First Nation leadership to obtain a public commitment from the BC government that development will be undertaken on aboriginal territories only with their fully informed consent and compelling evidence of environmental safety." This grant raises a number of questions: 1) Why is a USA foundation assisting First Nations to get a commitment from the BC government? 2) Are the First Nations advocating their own agenda - or that of the Moore foundation? Or an agenda common to both?
- In 2009, the Pew Charitable Trusts granted the same amount, $710,000 to Ducks Unlimited, based in Memphis, Tennessee. This time, the title of the project was "Boreal Forest-British Columbia Mining." The stated purpose was "To protect Canadas Boreal Forest by providing support to a key partner in the International Boreal Conservation Campaign, for a land use planning and mining policy reform initiative focused on British Columbia." The $710,000 grant from the Moore Foundation specified that the purpose of the grant would be achieved by assisting First Nations. If the $710,000 that Pew granted originated with the Moore Foundation, why was the mention of First Nations involvement dropped from the grant description?
- Who was the final recipient, the "key partner" referred to by Pew? And, how was this "key partner" ultimately paid by the Pew Charitable Trusts? Did that money go through Ducks Unlimited Canada and/or any other intermediary?
- What happened to the $1.3 million that the Moore Foundation granted to the Pew Foundation for "B.C. mining reform" in 2011? Did that money also go to Ducks Unlimited USA? And where did that money then end up?
$10.5 Million from Pew to Ducks Unlimited USA: Did this originate from Hewlett?
In 2004, Pew granted $4.4 million to Ducks Unlimited USA. In 2006, Pew granted a further $6.1 million for a total of $10.5 million. My question is, did this $10.5 million originate from the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation? And if so, why was it channeled through the Pew Charitable Trusts? And, who were the ultimate recipients and how was the money used?
- In 2004, the Hewlett granted $4 million to Pew "for general support of the International Boreal Conservation Campaign." Two years later, in 2006, Hewlett granted a further $6.5 million to Pew "for general support of the Western Boreal Forest Public Land Conservation and Responsible" (the stated purpose of the grant has been truncated or cut off in the on-line database).
- In 2004, Pew granted $4.4 million to Ducks Unlimited USA for the Canadian Boreal Forest Initiative. The stated purpose of this grant was "To protect Canada's Boreal Forest by providing support to the main partner in the International Boreal Conservation Campaign, providing annual support for Ducks Unlimited boreal campaign staff, the Canadian Boreal Initiative project within Ducks Unlimited, and consulting contracts with the Boreal Songbird Initiative and other key IBCC campaign partners." Two years later, in 2006, Pew granted $6.1 million to Ducks Unlimited USA. The stated purpose of the funds was "To protect the Canadian Boreal Forest."
