Frequently Asked Questions.

This website exists because Canada promised communities a remedy for human-rights violations linked to Canadian companies overseas, then withheld that remedy when it mattered.

This site lays out the timeline, the documents, and the actions of the Canadian government. It exists because the proper channels failed, and because citizens should not be forced to beg for answers.

The website is named for Jessica Fancy because she is my local MP. I have attempted to engage her multiple times. Her office has not acted in good faith. Instead of serving her constituents, she chose corporate interests.

Reconnaissance Energy Africa Ltd. (ReconAfrica) is a Canadian oil and gas company exploring in Namibia’s Kavango region, near the Okavango Delta which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is the world’s largest inland delta. The people who live in the Kavango regions are primarily subsistence farmers.

Allegations against ReconAfrica include:

• Illegal Operations. Accused by the Minister of Water and Agriculture of operating without water use permits.
• Cracked homes. Community members have documented how the company’s seismic testing damaged their homes.
• Environmental crimes. ReconAfrica dumped drilling effluent in unlined pits risking groundwater contamination.
• Detention. Police detained community members and human rights activists who asked questions, reportedly at the company’s request.
• Surveillance. Community leaders filed police reports detailing the intercepting private messages of community leaders and activists.

This website is built on public records, not opinion. Evidence includes:

• An RCMP corruption investigation file (number 2021‑212364).
• A 187‑page human‑rights complaint to CORE filed by the University of Toronto’s International Human Rights Program and community organizations.
• Namibian parliamentary findings that ReconAfrica violated national laws.
• Global Affairs Canada emails obtained through Access to Information (ATIP A‑2021‑00849), showing coordination with the company.
• ReconAfrica’s own securities filings and ESTMA reports.
• Reporting by National Geographic, The Namibian, Der Spiegel, and others.

ReconAfrica raised money through North American markets, used Canadian legal and diplomatic credibility, and operated overseas while Canadian officials received detailed warnings about harm, intimidation, environmental damage, and alleged corruption.

The same political system that failed communities in Namibia is also failing communities here. While the Kavango complaint sat unanswered, the Liberal government passed Bill C‑5, which creates a sweeping “national interest” designation that gives Cabinet the power to bypass essential public reviews, science‑based assessments, and meaningful Indigenous consultation.

The bill shifts the legal question from whether a project should be built to how it will be built – removing a key check on ministerial discretion. First Nations and environmental groups have condemned the bill for trampling Indigenous rights and directly contradicting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which Canada claims to have adopted.

The government also introduced Bill C‑9, which civil‑liberty groups warn could criminalize peaceful protest. The bill uses vague language to expand police powers and removes the requirement for the Attorney General’s consent before prosecuting protest‑related offences.

Bill C‑5 removes environmental checks. Bill C‑9 normalizes silencing dissent. The Kavango shows us where this path leads. The reality faced by those communities; no rights, no remedy, surveillance and persecution of community leaders. This is the future that our leaders are creating for all of us.

Access‑to‑information records show a pattern of coordination, not oversight.

Canadian officials knew that ReconAfrica, a fracking project in the watershed of the Okavango Delta, was accused of human rights violations. The record also shows they coordinated with the company on a response to three UN Special Rapporteurs, accepting the company’s draft confidentially and copying ReconAfrica on Canada’s reply.

CORE is Canada’s Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise. It was supposed to hold Canadian companies accountable for human‑rights harms linked to their overseas operations.

The Liberal Party promised an independent watchdog with real power. What was delivered was a shell. CORE was created under Bill C‑47 (later amended by Bill C‑57). Its governing legislation deliberately grants the Ombudsperson no power to compel witnesses, no power to compel documents, and no power to impose binding remedies.

In the ReconAfrica case, a 187‑page complaint was filed on behalf of affected Namibian communities. CORE’s own rules say complainants should be told whether their complaint is accepted within 30 days. More than 750 days later, the complaint remains unanswered. The first and only permanent Ombudsperson left shortly after the complaint was filed. The position has remained vacant.

In 2025, the Federal Court of Canada confirmed that CORE’s findings “cannot legally affect anyone.” The office is not a remedy; it is a delay.

No. If anything, I have been too generous in a misguided attempt to be even-handed. This site names the party because the Liberal government held power while this failure happened. Ministers in the party are actively misleading Canadians about the facts surrounding CORE and Canadian mining operations.

The Liberals promised a real accountability mechanism for communities harmed by Canadian companies overseas but bowed to industry pressure.

The Liberal Party created this mess. Prominent party members such as Rob Oliphant, Maninder Sidhu, Bob Rae and Sean Fraser have disregarded the people harmed by these companies.

Rob Oliphant said in 2026: “If you’re an African country, you want a mining company from Canada, partly because we have in place safety mechanisms and CORE is part of that.”

Maninder Sidhu (Minister of International Trade) ignores affected communities: On September 30, 2025, affected communities wrote to Sidhu asking for a status update on their human rights complaint.” We received no reply.

Sean Fraser (Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada) has been asked by MP Jessica Fancy to intervene on the stalled complaint. According to the email from MP Fancy’s staffer Avery Feeney, Fraser has refused to reply for over two months.

Bob Rae (Canada’s Ambassador to the UN) met with ReconAfrica on August 25, 2021—after Global Affairs Canada had already received warnings about the company’s conduct. Rae’s meeting was part of a pattern of Canadian officials engaging with the company while the communities’ concerns went unaddressed.

If the Conservatives or NDP had launched the CORE and then backtracked, creating this absurd situation, this site would be about them.

Two things, both of which take less than five minutes:

1. Sign House of Commons e-petition e-7361. It calls on the Government of Canada to appoint a new Ombudsperson and give CORE the power to compel testimony and documents. Read and sign the petition.
2. Write to MP Jessica Fancy with the relevant ministers copied. A pre-written email template is on the petition page — one click opens it in your email program. Add your name, send.

After you write, tell us what you got back. If MP Fancy or one of the ministers replies (or doesn't), submit the response here. Form letters only become visible as a pattern when many people share what they receive.

If you would like to support this work in other ways, share the site (links are at the bottom of every page) or contact robnamibia@protonmail.com.