Amazonian Indigenous Visit Parliament, Demand Talisman Leave Territory

Ottawa, Canada Talisman Energy is creating environmental damage in the PeruvianAmazon rainforest and operating in Achuar indigenous territory without consent, a group of Achuar leaders claimed today during a press conference on Parliament Hill. The press conference was sponsored by New Democratic Party MP Hlne Laverdire, who offered introductory comments, and was also attended by NDP MP Craig Scott. "The Canadian oil company Talisman is currently causing serious social and environmental problems that impact the Achuar population," said Peas Peas Ayui, President of the Achuar Federation of Peru FENAP. "Talisman is creating divisions in the community. This is a strategy that Talisman applies in order to create conflicts and weaken us." In a 2008 letter to the first Achuar delegation to Calgary, Talisman president John Manzoni committed: "Talisman will not work in Peru in areas in which it does now have an agreement with the community." Peas rebutted in today's press conference, "Private companies want to enter into our ancestral territories where we live, without consultation, and they don't have our consent. The question is, why hasn't the oil company Talisman asked us, the owners of the land? Entering our land without permission is an abuse of our rights. "We know well the terrible conditions left by oil operations in other regions [of the Amazon] and we have seen how our brothers and sisters are suffering in these places. The Achuar people's demand is that Talisman leave our lands." According to the Ottawa-based Halifax Initiative, the Canadian government has been supporting Talisman Energy through Export Development Canada with four loans of between $100 million and $250 million since 2006.

"There is very little transparency about how those loans are used, what they are used for, how much they are," said Gregor MacLennan, Amazon Watch Peru Program Coordinator. "There are no accountability mechanisms or true review of how the company's actions are affecting indigenous rights and the environment in Peru." On Wednesday, April 25th, the Achuar delegation and civil society supporters will meet with members of the UDP, the Liberal Party, and the Green Party in separate meetings. Following Ottawa, the delegation will head west to Alberta and British Columbia: Fort McMurray, AB (Thursday, April 26th through Saturday, April 28th) "Toxi-tour" of Sycrude Mine tar sands, meetings with First Nations communities Calgary, AB (Sunday, April 29th through Wednesday, May 2nd) Talisman annual shareholder meeting May 1, presentation at Parkdale United Church Press Briefing (2:30pm on May 1st, Hotel Le Germain. 899 Centre Street SW,) Vancouver, BC (Thursday, May 3rd through Sunday, May 6th) Presentations at UBC Global Indigenous Conference 2012 & Friendship Centre Press Briefing (details to be announced) Haida Gwaii, BC (Saturday May 5th through Tuesday May 8th) Meetings with Haida elders and leaders and tour of Haida territory Background: The Achuar people live on both sides of the Peru-Ecuador border in theAmazon rainforest. Since 2004 Calgary-based Talisman Energy has been drilling exploratory wells in a remote watershed in the heart of Achuar territory in important hunting and fishing grounds, despite strong opposition from the majority of Achuar people who live in Oil Block 64. Talisman is accused of creating divisions and provoking conflict in the region in efforts to get local sign-off

on drilling, and continues to ignore calls from Achuar leadership to leave Achuar territory. The four Achuar leaders travelling to Canada were elected in a general assembly of elders and community leaders to represent the 44 Achuar communities that form FENAP.