Goldcorp donates $10 million to SFU Downtown Eastside arts centre
Tanya Todd, Goldcorp Inc., 604.696.3050, Tanya.Todd@goldcorp.com
Erica Branda, SFU University Advancement, 778.782.3353, ebranda@sfu.ca
A $10 million donation from Goldcorp will help Simon Fraser University contribute to the social, economic and cultural revitalization of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. To acknowledge the gift, the university’s new arts complex in the Woodward’s redevelopment will be named the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts.
$5 million will support the university’s capital campaign and ensure that state-of-the-art teaching and performance facilities are available for student, community and professional arts groups. The other $5 million will be placed in the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts Community Endowment, to support programs aimed at community engagement in the Downtown Eastside community.
“Goldcorp is committed to making a positive difference here in Vancouver as well as those where we operate our mines,” says Goldcorp president Chuck Jeannes. “Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside has become one of Canada’s most depressed neighbourhoods, and we are optimistic that by working with Simon Fraser University, we will be able to reach out to its businesses and residents to help create a more sustainable future.”
SFU president Andrew Petter is enthusiastic about the opportunities that the Goldcorp endowment will provide for the university to strengthen its ties with the community. “This gift will ensure that our Contemporary Arts program is not just located in the Downtown Eastside, but also is a vital and contributing member of the neighbourhood. It will enable us to offer new programs that are specially tailored to the needs of the local community.”
The Goldcorp Centre for the Arts is the latest addition to SFU’s vibrant downtown campus and home to SFU Contemporary Arts. It will serve as a centre for creative discovery, dialogue and collaboration in a broad range of artistic disciplines and will exemplify SFU’s commitment to benefitting the communities it serves by delivering programs that are student centred, research driven and community engaged.
Goldcorp is North America’s fastest growing senior gold producer. Its low-cost gold production is located in safe jurisdictions in the Americas and remains 100% unhedged. Goldcorp’s growth profile is unmatched in the mining industry with a 50% increase in gold production over the next five years.
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Comments
Comment GuidelinesShame on SFU for accepting this donation.
I'm disgusted.
Goldcorp is buying this good publicity to counter the known abuses the company has perpetrated in their work.
SFU should rescind this relationship immediately.
SFU is my alma mater. I have usually been proud to say so, but this is a cynical and unethical action on the part of the university.
What a disappointment that SFU is so willing to accept money from a corporation associated with so many human rights violations around the world. I wonder what the university administration is thinking about (or not thinking about) when accepting this type of funding.
It is so unfortunate that our new school will be named after a corporation with such a questionable track record. I really hope we rethink where our values lies as an institution and act accordingly.
I do not understand how SFU can accept this donation. This money comes from a company that is displacing people from their land, contaminating their water and destroying their natural resources. I do not feel I am part of SFU anymore.
If SFU is "thinking of the world":
-it must be thinking extremely pessimistically
-and with enough disregard for human rights, labour rights, and environmental health enough for them to do such business with such sorts of people.
Rescind the money and start standing up for your students to provincial government. Of course they say their broke, but that is only because students now fund that government more than the big corporations.
A proud new student of the Contemp. Arts Program!
In biology class we are taught the environmental costs of these mines. In philosophy class we learn how ends are not justified by means. In history, we learn about the brutal realities of colonialism and the class struggle, not to mention the ongoing oppression of aboriginal groups worldwide. In English class, we learn of the powerful impact of a symbol, like the Woodward's W.
As students, we pay a fortune and work ourselves insane to elevate our knowledge enough to evaluate these situations effectively...
And in the end, we are given keystone statements from our illumined leaders, like SFU Prez Andrew Petter, to exemplify how to apply our hard-won knowledge:
People make a mistake in linking the fact that a corporation or an individual has decided to do something good with things that they may have objection to, he said.
Thanks Mr. Petter. I always did suspect that the bottom line makes every other line irrelevant.
That being the case, why did I bother learning all that other stuff anyway?
Kevin Murray
I am scared that our education is going to be compromised by the interests of multi-nationals with so much money at stake. Should I start taking everything I learn in class with a grain of salt?
If we are here to learn how to make the world a better place, is SFU not responsible to lead by example???
As academics and artists it is our responsibilty to speak up for those who can not...let us NOT justify our actions as an University saying we are doing this to help others.As a First Nations student and an artist I use my voice to say no in justifying the oppression of others for the University's gain. I hope others will speak up also...
Fantastic pickup, SFU! Glad to hear we're finally getting some corporate support from the limited base here in Vancouver.
Yes you should take everything that you learn in every liberal arts course with a grain of salt.
A successful Canadian company giving something to your community. Grow up.
No project of Simon Fraser University no matter how supposedly "altruistic" is worth the life of a single Guatemalan child dying as the result of Goldcorp's corporate behavior. Simon Fraser's acceptance of this blood money is social darwinism at it's worst. The University is profiting from and providing a fig leaf for Goldcorp's deadly exploitation of its Guatemalan employees, their families and their community.
No SFU project, community oriented or otherwise, is worth the life of one Guatemalan child dead as the result of Goldcorp's corporate policies in that country. SHAME on SFU!
If you really don't like Goldcorp, why do you want to give them back money!
One other thing to add... the people who are against the donation seem to be the same ones who are always complaining about tuition costs!
Justin Berger
"Yeah, they'll always tell you how much good you can do with dirty money"
--Utah Philips
Shame on you SFU!
Goldcorp has wreaked terrible harm on communities across the Americas. That "low cost" gold comes at a terrible human cost, in communities who's water is contaminated by toxic cyanide run off. Those "safe countries" are anything but safe for those who dare to oppose the theft and destruction wrought by Canadian mining companies. [SFU note: The closing sentence of this comment has been deleted for legal reasons.]