Baptist Union of Western Canada divests from Talisman Energy
Freedom Quest International (Calgary) reports today (January 24, 2002) that the Baptist Union of Western Canada has decided to divest itself of shares in Talisman Energy, joining the ranks of such other church denominations as the Anglican Church of Canada, the United Church of Canada, the Episcopal Church of America, the Presbyterian Church/USA, and numerous ethical investment funds that have also divested from Talisman.
—Eric Reeves
The central finding of the Baptist Union’s Development Fund is unambiguous:
“We are serious about ethical and socially responsible investing. This resulted in an action we would not have foreseen; namely, divesting from Calgary-based Talisman Energy Inc., Canada’s largest independent oil and gas producer. After a lengthy investigation, we concluded that their Sudan operations were not supportable. In the midst of the world’s longest-running civil war, Talisman requires the extremist National Islamic Front regime in Khartoum to provide security for its operations. This regime now receives windfall oil production revenues and has doubled its military budget for operations against southern Sudan, largely targeting civilians. We believe Talisman management has continuously understated the effect of their involvement, which numerous authoritative investigators have described as exacerbating the conflict.”