The DIRT on StFX Donors

StFX released its Donor Impact Report (DIRT) for 2020-2021, a document lavishly praising the individuals and groups who gave money to the institution. Many donors gave less than $500, most less than $1000. The highest spot on the list is claimed by the Lifetime Xaverian Patrons whose cumulative donations often exceed millions of dollars. If it seems unlikely that one could afford to be that philanthropic with a clean conscience, it’s because it is. DIRT explains that while the university receives funds from other sources, it’s simply not enough; “Although operational costs continue to increase, government funding to universities has diminished over the years — and, we cannot raise tuition beyond competitive rates without risking enrolment.”  In 2011-2012 local tuition was $5,108—for 2022-2023, it was $9,650 (adjusting for inflation $5,108 in 2011 is $6,479 in 2022). Evidently, the administration feels that it has squeezed the student body for every penny it can, and now must find another benefactor with a chequebook and a pen.

The ethical standards that StFX holds for its students and faculty are a reflection of the institution. StFX’s official motto, Quaecumque Sunt Vera, means “to preserve and convey ‘whatsoever things are true.’” StFX extends this motto beyond academia to the individual person. Integrity, dignity, and respect for the worth of each individual are important values to the university; however, this standard is not held to donors.

With their names on every plaque, hall, building and bench on campus—not to mention DIRT—the names of those who gave money are easy to find. How they got the money is unmentioned.

This article was not written to persuade StFX to refuse donations as someone must pay the obscene cost of post-secondary studies and why not it be the bourgeoisie who can afford it rather than raising tuition on an already indebted student population? Nor is it to criticize the administration, which has the unenviable task of running a university for thousands of students and staff. But an understanding of what is funding our education is important, ignorance on the matter would be an academic disservice. StFX should encourage a healthy discussion on the subject; hypocrisy is not too strong a word for an institution that will prostitute the prestige of a name on its donor list and reap the benefits of sins committed for profit without acknowledging them.

Barrick Gold, a Canadian Mining Company, has given more than $500,000 to StFX. While generous, it’s much less than the $5 million Barrick has paid in fines over the last 20 years for the workplace and environmental violations in the US. Those infractions pale compared to a $16 million fine in Chile after the native population near the Pascua-Lama mine developed cancerous growths. They have dozens of mines across the globe and countless crimes.

Sean Boyd, who was CEO of Agnico Eagle Mines for over 20 years and is its current Chairman is listed as giving the same amount. AEN got fined in 2013 for chemically contaminating fisheries in Nunavut, then again in 2017. Not only does AEN disrespect Nunavut’s environment and wildlife, but also its culture; last year, they faced backlash after an internal campaign to discourage Inuit workers from speaking Inuktitut at work was made public.

StFX is committed to sustainability. This includes a push to make the campus more pedestrian friendly. It also includes accepting cash from Big Oil. Allan P Markin, former Chairman of Canadian Natural Resources Limited gave between $1 and $5 million. It’s unclear if Markin should be criticized more for CNRL’s long history of oil spills or for a 2-million-dollar lawsuit where he sued his stepson for custody of the kid’s dog; a birthday present Markin ‘gifted’ him.

Over a million dollars from Imperial Oil Foundation- a Canadian subsidiary of ExxonMobil, the planet’s biggest and most infamous carbon company.  And of course, there are millions from various members of the Irving clan, Atlantic Canada’s (R)oil family.   

Magna International, a car chair manufacturer, gave more than $250 000 to X. Magna, notoriously anti-union here at home, faced widespread condemnation in 2020 for retaliatory firings and union-busting attempts against organizers in the Balkans. Magna’s CEO was the second highest paid in Canada in 2017 netting $20.4 million, not including $24.5 million in unexercised stock options. In 2018, surprise pay cuts shut down plants in Serbia; management stiffed some workers for between $30-$200.

One of the more recognizable names on the list is Chairman and CEO of Blackstone, Stephen A. Schwarzman, who headed Donald Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum. He made headlines during the Obama administration for comments on the President’s plan to raise the taxes on carried interest, saying “It’s a war. It’s like when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939.” Under Schwarzman Blackstone began buying up single-family homes after the 2008 financial crisis and leasing them out exorbitantly. To cover their investment, Blackstone paid over $8 million to fight a California bill that would allow municipalities to legislate rent control. Blackstone settled in 2018, then again in 2019 for over $20 million because a motel chain it owned gave guest lists to ICE without a warrant in a cowardly attempt to deport migrants. Schwarzman donated over a million dollars to the university.

Wafic Said, a good friend of Brian Mulroney, has donated over four million dollars to StFX in exchange for his name in gold at Mulroney Hall and an honorary doctorate. A billionaire international arms dealer who bought an $800,000 shortcut to obtain Canadian Citizenship in the 80s (over $1.5 million today), Said was involved in a British criminal probe into bribes paid to Saudi Princes for the sale of warplanes to the authoritarian regime. The investigation was closed as a result from pressure from the Saudi government.

Victor Dadelah has his name just below Said’s on DIRT, as well as in the Victor Dadelah Chair in Democracy and Governance at the Mulroney Institute. Not long ago, Dadelah also had his name all over the Panama Papers, the notorious list of aristocrats who cheated taxes for years. Dadelah has distanced himself from La Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee, a mining company he partially owns through a long string of subsidiaries. CBG has been denounced by Human Rights Watch for polluting the water and air in the Boko region of Guinee.

Not to forget a few more of the charitable people who contributed to StFX: billionaire Urs Schwarzenbach has admitted to trafficking and tax evasion in European art dealing, ‘Honourable’ Hal NR Jackman was charged with six counts of political financing breaches and Fred George was President and Chairman of Gammon Gold when Gammon lied about the amount of gold it would produce. George, who is an ‘Honorary’ Naval Captain, responded to the resulting $13 million dollar lawsuit by saying “Everything I promise, I deliver”. Except for gold. Quaecumque Sunt Vera. (All three men donated over a million dollars).

H.B Morley was an executive of Stauffer Chemicals when the company polluted the environment near a factory in Pinellas County Florida. He was chairman when it was accused of lying about its earnings by the SEC. Morley and Larry Tannebaum, owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, both gave over half a million dollars.

When discussing StFX’s benefactors it’s impossible to forget Gerald Schwartz, the patron and namesake of the Gerald Schwartz School of Business. In 2021 his company, Onex Corp. was ordered to pay $40 million dollars for its role in a door manufacturing price-fixing conspiracy. One would hope this is not the sort of business practice being taught in the classrooms at Schwartz.