When you think diamonds, you probably think of romance, weddings and Valentine’s Day. And it’s no accident we think this way: A century of marketing has convinced us that diamonds symbolize love.

In Canada, magazine ads celebrate the “purity” of Northern Canadian diamonds as an ethical alternative to conflict diamonds.

But this marketing strategy actually hides enormous social problems that people living near the mines say they’ve experienced. This includes some of Canada’s highest rates of violence against women.

The story our guests tell today is not one of numbers. Instead, they’re sharing narratives gathered and collected through interviews and sharing circles about how lives have changed after the mines opened.

Our guests today are: Rebecca Hall, assistant professor of Global Development Studies at Queen's University and the author of Refracted Economies: Diamond Mining and Social Reproduction in the North and Della Green, former Victim Services Coordinator, at The Native Women's Association of the Northwest Territories.Show notes:https://theconversation.com/diamond-mines-are-not-a-girls-best-friend-podcast-183972

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