Birks & Mayors Inc., which operates Birks luxury jewelry stores in Canada, is signing on to a new green campaign to protect the country's Boreal forest in the production of gold and diamonds.

Birks joins more than 60 companies worth $30 billion in annual sales that have backed the Boreal Forest Conservation Framework, including Limited Brands/Victoria Secret, Patagonia, Mountain Equipment Coop and Seventh Generation.

The company claims it is now the first Canada-based jewelry to call for more socially responsible production of gold and diamonds.

Launched in 2003, it is a commitment to the sustainability of Canada's boreal region.

The conservation framework seeks to permanently protect at least 50 per cent of the Canada's Northern Boreal Forest from expanding industrial development.

"For 128 years, Birks has lived by a set of principles to fully meet the responsibilities of corporate citizenship by contributing to the well-being of society and the environment in which it operates," Thomas Andruskevich, president and CEO of Birks & Mayors, said in a statement.

"We feel it is our obligation, as Canada's leading jeweler, to take the lead in the effort to protect the boreal region and to support sustainable and responsible mining."

Larry Innes, acting executive director of the Canadian Boreal Initiative, applauded Birks & Mayors for being the first jewelry retailer to offer its support.

"Gold and diamond exploration and mining activities are rapidly expanding across Canada's fragile boreal Forest and we are pleased that Birks & Mayors is publicly supporting the need to ensure that these activities are conducted in a socially and environmentally responsible way," Innes said.

Birks also announced its endorsement of the "No Dirty Gold" campaign's Golden Rules, aimed at reforming destructive mining practices.

The company became the first Canadian jeweller to endorse the Golden Rules, joining more than a dozen other major jewelry retailers including Cartier, the Zale Corp., and Tiffany & Co.

The campaign, which is a joint initiative of Earthworks and Oxfam America, is calling on the mining industry to provide alternatives to irresponsibly mined gold.

The Golden Rules are a set of principles that include:

  • Respect for basic human rights detailed in international conventions and law;
  • Free, prior, and informed consent from affected communities;
  • Respect for workers' rights and labour standards;
  • Protecting parks and natural reserves from mining; and,
  • Protecting oceans, rivers, lakes, and streams from mining wastes.

"Birks & Mayors is taking a unique leadership position with regard to corporate environmental stewardship, both in terms of a commitment to responsible sourcing and turning such a commitment into real results in the Canadian boreal," said Stephen D'Esposito, executive director of Earthworks in Washington D.C.

Birks & Mayors operates 38 stores in Canada and 29 in the United States under the Mayors name.