A company starting to lay roots east of Regina has just been awarded the so-called Nobel Prize of Shame.

Brazilian mining company Vale has been picked by NGO's around the world.

"We just like to show the other side of the company's behaviour," said François Meienberg, who sits on the Public Eye Awards committee in Switzerland.

"For my point of view, publicity is always a good tool to fight injustice," he said.

Vale was picked as the corporation with the most contempt for the environment and human rights, said Meienberg, list offenses in Canada and Brazil.

According to the Public Eye Award, Vale's number one offence is over a planned dam in the Amazon that could force roughly 40, 000 locals from their homes. The award also mentions a prolonged strike in Sudbury, Ontario.

Vale will start in on a new potash mine near the hamlet of Kronau, 15 minutes out of Regina, in the coming weeks.

Meienberg said he hopes the new mine in Saskatchewan will have a better record than some of the company's other projects in the developing world.

"We align with Indigenous rights and they should fight for the rights and I hope it is easier to do in Canada than it is in Brazil," he said.

The company has responded to the award, calling the claims serious and unsubstantiated.