About a dozen Calgarians gathered outside former Talisman Energy CEO Jim Buckee’s retirement party October 4, to let him know they haven’t forgotten about the company’s disastrous venture into southern Sudan.

Gathered on Centre Street outside the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Calgary, the protesters — including several Sudanese refugees — shouted slogans like: “We will not forget. Talisman owes Sudan a debt.”

“The folks participating were quite enthusiastic about not forgetting,” says activist Grant Neufeld, who was at the protest.

Buckee retired in September, nine years after Talisman entered Sudan while the country was in the midst of a brutal civil war. After Talisman arrived in 1998, the Khartoum government used airstrips controlled by the company to launch attacks on villages in the south. Talisman’s reputation and share price took a beating due to criticisms by human rights groups. In 2003 Talisman sold its holdings to India’s national oil company.

In public, Buckee has always brushed off the human rights criticisms, saying the company’s presence in Sudan did more good than harm. In private meetings and correspondence with Sudanese officials, however, he acknowledged the severity of the attacks and urged the government to “stop any bombing that has a chance of inflicting damage on civilians,” as he wrote to Sudan’s Minister of National Defence in February, 2001.