Breaking News: Prominent coalition calls for federal government to allow ombudsman to prosecute Canadian corporate human rights violators abroad
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former trade minister Jim Carr. (The Tyee/Google Images)
Written by: Aidan Jonah
The Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability announced the release of an e-petition calling for providing the ombudsman with the legal authority to effectively investigate human rights abuses by Canadian companies.
This was done during an online event, “Minding our own business: Canada, Business & Human Rights” co-hosted last night along with KAIROS, Amnesty International Canada and Caritas Canada.
The Context
In December 2017, Trudeau promised to create a watchdog to oversee Canadian mining, gas firms’ activities abroad. Fifteen months later, the Liberal government instead appointed an independent Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE), which lacks real power to hold corporations to account.
The ombudsman is able to independently investigate complaints of human rights abuse at the hands of Canadian companies, yet has no power to compel testimony or the submission of documents, and is unable to make any legally binding decisions.
According to The Council of Canadians:
“The scope of the ombudsperson’s potential recommendations is quite limited, and may include the withdrawal of political and financial support from the Canadian government as well as advising the government on policy and legislative changes needed to prevent future abuses.”
The Corporate Responsibility Ombudsman may also make non-binding recommendations concerning payment of compensation, which cannot be ordered by Canadian courts under Canada's export controls, economic sanctions, anti-bribery and other international laws.
At the time of the announcement, the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability described the post as “a powerless advisory post, little different from what has already existed for years,” Emily Dwyer, the group’s coordinator said “the government must take decisive action to stop corporate abuse. That was the promise made in January 2018. That is the promise that must be kept.”
In June 2019, both the Conservative and Liberal caucuses voted against NDP MP Peter Julian’s Bill C-331, which would’ve given Canadian federal courts the authority to prosecute Canadian mining companies for human rights abuses committed abroad.
To emphasize how little has changed, the CNCA changed only nine words in its April 2020 press release about the need for a more powerful ombudsman.
Post-election, CORE still lacks the necessary powers to hold Canadian corporations accountable, while the Liberals have made no moves towards providing the ombudsman with more legal powers.
The petition
Petition e-2564, sponsored by NDP MP Heather McPherson emphasizes the devastating human rights abuses committed in foreign countries, usually against Indigenous peoples, women and other marginalized communities who face increasing harassment, intimidation, criminalization and even murder in standing up to powerful corporations.
The petition calls for “concrete measures to strengthen the rules for businesses and uphold human rights”, which includes:
Empowering the Office of the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise with independence and the power to investigate human rights abuse allegations; and
Enacting a comprehensive human rights due diligence law that compels businesses to respect the most current international human rights standards across the entirety of their global operations and supply chains and holds them liable for harms caused by or on behalf of their operations.
Speakers put a human face to mass accounts of corporate human rights abuses
During the online event “Minding our own business: Canada, Business & Human Rights” speakers whose communities have been harmed by the actions of Canadian companies abroad had the chance to speak truth to power.
In 2019 alone, Canada imported more than 1.8 billion dollars worth of clothing produced in Bangladesh, an industry which counts for 80 per cent of the country’s exports. Kalpona Akter, Executive Director of the Bangladesh Center for Workers’ Solidarity condemned Canadian fashion companies for cancelling complete and in progress orders. Aketer said “our workers made them [fashion companies] money for a long time, yet rather than supporting workers, they are instead refusing to pay them their wages.” She estimates that at least 50 per cent of garment workers weren’t paid their wages in March.
Francisco Oliveira da Silva, chieftain of the indigenous Tuquara village in the Brazilian Amazon spoke about the community’s resistance to a potash mine project financed by a Canadian company. Seu Esagui, the elder of Soares village, detailed how a researcher from the mining company came to his door and attempted to intimidate him into selling his home. Esagui said the researcher told him “if you don’t sell it [his home], you will lose it,” inferring that the company would lobby the Brazilian government to strip him of his property without compensation. The leaders of the Mura people of the Brazlian Amazon came together to demand consultations about the project, while successfully getting the courts to block the project, allowing the people to determine whether the project will go ahead.
Cristina Palabay, General Secretary of Philippines based organization KARAPATAN, condemned the Duterte government’s massive financial supports for mining, agribusiness and forestry, which allows ancestral lands and protected areas to be ravaged for profit. Palabay said “the Phillipines is the deadliest country for land and environmental defenders” citing a report from the Guardian showing that 30 were killed in 2019. She spoke about how the government has failed hold Marcopper Mining Corporation accountable for catastrophic tailings spills which occurred from their site in 1993 and 1996. Instead, they are using taxpayer funds to rehabilitate the Boac and Mogpog rivers which were harmed by the tailings spills.
Canadian MPs promise to back legislation for powerful ombudsman
Canadian members of Parliament Heather McPherson, NDP MP for Edmonton-Strathcona, Elizabeth May, Green Party MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands, and Nate Erskine-Smith, Liberal MP for Beaches-East York all spoke about the urgent need for an empowered ombudsman.
McPherson, who sponsored petition e-2564 promised to have a weekly spotlight on victims of Canadian mining companies until the petition is presented in the House of Commons.
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