Here’s an article in the Georgia Straight by fellow Vancouver AI BHR volunteer Graham Allen: The Canadian government, in a March 2009 report, acknowledged it has a problem: “Within the wider community, increasing concerns have been raised about the human rights impacts of the activities of Canadian extractive companies with

Here’s an article in the Georgia Straight by fellow Vancouver AI BHR volunteer Graham Allen:

The Canadian government, in a March 2009 report, acknowledged it has a problem: “Within the wider community, increasing concerns have been raised about the human rights impacts of the activities of Canadian extractive companies with respect to their operations abroad.”

Liberal MP John McKay, on the day which his private member’s bill, Bill C-300, passed second reading, was more specific: “There are examples of Canadian corporations behaving badly in places like the Philippines and Guyana and as many as 30 other countries.”

If this is all true, what is Canada doing about it?

In a nutshell, the Canadian government started off well, then dropped the ball, and now has one good chance of doing the right thing.

Starting off well?

The governmental activity of recent years started with the June 2005 report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade entitled Mining in Developing Countries – Corporate Social Responsibility. This was followed by the momentous convening of four National Roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), “organized by a Steering Committee of Government of Canada officials working closely with an Advisory Group comprising persons drawn from industry, labour, the socially responsible investment community, civil society and academia”. This remarkable process culminated in the Advisory Group Report of March 29, 2007. Its central recommendation concerned the development of a Canadian CSR Framework:

Advisory Group members urge the Government of Canada, in cooperation with key stakeholders, to adopt a set of CSR Standards that Canadian extractive sector companies operating abroad are expected to meet and that is reinforced through appropriate reporting, compliance and other mechanisms.

There followed a series of recommendations, within six major components, in support of this objective. It was a golden moment for those concerned about Canada’s reputation in the developing world.

Dropping the ball?

In its March 2009 paper entitled Building the Canadian Advantage: A Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Strategy for the Canadian International Extractive Sector, Canada laid out its response to the national roundtables. It sought to promote what it called “widely-recognized international CSR performance guidelines with Canadian extractive companies operating abroad”. And it proposed setting up two new institutions: an Office of the Extractive Sector CSR Counsellor and a CSR Centre of Excellence “to encourage the Canadian international extractive sector to implement these voluntary performance guidelines by developing and disseminating high-quality CSR information, training and tools”. It was the word “voluntary” that was the problem.

In comparing Canada’s CSR strategy with the six components of the Advisory Group Report, professor Richard Janda of the faculty of law at McGill University found it to be “partially consistent” with three components and “not consistent” with three others—a disappointing outcome.

Again, McKay was more specific in his criticism of Canada’s response; he complained that the CSR counsellor is appointed by government, not independently, and could only investigate incidents with the approval of all parties, an obvious flaw. Moreover, voluntary guidelines had not proven to be adequate in the past. He was reported as saying: “Let’s be clear here. Canada has a choice. It can legislate a response, which would put Canada at the head of the class. Or it’s more business as usual, see no evil and hear no evil.”

Doing the right thing?

Bill C-300, mentioned above, explains its purpose in the following summary:

The purpose of this enactment is to promote environmental best practices and to ensure the protection and promotion of international human rights standards in respect of the mining, oil or gas activities of Canadian corporations in developing countries. It also gives the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of International Trade the responsibility to issue guidelines that articulate corporate accountability standards for mining, oil or gas activities…

Despite the significant limitation of a private member’s bill, that it cannot provide for the expenditure of public funds, Bill C-300, in Janda’s analysis, was “consistent” with two of the Advisory Group Report’s components, “partially consistent” with two others, and “not consistent” with two, thus being closer overall to the national roundtables. Professor Janda hence spoke favourably about Bill C-300, but concluded:

Indeed, if Bill C-300 were adopted, the CSR Counsellor’s role could be expanded and altered to fulfill functions under the legislation. Bill C-300 would then provide a legislative footing for that role.

Bill C-300 is presently at the committee stage before facing its third reading. If the government could be persuaded to support this bill—instead of claiming that its own CSR strategy is sufficient—Canada would be well-served. As said by Liberal MPMichael Savage in the House debate on Bill C-300:

As an international player, I am afraid we are not the gold standard anymore, but we can do better. We should do better. We should live up to the expectations that the people in this country have for us, and we should go beyond them.

If you are interested in supporting Bill C-300, you can take action via Amnesty International Canada’s Web site.h

From Amnesty International: Amnesty International today urged the authorities in Côte d’Ivoire to ensure that $45 million compensation paid by the oil trading company Trafigura to victims of one of the worst toxic dumping scandals in recent years reaches the people to whom it is owed. The compensation was agreed

From Amnesty International:

Amnesty International today urged the authorities in Côte d’Ivoire to ensure that $45 million compensation paid by the oil trading company Trafigura to victims of one of the worst toxic dumping scandals in recent years reaches the people to whom it is owed.

The compensation was agreed in the context of a court action brought by some 30,000 people against Trafigura in the High Court of England and Wales.

The organization has also written to UK Justice Secretary Jack Straw, urgently asking him to contact his counterpart in the Côte d’Ivoire and press for swift action to prevent a potentially massive fraud being perpetrated.

The call came as thousands of the victims of the illegal dumping of toxic waste in Abidjan, the capital of Côte d’Ivoire, wait anxiously to receive their money.

“There is a real risk that the victims of this waste dumping will never see the compensation they have been waiting so long to receive,” said Widney Brown, Senior Director at Amnesty International.

“The governments of Côte d’Ivoire and the UK must do everything in their power to ensure that this money is paid to the claimants listed in the court order – and prevent its misappropriation by corrupt figures.”

The $45 million compensation has been frozen in the bank account of the law firm representing the victims in the court case against Trafigura, the company accused of dumping the waste.

The freezing order was made after a man claiming his organization – the National Coordination of Toxic Waste Victims of Côte d’Ivoire (CNVDT-CI) – represents the “real victims” said the money should be transferred into that organization’s bank account instead. This claim appears entirely false and has been refuted by the victim’s UK lawyers, as well as in a petition that is before the Ivorian courts by the other representatives of claimants in the UK court case.

The CNVDT-CI appears nowhere in any court documents related to the case or the settlement.

On 23 September, the High Court of England and Wales approved a settlement agreement between the victims of the toxic waste dumping, UK law firm Leigh Day & Co, and Trafigura. The agreement was that $45 million would be distributed by Leigh Day to the nearly 30,000 victims who had agreed to the deal, with each receiving about $1,600. The funds were transferred to an account in Côte d’Ivoire set up by Leigh Day for distribution to the victims.

On 22 October, Claude Gohourou, who claims his organization represents the victims, applied to a court in Abidjan to have the funds in the Leigh Day account frozen, which the court agreed to. Soon after, on 27 October, he applied for the money to be transferred to an account held by his own association.

Tomorrow, the Abidjan court is due to rule on his application.

“If the court in Côte d’Ivoire transfers the money into Mr Gohourou’s account, there is a very good chance that it will never be seen again,” said Widney Brown.

“We need an urgent intervention to prevent the victims of this tragic case from a double disaster. To have fought for three years for some measure of compensation for the terrible events of 2006, and then to see it stolen would be a travesty.”

Note to editors:
In August 2006, toxic waste was brought to Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire on board the ship Probo Koala, which had been chartered by Trafigura. This waste was then dumped in various locations around the city, causing a human rights tragedy. More than 100,000 people sought medical attention for a range of health problems and there were 15 reported deaths.

***************************

For further information, please contact:
Beth Berton-Hunter, Media Relations
416-363-9933, ext. 332

***************************

The Africa-Canada Accountability Coalition announces the launch of a new campaign NO MORE RAPE.

The eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the worst place in the world to be a woman or a girl. Over the last decade, a complex and ongoing series of conflicts, described as the world’s “deadliest crisis since World War II,” has unleashed unprecedented violence on the bodies of women and girls in this region. The brutality is extreme: three-month-old babies to eighty-year-old women have been raped. Women and girls are raped with such frequency that the Congolese invented a new word to describe the phenomenon: révioler, to re-rape.

This campaign is an urgent call out to Canadians: ABSOLUTELY NO MORE RAPE in the Congo. It features a new report on how Canada must respond, a video call for action, and a website with all the tools you need to stop the on-going crisis. Our corporations, our government and we ourselves have a specific, long-standing and often exploitative relationship with the DRC. We can do better – it is time we started.

JOIN US at our launch at 7pm on October 14, at the multi-purpose room of the Liu Institute of Global Issues at UBC (6476 NW Marine Drive Vancouver, V6T 1Z2), to learn more about how you can get involved and to see a moving film about a Congolese rape survivor “Lumo”. We will also share an initiative to pass Bill C-300, aimed at promoting socially responsible policies among Canadian mining, oil and gas companies in the DR Congo and other developing countries.

Visit our website at www.acacdrcongo.org or reach us atcontact@acacdrcongo.org.

From the Africa-Canada Accountability Coalition: The Africa-Canada Accountability Coalition announces the launch of a new campaign NO MORE RAPE. The eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the worst place in the world to be a woman or a girl. Over the last decade, a complex and ongoing series

From the Canadian Business Ethics Research Network: CBERN Pacific Region Hub: Business Ethics Mapping Project & Workshop, Vancouver, BC Friday, November 20, 2009 Mapping the Business Ethics research interested parties and their areas of interest in British Columbia and the Yukon in natural resources and other sectors. Date: November 20,

From the Canadian Business Ethics Research Network:

CBERN Pacific Region Hub: Business Ethics Mapping Project & Workshop, Vancouver, BC

Friday, November 20, 2009

Mapping the Business Ethics research interested parties and their areas of interest in British Columbia and the Yukon in natural resources and other sectors.

Date: November 20, 2009
Location: The Atrium, BCIT Downtown Campus, 555 Seymour St., Vancouver, BC
Information: pacific@cbern.ca

OBJECTIVE: Mapping the Business Ethics research interested parties and their areas of interest in British Columbia and the Yukon in natural resources and other sectors.

This 4-month project aims to identify, characterize and link with the research groups who are actively engaged or interested in supporting research related to Business Ethics, (Corporate Social Responsibility) in B.C. and the Yukon. This will be useful not only to identify group/(individual) activity and interests in natural resources development ethics (mining, fisheries, forestry, agriculture, energy sectors) but also in other domains. These groups are at the scale of individuals, organizations or established networks/centers, Corporations or their representative Associations, as well as government, aboriginal, academic and NGO organizations.

Characterization of groups includes:

• contact details;
• terms of reference;
• areas of interest,
• scope and details of research activity;
• interest in collaboration;
• synergies.

One of the project deliverables will be a database representing the aggregated results of the survey. It will form the basis for future communications planning and partnerships for collaborative research. The information will be integrated with CBERN’s database.

The results of the survey will be discussed at a workshop at the Atrium, BCIT downtown campus, 555 Seymour Street, Vancouver, November 20, 2009. This workshop is conveniently scheduled after a one-day MSBC meeting on mining and sustainability at the same location and the CIM Annual Student Dinner (November 19, 2009).

Anyone interested in attending the CBERN workshop please send an email with “Workshop” in the subject line to pacific@cbern.ca.

From Fiona at Amnesty. Here’s more info on Bill C-300: Support Bill C-300 Amnesty International is deeply concerned about human rights violations committed directly or indirectly by Canadian mining, oil and gas companies in developing countries. To ensure that Canadian companies respect human rights in developing countries, we need mandatory

From Fiona at Amnesty. Here’s more info on Bill C-300:Support Bill C-300Amnesty International is deeply concerned about human rights violations committed directly or indirectly by Canadian mining, oil and gas companies in developing countries.To ensur…

Amnesty International – Business & Human Rights Presents: Canada as Global Citizen: Is Bill C-300 the Answer? Tuesday September 8th, 2009 / 6pm SFU Harbour Centre – 7000 Earl & Jennie Lohn Policy Room In our rapidly globalizing world, Canadians are increasingly concerned with corporate, social and environmental responsibility, and

This is unofficial, but I have it from a good source (Liz Blackwood, the co-chair of this group) that the NDP has unanimously passed a resolution at their convention for regulating the overseas operations of Canadian extractive industries. If anybody’…