CANADA Law and Practice Contributed by: Claudia Feldkamp and Chris Pigott, Fasken
Fasken 333 Bay Street Suite 2400 Bay Adelaide Centre Box 20 Toronto, Ontario M5H 2T6, Canada Tel: +1 416 366 8381/+1 800 268 8424 Fax: +1 416 364 7813 Email: toronto@fasken.com Web: www.fasken.com
1. Introduction 1.1 Business and Human Rights: A Summary
Since the unanimous endorsement of the United Nations (UN) Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (the “UNGPs” ) by the UN Human Rights Council in 2011, Canadian initiatives have been guided by Canada’s responsibilities under the UNGPs. These responsibilities are: • to ensure Canadian businesses respect human rights throughout their operations; and • to establishing dispute resolution processes to remedy business-related human rights abuses. Historically, the Canadian government has relied primarily on voluntary directives, with its earliest policy efforts framed in the language of corporate social responsibility. Until more recently, with the coming into force of the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act (the “Supply Chains Act” ), Canada had taken limited action to codify policy expectations and requirements in legislation. The most recent iteration of the government’s responsible business conduct strategy is the “Responsible Business Conduct Abroad: Can- ada’s Strategy for The Future” (the “2022 RBC
Canada’s approach to business and human rights involves a mixture of law and policy and is very much grounded in – and influenced by – international treaties and standards, as well as the evolving expectations of stakeholders, including the communities in which Canadian businesses operate, investors, NGOs and civil society more broadly. Canada is a parliamentary democracy with a con - stitutional system of government that includes a division of legislative powers between federal (national), provincial and territorial governments. Each government has the power to legislate on matters that directly affect various aspects of human rights. As such, the ongoing implemen - tation of Canada’s international human rights obligations is a shared responsibility between federal, provincial and territorial governments within their respective areas of jurisdiction and decision-making powers.
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