CANADA Law and Practice Contributed by: Claudia Feldkamp and Chris Pigott, Fasken
ness conduct ecosystem. (For further detail, see 2.2.7 Soft Law on Business and Human Rights ). 2.2.2 Corporate Human Rights Due Diligence Legislation To date, Canada has not introduced mandatory human rights due diligence legislation. However, such legislation has been under consideration at the federal level for a number of years. The previous Canadian Parliament, led by a minority Liberal government, included among its priorities a commitment to enact broader human rights due diligence legislation by 2024 to ensure that Canadian businesses operating abroad do not contribute to human rights abuses and vio - lations. The federal government undertook con - sultations on how to develop mandatory human rights due diligence legislation in October 2023. A 2021 report by the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development on the mandate of the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) recommend - ed that the Canadian government introduce legislation requiring Canadian corporations to conduct human rights due diligence to identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for any potential adverse human rights, environmental and gen - dered impacts they may cause throughout their supply chains and operations. A report published in September 2023 by the Standing Committee on International Trade, enti - tled “Canadian Mining and Mineral Exploration Firms Operating Abroad: Impact of the Natural Environment and Human Rights” , recommended that the “[g]overnment of Canada, in consulta- tion with relevant stakeholders, consider new or modified strategies, policies and other meas - ures that would further promote and enhance […] responsible business conduct in the foreign
operations of Canadian firms” . In its response to the report, the Canadian government empha - sised that the government initiatives in this area are ongoing and that the government is commit - ted to, among other things, “developing effective measures to enhance Canadian companies’ due diligence” . It is not yet clear if the newly elected Liberal minority government (which, under a new Prime Minister, replaces the previous Liberal minority government) will prioritise mandatory human rights due diligence legislation as part of its mandate. However, it is anticipated that manda - tory human rights legislation will continue to be discussed and promoted in the next Parliament by the government and/or through Senate and In accordance with Canada’s obligations under the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), on 1 July 2020, amendments to Can - ada’s Customs Tariff and the Schedule to the Customs Tariff took effect. These amendments prohibit “goods mined, manufactured or pro- duced wholly or in part” by forced or compul - sory labour (regardless of country of origin) from being imported into Canada. On 1 January 2024, the import prohibition was expanded to apply to goods mined or manufac - tured by child labour (regardless of country of origin), with the coming into force of the Supply Chains Act. Compliance with this import pro - hibition requires companies importing goods into Canada to conduct ongoing due diligence and review of their supply chains to ensure the absence of forced labour at each step of pro - duction. private member legislative initiatives. 2.2.3 Modern Slavery Legislation
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