CANADA Law and Practice Contributed by: Claudia Feldkamp and Chris Pigott, Fasken
the Canadian NCP. The CORE became opera - tional in 2021. The CORE’s mandate is to: • promote and advise Canadian companies on their practices and policies with regard to responsible business conduct; • mediate disputes and conduct investiga - tions of human rights abuses associated with Canadian corporations operating abroad in the mining, oil and gas and garment sectors; and • make recommendations for resolving dispute and providing remedy and for monitoring the implementation of recommendations. The CORE functions within Canada’s broader responsible business conduct framework, as reflected also in the 2022 RBC Strategy. The scope of the CORE is currently limited to the mining, oil and gas, and garment sectors. The CORE’s mandate specifies two types of reviews: complaint-initiated reviews and Ombud-initiated reviews. Both types of reviews require all parties to act in good faith, respect the confidentiality of the process, personal and business information, and refrain from provid - ing false information. The CORE may consider a party to not be acting in good faith if the party is not actively participating in the process and fails to provide relevant information and docu - ments within the timelines established by the Ombudsperson. Following a review, the CORE may publicly report the results of its findings and make rec - ommendations to the Minister of International Trade, which may include the imposition of trade measures against the company in question – for example, withdrawal of trade advocacy servic -
es provided to the Canadian company by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Devel - opment. CORE’s mandate currently under review In response to a recommendation from the House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade contained in a September 2023 report, “Canadian Mining and Mineral Exploration Firms Operating Abroad: Impact of the Natural Environment and Human Rights” , in 2024 the Canadian government undertook to commence a review of the operations and effec - tiveness of the CORE over a six-month period. The interim CORE’s mandate expired in April 2024 and the post is currently vacant. 5. Business and Human Rights in Action 5.1 Best Practices Canadian Government’s Business and Human Rights Policy Expectations The Canadian government has in place respon - sible business conduct expectations for Cana - dian companies operating globally to integrate responsible business practices throughout their operations, including international supply chains. These expectations are set out in the 2022 RBC Strategy, which emphasises the central impor - tance of effective human rights due diligence for businesses in identifying, preventing and mitigating – as well as accounting for how they address – actual and potential adverse impacts of their business operations and global supply chains. Businesses are expected to adopt and implement human rights due diligence process - es in their operations in line with international standards, including the UNGPs.
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