Foreign Affairs committee  I am not in a position to answer that. Although I was a consultant for DFAIT, I don't know the machine inside.

Foreign Affairs committee  I will answer that 320 human rights abuses involving corporations were treated by John Ruggie's team from 2005 to 2007. Within these there were, of course, mining, or extractive sector, human rights allegations treated. John Ruggie has detailed all the impacts on which category o

Foreign Affairs committee  John Ruggie's framework, “Protect, Respect and Remedy”, is very clear on the duty of the companies. In a few words, they have the duty to respect human rights, whether the state itself does not, and, as John Ruggie put it, to do no harm.

Foreign Affairs committee  Definitely, I think, where a state's obligations cannot be complied--meaning that it is very clear that companies operating abroad come under host state obligations first--some host states...and the government, as Canada has recognized in the 2009 strategy, do not necessarily hav

Foreign Affairs committee  First of all, I would like to specify that I was using a quote from Supreme Court of Canada Judge Ian Binnie's conference . Actually, he's requesting a law as well in Canada to hold the Canadian companies operating abroad responsible for that. It remains to be proven that they a

Foreign Affairs committee  I'm not sure if you're implying that frivolous complaints can destroy a company.

Foreign Affairs committee  I don't know if you've been following what's going on in the States with the lawsuits.

Foreign Affairs committee  The lawsuits in the States have enabled the companies to clear their reputation.

Foreign Affairs committee  They have survived.

Foreign Affairs committee  International law and international human rights law, yes.

Foreign Affairs committee  No, no. I would clarify what I just said in my presentation: “As to the way in which complaints are dealt with, the rules of procedural fairness and natural justice apply to all administrative bodies established by a Canadian act. It is assumed that Bill C-300 complies with the

Foreign Affairs committee  I would answer that unresolved allegations have amounted to violence and degradation of the situation in the field for all parties. Canadians have been the subject of pillages incendies. The stakeholders are all affected by this. What I'm saying is that we need a forum for peop

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes.

Foreign Affairs committee  I would like to answer that question with this one: where are the companies going to go? To the United States or Australia, where they can be sued? To China? To England? The expertise and the financial wherewithal are here, in Canada. The mining capital of the world is Toronto. T

Foreign Affairs committee  Correct, and that brings up another question. The compliance required by the government under its 2009 strategy is the same as the compliance required in Bill C-300. The compliance will be no greater under Bill C-300 than it is at the moment. The compliance is the same in both