Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to present before this committee.
For the past two years I have worked closely with students and citizens across the country for a common cause, to mobilize a critical mass of Canadian students, citizens, and decision-makers to end the crisis in Darfur and respond to future threats of genocide.
The standing order before this committee is an important step towards more meaningful government action on the crisis in Sudan. As the national divestment coordinator for STAND Canada, I oversee grassroots campaigns at the local, provincial, and federal levels. The goal of these campaigns is to investigate public and private holdings and companies operating in Sudan to facilitate shareholder engagement and identify ways to pressure the Government of Sudan to bring an end to suffering in Darfur.
Many of you seated around the table have received letters, phones calls, and e-mails from your constituents on these issues. They are concerned about the crisis in Darfur and Canada's role in ending the suffering there and promoting a lasting political settlement to the crisis. This case is exceptional in the international landscape of gross human rights violations. Canadians realize that and want our country to play an integral role in the fight to end continued mass killing and displacement in Darfur.
Thus far, international efforts to broker that settlement have faltered. I know that today's proceedings will provide the committee with concrete initiatives, as we've already heard, that the Canadian government can undertake now to expedite a resolution to that crisis.
Today I bring to you the message of my organization and its stakeholders. Students Taking Action Now: Darfur is a truly national organization with over 70 chapters in high schools and universities from coast to coast. Our chapters are a vibrant part of the communities they are in, and our organization works closely with citizens, decision-makers, and local, provincial, and federal governments—thousands of young and enthusiastic students engaging in a common cause, sending thousands of letters, and making thousands of phone calls to your offices with one message.
The details of this message are clear and simple: one, Canadians care about Darfur; two, Canadians want their government to take a leadership role in resolving the conflict there; and three, Canadians want to know that their investments are not making an already terrible situation in Sudan worse.
The message is clear, but how do we attain these lofty goals? Individual investors, university administrators, and investment fund managers have all taken action. The British Columbia Investment Management Corporation is engaging the companies it holds that are operating in Sudan to clarify their operations there and to ensure that these companies have corporate social responsibility policies that govern their operations in crisis zones. Student and community activists in British Columbia can be credited for this success.
Queen's University took concrete steps to regulate their investment portfolio in March 2007. As a precursor to a larger ethical investment strategy, they divested from certain companies with strong ties to the Government of Sudan. The students at Queen's, myself included, wanted transparency in the investments of the institutions they are a part of and demanded action from the university administrators. Students are demanding action across the country—at the University of Ottawa in the capital city, the University of Western Ontario in London, Laval University in Quebec, Memorial University on the east coast, the University of British Columbia on the west coast, and many more.
Finally, private investors across the country, from elementary school teachers to film and television producers, independent musicians, fund managers, and business consultants contact us on a weekly basis. They want to learn more about their personal investments and companies operating in Sudan and how some of those companies fuel the conflict in Darfur. Citizens in civil society organizations are facilitating this engagement process. The Canadian government should enact a legal framework regulating public fund investment in companies that are fuelling egregious human rights violations.
The research is ongoing and the facts are clear. Certain companies operating in Sudan are aggravating an already dire humanitarian crisis. Canadians need leadership on this issue. Canadians want a formal government-approved process whereby they can make these tough investment decisions. The result will be widespread shareholder action, engaging the companies that are responsibly contributing to the economy in Sudan and divesting from the companies that are fuelling the crisis there.
Canadian investors are in a unique position because of Talisman Energy's experience in Sudan. In my capacity as a coordinator of the Sudan divestment campaign, I recently spoke at length with the senior manager at Talisman Energy in charge of corporate social responsibility. Before Talisman's experience in Sudan, no such position existed on their board and social responsibility was not on the company's radar. He commented that I would be hard-pressed to find a similar meaningful position on the board of the Chinese and Indian companies operating in Sudan, and I think he is correct.
The Talisman experience shows that corporate social responsibility will never be a priority for any company unless it is either demanded by its shareholders or mandated by the government. In the case of private companies, there are no public shareholders to speak up on these issues; the only consideration is the company's bottom line.
Investors across the country are doing their job. Now it's time for the government to act. The Canadian government should mandate CSR standards and reporting obligations for Canadian companies consistent with the final report of the National Round Table on CSR, which we heard about earlier. Almost a year after the report, no formal government response has been issued.
But ensuring basic human rights standards starts at home. Numerous companies operating in Sudan with close relationships to the Government of Sudan are also operating in Canada. The Canadian government is in a unique position to leverage those relationships with the goal of engaging the Government of Sudan—an historically challenging proposition.
The extent to which these companies do business in Canada should be contingent on their operations in Sudan. If a company is fuelling violent escalations by the Government of Sudan's military forces, as news agencies continue to report new hostilities in Darfur detailing hundreds of deaths and thousands displaced, then that company's contracts with the federal or provincial government should be examined. Government contracts with companies operating in Sudan should be examined. The Canadian government should make doing business in Canada contingent on a company's governance policy and historical practice of corporate social responsibility.
In closing, let me reiterate the main recommendations in my brief. One, public investment should be audited, and investments in companies operating in Sudan should be examined. A public government statement on these issues is what thousands of Canadians are waiting for.
The Canadian corporate social responsibility framework must be implemented to ensure compliance at home and abroad, and the spirit of that framework should be applied to government contracts in Canada with foreign companies that also operate in Sudan.
Thank you. I'd be happy to answer any questions.