Evidence of meeting #77 for Subcommittee on International Human Rights in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was company.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Marwan Tabbara Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
Specifically, how can Canada play a role? That's what I'm trying to—
Justice and Corporate Accountability Project
Publicly listed companies have their shares on the stock exchange. Under the Securities Act they are required to make certain disclosures. These disclosures will tell you their estimate of how much they're going to make next year, that kind of stuff. It's like consumer legislation for investors.
This is what Leah was saying. They've been very poor at disclosing human rights or environmental.... We could change the law to require that they have more disclosure so at least that information gets out. I don't think that helps the victims in Guatemala, but at least that will provide a greater transparency into what's happening with the company.
I'll tell you right now that the head of Tahoe is on TV saying that the people love them, and we've written to the securities commission in British Columbia with our evidence saying here are all the referendums that have been committed in the communities and here are all the deaths. There's a big problem with Tahoe, and investors have suffered because the Tahoe mine was suspended because the state hadn't conducted any consultations with indigenous people and neither had Tahoe. Stocks fell 40%.
This affects investors, and I think that your suggestion about greater disclosure is spot on. It's part of the range of solutions needed in this very complicated area.
I've just been asked to table a couple of things here. One is a letter of concern about the witnesses from the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability, and a report that talks about the national contact point. It is related to your point because it's a very complex area. You're now talking about securities legislation. We're talking about criminal responsibility. There are torts. We have Ian Binnie talking about the courts changing. Mr. Monge is talking about transparency.
Liberal
Marwan Tabbara Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
I want to build on the first point. It's similar to the first question I asked. The other witness testified that union leaders have been attacked as well. How can Canada play a role in helping unions to ensure their voices are heard and they're not targeted or persecuted?
Justice and Corporate Accountability Project
I think the domestic country has responsibility, but I think that if you look at DFATD's goals, they say that part of what Canada does is that we promote democracy, human rights, and sustainable development. That is part of the policy of the Government of Canada.
I think the embassies have to step up and take a bigger role in terms of monitoring what their companies are doing.
I'm sorry if I'm taking up too much time, Mr. Chair.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Michael Levitt
All you have to do is give the reports to the clerk, and they'll be tabled.
Justice and Corporate Accountability Project
That's terrific. Thank you very much. I appreciate that.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Michael Levitt
MP Fragiskatos, you have about a minute and a half left if you'd like to interject.
Liberal
Peter Fragiskatos Liberal London North Centre, ON
Mr. Imai, you raised a point in an op-ed that you wrote a few years ago for The Globe and Mail. In it, you referenced the Choc v. Hudbay Minerals decision of the Supreme Court, which in your view at that time opened the door to cases of human rights abuses in Guatemala, Colombia, and foreign jurisdictions being heard here in Canada.
To what extent has that decision opened the door to obtaining corporate accountability for corporate actions in foreign jurisdictions?
Justice and Corporate Accountability Project
I think that's a great question. Thank you for reading my op-ed. I've read some of yours as well, Professor.
Liberal
Peter Fragiskatos Liberal London North Centre, ON
I appreciate it. At least there's one person. I always wondered.
Justice and Corporate Accountability Project
I think that is one part of the solution, and a very important part. Former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Ian Binnie has been very eloquent in talking about that.
I think there are many parts to this very complex problem. We just talked about the Securities Act and the importance of looking at reforms there. I talked about the role of embassies. The importance of the court is that this is a forum where you can get out the truth in terms—
Liberal
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Michael Levitt
Mr. Fragiskatos, it is limited. I want to ensure that we leave enough time for our colleague across the floor.
Justice and Corporate Accountability Project
I'd be happy to talk to anybody afterwards.
NDP
Cheryl Hardcastle NDP Windsor—Tecumseh, ON
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I wish we had more time for all of you. This is very intriguing. When we began this study, I had an understanding that not everyone around the table was aware of this issue. Part of the problem is a reporting mechanism that we have now and the legislative environment that we have now. There may be some disagreement about the state that an investing company comes from and what responsibility that investing state has, and I think that's the crux of this today.
We've heard from Professor Imai and Ms. Gardner, and I'd like to hear a little more from you, Mr. Monge, about what you see as Canada's role, as my colleague asked about. What is the role of the government of the investing companies that we're talking about, particularly Canadian mining companies?
As well, Mr. Cuellar, you know that there are other countries that have reporting mechanisms that are not voluntary. Maybe you can talk a bit about what you think we should be doing in the next....
I'll use up my time. I don't have any more questions, so until the chair cuts you off, you can share that time. Thank you.
Latin America Director, Natural Resource Governance Institute
I think the Canadian government can do several things.
As I mentioned, the government should strengthen some stock exchange transparency provisions to include not only financial disclosure but also disclosure of information regarding environmental and social impacts, including conflict and human rights problems on a company-by-company, project-by-project basis. That would be pretty important.
Secondly, I think that as much as our Canadian government reacts if a Canadian citizen, let's say, is harmed or hurt in any given country in Latin America, it should react in the same way when a Canadian company is involved in a situation in which human rights are violated. Strong diplomatic pressure should be put on national authorities to clarify what happened and to launch independent solid investigations. Along that line, I support the idea of our Canadian ombudsman, who can be the point person, looking into such situations whenever they happen in Latin American territories where Canadian companies are involved.
Thirdly, the Canadian government should put pressure on Latin American governments to see that environmental standards and procedures are not further weakened. This is happening today, every day, in Peru, in Bolivia, in Brazil, in Colombia, and in Ecuador, because countries that are addicted to extractive rent are lowering standards to continue to be attractive to these kinds of investments. That's what we call the race to the bottom, and the Canadian government should be active in opposing such measures, even when doing so goes against the interest of Canadian mining companies.
In Peru the recent—last week—lowering of standards and procedures to allow for easier permits for exploration benefits directly a number of junior Canadian companies that are engaged in exploration activities. Despite that, the Canadian government should say that they don't abide by that kind of policy, and there are mechanisms to express that kind of position.
Finally, as I said, the Canadian government should push for a more strict and thorough implementation of consultation rights for indigenous peoples and for citizens at large to ensure that these investments have the required social legitimacy.
There is one final thing to reinforce the labour point. In Peru, three-fourths of workers working for the mining sector, which has the highest productivity in the region, are subcontracted via what we call services, which provide cheap labour but have absolutely no rights on the basis of three- to four-month temporary contracts. That's absolutely unacceptable. Mining companies that have the highest profitability and productivity in the region should at least have all their staff, all their workers, fully hired with labour rights as the law establishes, and should not be allowed to use these indirect mechanisms of subcontracting via service companies to evade the responsibility to provide labour rights to their workers.
Thank you.
NDP
Attorney, Movimiento Nacional de Victimas de Corporaciones Multinacionales
We'd like to ask the Canadian government to condemn the crimes committed by multinationals in territories such as Guatemala, Honduras, and others like Colombia. If you create legislation, it will stop companies from violating human rights as is the case in our country.