Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on Feb. 23rd, 2021

[Kenny Chiu, Conservative, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

Thank you.

Many federal government agencies are burdened with a workload that causes significant delays in fulfilling their CORE obligation. How will CORE work to establish and maintain a timeline for action on cases and ensure accountability for deadlines?

[Sheri Meyerhoffer]

In our operating procedures, on which we have spent a number of months consulting with our government stakeholders, civil society stakeholders and industry stakeholders, we have timelines. There are timelines in terms of responding when a complaint comes in and various other timelines.

Those are set out, and we will adhere to our timelines. There is discretion in some of those timelines, particularly for working on an investigation.

[Kenny Chiu, Conservative, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

Thank you.

I am interested in the amount of investigative work you could be getting, because it's a new office, and in the coming weeks you'll be commissioning the online portal, making it very accessible for people around the world any time, anywhere, as you said.

Your vetting procedure and protocol must be quite stringent, because otherwise there would be so much work coming to CORE from around the world that it could be quite overwhelming sometimes.

[Sheri Meyerhoffer]

Yes, that's very true. Our operating procedures will require us to make sure that it's admissible, so that's the first triage it comes through.

Then, as I said, we have different aspects to our mandate. We have an aspect to mediate, so we can look at mediating. We can do early prevention with companies to try to prevent things before they happen and intervene early so that we can do that. Not everything is an investigation. There will be a lot of determining when facts come in as to how they will be dealt with, and not all will be an investigation.

With respect to investigations, we will have to look at that and limit it to the amount we're able to do.

[Kenny Chiu, Conservative, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

How do you plan to maintain a constant communication with stakeholders in the industry to make sure that we constantly raise the bar on international human rights but at the same time do so realistically so that we are not disadvantaging Canadian companies?

There have been cases where Canadian companies were held to such a high standard that we had to leave the country, and other countries were able to get hold of the original business in mining or whatever. Therefore, the local people suffered in respect of their human rights being respected.

How do we make sure that this is communicated and also that your procedure and protocols are constantly updated and communicated?

[Sheri Meyerhoffer]

I've worked in the oil and gas industry for 17 years and know first-hand that what CORE is set up to do is good for business. As part of our mandate, we provide advice to companies, and again, that allows us to be preventative. We can provide advice that allows them to be preventative. It is also for early resolution.

What we're doing is good for companies, and we'll be assisting them to be able to do their work better.

[Kenny Chiu, Conservative, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

Let me focus on one specific area. What is CORE doing or going to be doing to pre-emptively dissuade perceived foreign government interference in case acceptance, reports and recommendations?

[Sheri Meyerhoffer]

Number one, our focus is on the actions of specific Canadian companies. Our focus is on companies, not countries, and on engaging in a way that protects and promotes human rights. We're focused on companies.

For guidance on matters like this, if there's an issue with a foreign country, we are fortunate to be able to draw on a wide range of expertise from the PCO, from Global Affairs Canada and from the minister's office. We will be drawing on that expertise.

[Kenny Chiu, Conservative, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

The other area is how you envision CORE's announced gender and diversity strategy being implemented. What real impact would it have on the actions of CORE?

[Sheri Meyerhoffer]

We've made our statement, which we consider to be very important, and now we will be integrating that into every aspect of our work. We'll also be putting in place, just like our gender-based strategy, a racial strategy.

[Kenny Chiu, Conservative, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

I would imagine those strategies would also have to be according to the local situation as well. Am I correct, or are we just implementing Canadian standards in foreign locations?

[Sheri Meyerhoffer]

Absolutely. Our operating procedures in all our work will be contextualized with respect to the area we're working in.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you.

We'll be moving now to the Bloc, with Madame Gill for seven minutes, please.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to say hello to Ms. Meyerhoffer and thank her for her testimony this evening.

This is certainly an important topic for Quebeckers and Canadians. There is a lot of pride in having companies that do business abroad, but unfortunately, certain events undermine that pride in some cases. We have a lot of testimony and reports listing some companies' questionable practices, and I have a question about this. Given that the office has been in operation since 2019, do you have any examples of cases you handle?

You provide mediation, but, I imagine, always with the desire to protect, to defend and to promote human rights, as you said. I don't know whether you have examples of cases that come to mind, without naming any names, of course.

[Sheri Meyerhoffer]

It's been three years since the government announced the idea of an ombudsperson, but I've been in my role for a much shorter period of time.

We're the first of our kind in the world. No other country has tried to do this, so it's very exciting. We're working with a blank slate, and because Canada's reputation in the world is so strong and so important to Canadians, we knew we had to take the time to do this right. Apart from the logistical aspects of creating a new entity within the government, we knew it was essential to consult widely here in Canada and around the world. As I mentioned before, we engaged 200 stakeholders, and we've developed and refined our operating procedures.

To date, we have not received any complaints. We have not been open. We have been in the creation stage. As I mentioned in my opening remarks, we will be launching our online portal. At that point, we will be receiving complaints and we will be either mediating or doing reviews. There have been no cases to date.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Thank you.

I actually have another question about this. I understand that something completely new is being implemented, and that is why I am wondering about certain things.

Ms. Meyerhoffer, you said from the outset you feel that you have all the tools required to do your job properly, but I hope that would be re-evaluated based on the concrete work you will do in relation to the complaints you will receive. It is difficult to say right now that you really have all the tools you need, since the work is something new and since it cannot be evaluated right now.

[Sheri Meyerhoffer]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

When I say that we have the tools we need in our order in council, we have the ability to respond to complaints, initiate reviews, conduct investigations—either collaboratively or independently—engage in mediation, and make remedial and other recommendations and reports. Those are all the tools we have.

I'm confident that we have what we need to launch our complaints portal now. Yes, down the road, once we do the investigations, we may find that this needs to change. We may need to re-evaluate at that time. So yes, that's correct, but we have the tools in our OIC to get started on this, and we will learn along the way.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

I'm glad to hear that it will be re-evaluated.

I was thinking of the example of Canadian businesses in Mexico. There are more than 200 of them right now. In that case, only one country in the world is being targeted. That shows how important the work is in terms of quantity and, of course, quality.

What budgets and staff are at your disposal to carry out that work, Ms. Meyerhoffer?

[Sheri Meyerhoffer]

We have resources available to us. We have a permanent budget and we have money that comes off cycle. To date, we've had enough resources to do the work we needed to do to get set up. We have made our case on resources and are going through the regular channels with that. That is in the government process right now. In terms of budget, I will say that we've made our case on resources, we've had enough to date and we're seeking it through proper channels.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

You have one minute left.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

I would like to ask Ms. Meyerhoffer for additional information. We have talked about the budget, but my question was two-fold.

How many people work at CORE right now? What kind of human resources do you have?

[Sheri Meyerhoffer]

We currently have.... We own six full-time positions, and those are filled. We also have a number of secondi. At the moment, I believe, working full time on this innovation, on the creation of CORE, there are 10.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you.

Now we're going to move to the NDP and Ms. McPherson for seven minutes.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Ms. Meyerhoffer, for coming today. I understand that you've worked in Alberta, and I welcome you to Alberta via my living room.

I have a few questions for you in terms of what you've been able to accomplish since the CORE was announced in 2018. You were put in place in 2019.

In 2019, my understanding was that you would be given the ability to expand your mandate within one year. What happened? Why was that not possible for you to do?

[Sheri Meyerhoffer]

When I was put in place in 2019, in May, the minister at the time indicated that he would be seeking my advice on the expansion of sectors. As you know, there was a change in government and a change of ministers, and the minister has not sought my advice on that.