A lot of western countries or members of the OECD have national contact points. Some of them are much more effective than the Canadian one, because they actually investigate allegations. The Canadian NCP has always held itself, even though there is a lot of leeway for NCPs in terms of deciding how to conduct themselves.... The Canadian NCP has always said, “No, we're just about mediation. We're only going to resolve the dispute. We're not actually going to investigate allegations as to whether a company complied with the OECD guidelines.”
I guess I would hesitate to say that the CORE is so unprecedented. If it had the power to compel witnesses and documents, then yes, it would be kind of a beacon of light in terms of holding companies to account. It's something we should have in this country, where we have so many extractive companies that operate across the globe and that do engage in human rights violations.