Thanks.
I want to thank all the witnesses.
I'll direct some of my questions to you, Ms. Coumans and Mr. Thomson, but with a bit of a preamble.
Obviously you've heard different types of questions from some of the members here. One thing that's critically clear—pardon the pun—is that the race for critical minerals is on. Mining is not going away any time soon. In fact, it's probably going to intensify around the planet, particularly on the continent of Africa. There our biggest competitor is China, as I think we all know. What we're trying to do is ensure that the mining that exists right now continues to be done to a better standard. I think you will probably find unanimity here. Things can be done better. I say that as a parliamentarian and a former human rights lawyer and parliamentary secretary to Minister Ng.
I'll say to MiningWatch and Oxfam that I think you're seeking further powers, roles and responsibilities, and that's completely fair. I think—and it should be clear to Canadians and parliamentarians—that what we've done so far, and what we're doing, are also fair. The “towards sustainable mining” initiative is a good one. We led on that, and nine countries are participating now. I think the fact that we created a CORE.... I appreciate that you have concerns about CORE's powers, but the fact that we have a CORE—we're the only nation on earth that does—is important. They've already started receiving cases—13 so far—and launched a garment study, which they're hoping to publish soon. These are important steps.
I think it's also important to talk about gender inclusivity and acknowledge that on trade, Mr. Thomson, we are the government responsible for having a gender chapter included in the renegotiation of CUSMA. We are working to take steps, but I candidly take, in open and good faith, your criticism that more needs to be done and that you want it done more quickly.
Apropos of that, I'm wondering about something in particular that I personally worked on: the relaunch of the RBC, the “responsible business conduct abroad” strategy. This is a question for both Ms. Coumans and Mr. Thomson. We tried to give that some incentives. One of the incentives I'm talking about is, “You will be deprived of trade commissioner services unless you agree to abide by this new strategy.” We're trying to give it a “quid pro quo”, so to speak.
Ms. Coumans, I'm quite concerned by the fact that you said you're not able to access which companies operating abroad have signed on to previous integrity declarations. Can you give us your opinion about this quid pro quo that we included in the new RBC strategy? Second, are you able to access, right now, whether company A operating abroad has signed on to such an undertaking pursuant to the new RBC code of conduct?
It's over to you, Ms. Coumans.