Thank you.
Good morning, Chair, honourable members, ladies and gentlemen.
It is a great pleasure to be with you today. We are happy to contribute to the committee's study of environmental and human rights considerations regarding Canadian mining firms abroad.
For the last several years, Export Development Canada has been guided by an agenda that puts the pursuit of sustainable, responsible, progressive and inclusive trade at the centre of its business operations. This agenda is built on the foundation of policies that deliver clarity and accountability in three key areas: number one, environmental sustainability; number two, business ethics and transparency; and number three, the protection of humans rights wherever EDC's customers do business.
For those who are less familiar with EDC, let me take a moment to provide a quick primer.
EDC is a Crown corporation dedicated to helping Canadian companies succeed on the world stage. As international risk experts, we serve companies of all sizes and in all sectors of the economy. We provide a wide variety of financial and advisory solutions to help them grow their business with confidence.
As the committee may be aware, EDC operates on commercial terms. Throughout our history, we've been consistently profitable. Since our founding in 1944, EDC's business has also tended to reflect the size and nature of the Canadian economy. As natural resources drove Canada's economy, they also made up a large proportion of our lending and insurance portfolios. Today, as the economy grows and diversifies, so does EDC, such that our current portfolio and activities reflect sectors as wide-ranging as the economy itself.
EDC continues to play a role in supporting Canada's natural resources, including the mining sector, which is both dynamic and complex. Over the course of Canada's history, the sector has played a key role in this country's economic growth as a producer of much-needed raw materials in demand around the world. That legacy continues today, especially as critical minerals grow ever more important to the goal of a low-carbon economy.
In short, conducting business in a responsible manner is integral to EDC and is something that we take very seriously. Every transaction EDC approves has undergone a rigorous due diligence process reflective of industry's best practices and adheres to our international commitments. If we identify specific issues during this process, we will take steps to understand the issue and take appropriate action.
EDC has a well-established environmental and social risk management framework. It guides all of our business and is aligned to various international agreements and standards, including the OECD Common Approaches, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and the Equator Principles. Our policies are publicly available on our website, as is our due diligence framework. They are regularly reviewed through a robust stakeholder engagement process.
Finally, I would like to highlight the important role EDC plays as a financial institution and how we look for opportunities—