Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise in Adjournment Proceedings this evening.
I am pursuing a question that I initially asked on September 26, not that long ago. I raised in the House in question period a really extraordinary experience I had earlier in the week while meeting with very brave Guatemalan indigenous women who had come to Canada to ask for our help in dealing with a Canadian mining company.
It is not an unfamiliar story. We know that Canadian mining companies have, unfortunately, a record. It is not all of them; it is not a broad brush, but certainly Canadian mining companies have been associated in the global south with human rights abuses and abuse of the environment. In response to this, over the years, many people, particularly the former member of Parliament for Guildwood, the Hon. John McKay, have worked really hard to try to get legislation through to hold mining companies to account.
In any case, when I met with the women from the Xinka community of Guatemala, I raised their issues here in the House and asked if there was at that point any action on something that was created some time ago in response to the pressure coming from many sides, including from civil society and, as I said, from people within the House of Commons, with legislation that almost passed at different times. Something was created with some fanfare: the Canadian ombudsperson for responsible enterprise. The current position of the ombudsperson is vacant, and I asked at the time, in question period, whether there would be a person appointed to this position.
There has been a lot of criticism, ever since it was created after all this effort, that the ombudsperson really has no useful tools to investigate complaints. The idea was that if Canadian activity of different kinds by Canadian corporations was occurring in places around the world where we were complicit in human rights violations and environmental damage, there would be a way for Canada to intervene to improve the situation and put pressure on Canadian corporations to do the right thing. In any case, we never gave the Office of the Canadian ombudsperson for responsible enterprise any tools to do the job. Now there is no one in that position to do the job.
We now have something called the national contact point, which is somewhat lacking and is not very descriptive. However, we now know that there is a Canadian national contact point for people to make complaints about the failure of Canadian enterprises to follow responsible, sustainable business practices or respect international norms to protect human rights.
The Xinka people who came to Canada complained that the Canadian silver mine Escobal, in Guatemala, was violating their rights. Where do they go with these complaints? The World Bank created an inspection panel many decades ago to hold to account those who took funds, investments and loans from the World Bank so that there was a way to track whether these dollars were being used responsibly and whether human rights were being respected.
I want to ask the hon. member questions that I initially put to the Minister of International Trade. Where are we on these multiple challenges? When will the government appoint a new Canadian ombudsperson for responsible enterprise, and will the office be funded?