Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. Just on that point about the Canadian government regulating local citizens of another country, this regulation is for Canadian citizens, for Canadian companies; it's for Canadian companies that hire or otherwise engage security forces, for example, to protect their bu

Foreign Affairs committee  Well, that would certainly be better than what we have now, which is a counsellor with the capacity to investigate only where the parties agree, meaning that a company can state that it doesn't want any investigation into a particular situation. Having an ombudsman would be bet

Foreign Affairs committee  Do you mean the effects it had on Canadian society?

Foreign Affairs committee  I think you're right. There was a huge campaign. As you've said, it did divide people and it did have a negative impact. Had we had standards in place beforehand, like the ones that we have in Bill C-300, and some sort of mechanism to investigate these things, it could have been

Foreign Affairs committee  I'm not saying the situation is any better. The war is over in that area of Sudan. We're not talking about Darfur, we're talking about the upper western Nile area. The Chinese were already there when Talisman was there.

Foreign Affairs committee  When Talisman was there? No, the situation was not better. They were in the midst of war, and the human rights situation actually deteriorated when Talisman was there.

Foreign Affairs committee  I haven't, but somebody else who was on the Harker mission, Georgette Gagnon, went back, with John Ryle, the following year. As well, numerous reports have come out, and Human Rights Watch and other groups have talked about it. I still think the argument is spurious that just be

Foreign Affairs committee  I assume that if this bill comes into law the government will resource it properly. I would have to assume that. I can't speak for what the government will do, but if you create a mechanism that is actually enacted into law, and it's actually supposed to do this, then they will h

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, it could be expensive. Court cases are expensive as well; they're even more expensive. With regard to this issue of being under-resourced, the counsellor's office is already under-resourced. She certainly doesn't have much money in her budget. I think that having something

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. This idea that somehow corporate social responsibility can't become a part of law...I mean, corporate social responsibility has always been the initial way of developing expectations and norms that can then become legally entrenched. The point is that if you leave i

Foreign Affairs committee  As I said in my testimony, I think there's always a concern that companies will use corporate structures to try to move to different jurisdictions or avoid regulation. My point is that with extractive companies, I think there are a significant number of incentives for them to st

Foreign Affairs committee  Well, I certainly understand the companies' concern about this. The point is--and I did make this point already--that they already are being tried in the court of public opinion. Providing a mechanism whereby you can have proper investigation, proper procedures, evidence put forw

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. Thank you very much for inviting me to appear before the committee. I'm an associate professor of international law and international human rights law at the University of Ottawa. I also teach corporate law. I specialize in the human rights impacts of extraterritori

International Trade committee  I'm certainly not an expert on Colombia and the Colombian government. I do know that there have been links to the paramilitary within Congress--

International Trade committee  Right--but I'm not an expert on Colombian politics, so I don't feel qualified to answer that question.