Foreign Affairs committee  As Connie was saying, there's another colleague of ours who focuses on this area of work. I do know that, as an organization, we've supported what this standing committee has called for, which is a full human rights impact assessment of what this deal would mean to the human righ

Foreign Affairs committee  Certainly given the human rights situation in Colombia, to proceed without reviewing what impact it would have on the conflicts and human rights violations would be wrong. It would be very problematic.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think this is the sort of due diligence we would like to see the Canadian government adopt across the board. I don't think we're saying this is a one-off. I think this is about building human rights standards into more of the foreign policy and international trade dealings of C

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, I'd be happy to provide you with a great deal of information.

Foreign Affairs committee  It does indeed.

Foreign Affairs committee  It is a legitimate concern that the committee members are raising about competitiveness. What impact is this going to have on Canadian companies versus their peers? Canada is a jurisdiction people seek out to raise mining capital worldwide, because we have some of the best geophy

Foreign Affairs committee  It's almost to the point where what the government is doing is actually better done by many of the industry associations that participated in the round tables. In some ways I feel that it is a bit of an abdication of the government's rightful role, to create a centre of excellenc

Foreign Affairs committee  I think it is unfortunate that, when a strategy was announced by the government, the key elements from that consensus around the process that was mapped out in the round tables were clearly missing.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. My name is Ian Thomson. I coordinate our work on ecological justice and corporate accountability. I think Connie has conveyed to you what motivates Canadian churches for their work in this area. It is a response to a call from the south that we hear repeat

Foreign Affairs committee  I'll invite Connie to speak first.