Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, for the opportunity to address the committee and provide you with views on the subject of Mali. The situation in Mali presents an example of the complex challenges facing many African countries. The country grapples with three crises, each distin

International Trade committee  As I said earlier, the general message is that important progress has been made.

International Trade committee  You measure the legislative framework. You see it in the UN reports too. You see it in our reports for consultations. You look at important pieces of legislation, for instance, land restitution. You look at all the institutions of governance. Are the judges implementing the law?

International Trade committee  Yes, I do.

International Trade committee  There are two questions embedded in that. Do we have any way to assess whether we're getting value for money from our contribution to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia, specifically? This particular project flows through CIDA, but I'm also respo

International Trade committee  Sir, I think you've actually framed it quite well. The thing that will be different is that there will be a year of data and we'll be better able to do that rigorous analysis that's required. You asked about how we would approach the rigorous analysis. We've set it out in the c

International Trade committee  Four and a half.

International Trade committee  First, we would be very happy to provide the committee with information on the methodological steps that we intend to take. Second, on reporting generally on human rights, yes, the UN recognizes that there are ongoing human rights issues in Colombia. The Government of Colombia r

International Trade committee  I'll pass that question to my colleague, Monsieur Leblanc, to answer, if you don't mind.

International Trade committee  The department, the government, takes the report and that clause of the legislation very seriously. You'll appreciate that this is an agreement, as my colleague said, that is specific to Colombia. This element of the agreement is specific to Colombia. It's very important to do it

International Trade committee  There has been some very important progress made in Colombia in recent years. Progress on human rights is always attributable to a number of factors; it's never linear. Part of the evolution in Colombia was a political evolution, with stronger commitment by the current Colombian

International Trade committee  The act requires the Government of Canada to table a report. We've tabled a report on implementation of the act. The report is not meant to be a report on the human rights situation in Colombia writ large. That is not the requirement under the act. The requirement is to provide a

International Trade committee  Canada has a long history, the government has a long history, of being very supportive of credible, strong international work on corporate social responsibility. We have been supportive of the work done by John Ruggie, for instance, on the guiding principles for business and huma

International Trade committee  Excuse me?

International Trade committee  There are many different human rights impact assessment approaches. We have considered a range of sources when looking at the methodology. They include very strong work by a number of sources on corporate social responsibility and guiding principles for business and human rights,