International Trade committee  We currently have 15 complaints with the CORE. There are 13 in the Xinjiang region, and two of those are mining companies. One of the mining companies is actively involved, and we're at the initial assessment stage of our process. One of the others has not responded to the compla

International Trade committee  That's right.

International Trade committee  I want to start by stating that strong supply chain legislation is critical for preventing and addressing human rights abuses in global supply chains and ensuring that Canada remains competitive. I believe—my office believes—that Bill S-211 is a first step forward in strengthenin

International Trade committee  Thank you, Madam Chair and honourable members of this committee, for your invitation to appear today. I look forward to your questions. To begin, I would like to acknowledge that I am joining you today on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people. Resp

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  CORE does not currently have the power to compel witnesses and documents. As I mentioned, our review powers are unique, and they do strengthen Canada's responsible business conduct mechanisms. I'm confident, as I said, that we have what we need to do on our complaint portal now

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I support any measure to improve human rights protections as part of responsible business conduct. At the same time, as I said, I'm confident I can do the job that I've been given, with the mandate that I've been given, and make a real positive impact. I am definitely open to hav

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We support mandatory human rights due diligence. I support it. It's the right thing to do. Globally, it's going that way. There would need to be discussions about how CORE would take that on, but we're for it.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We do have a lot of tools at our disposal. Half of them are preventative. That's the advice to companies. We have already been giving advice to companies on COVID and things to watch out for, like the dos and the don'ts of this. We'll be able to do those kinds of things with resp

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  There are many ways we can provide advice to companies. For the greatest impact, we wouldn't be providing advice to individual companies. They have other resources to go to for individual advice. The CORE would be looking at.... For instance, I gave an example of COVID and the ne

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes, that's right. We can't make any new rules, so, absolutely, we're looking at the rules that already exist. We're an option. We're a non-traditional option available to companies. There are other places for them to go. Maybe companies will choose to use other sources for advi

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I'm using “in the coming weeks” and I am not going to be giving a particular date. I work within a large organization within the Government of Canada, and we have a number of technical matters that are still being put into place. Our operating procedures are completed, and our co

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I'm sorry. Can I hear your question again?

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We're well aware of the need to communicate the role and purpose of our office and the ways in which people can communicate to us. We're spreading the word and raising awareness through various channels. We have—

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We have the co-operation of government in spreading the word overseas, and we're planning to raise awareness through our many stakeholders. We would be doing that through civil society organizations working overseas, trade commissions overseas, United Nations networks overseas, o

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  It's true that the CORE doesn't currently have the power to compel witnesses or documents, but our review powers are unique and a strength in Canada's responsible business conduct mechanisms. We have, as I said before, a range of tools at our disposal, and we can initiate reviews