The Right Honourable Mark Carney
Prime Minister of Canada
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2
CC: The Honourable Maninder Sidhu, Minister of International Trade
Dear Prime Minister Mark Carney,
On behalf of the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability (CNCA), I would like to welcome you to your new role as Prime Minister of Canada.
Formed in 2005, the CNCA brings together over 40 human rights, environmental, labour, faith and solidarity groups, collectively representing millions of Canadians. Our network is united by the straightforward principle that Canadian companies should respect human rights and the environment throughout their global operations and supply chains.
For too long, Canada has failed to adequately address glaring human rights abuse and environmental damage linked to the activities and operations of Canadian companies. These harms include killings, sexual violence, water contamination, and land grabs, as well as forced labour, poor working conditions, and violations of other fundamental labour rights including to freedom of association and to collective bargaining. Workers and communities around the world have called on the Canadian government to hold our companies accountable.
This issue matters deeply to Canadians. Over 50,000 have signed a petition calling for legislation to ensure Canadian companies respect human rights, including the right to a healthy environment, throughout their global operations and supply chains. Action is especially vital now, as these challenging economic times can heighten the vulnerability of workers and communities to abuse and exploitation.
Your election platform called for Canada to show global leadership and to champion important values, including human rights and the rule of law. In order to do so, it is essential that Canada fulfil its internationally recognized duty to protect against human rights abuses by non-state actors, including Canadian companies who all too often act with impunity. For decades, UN experts have repeatedly called on Canada to do just that.
CNCA members are business and human rights subject-matter experts. Furthermore, CNCA is the secretariat of a global network of corporate accountability organizations spanning six continents. Many of our members and colleagues have decades-long relationships with people who have been negatively affected by Canadian businesses overseas. We offer tools and resources to support the development of effective policy.
The Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability urges your government to take the following actions to ensure Canadian companies respect human rights and the environment:
- Adopt mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation. We note that the 2024 Fall Economic Statement announced the Canadian government’s “intent to introduce legislation to create a new supply chain due diligence regime”. Our network has developed model human rights and environmental due diligence legislation, endorsed by over two hundred organizations from Canada and around the world, which your government can use as a blueprint for its own legislation.
- Empower the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise to effectively serve impacted communities. For over a decade, our network has advocated for an independent and effective office and has provided expert advice to the Canadian government on the essential powers and independence such an office requires. The need today for an effective Ombudsperson is as great as ever.
- Support progress towards a strong UN Treaty on Business and Human Rights, answering the calls of civil society organizations in Canada and around the world. CNCA is connected to the global movement moving the treaty agenda forward.
We encourage you to include specific instructions to implement these measures in your ministerial mandate letters, and we kindly request a meeting with you in the coming weeks to discuss these measures in greater detail.
We look forward to your reply to this letter.
Sincerely,
Aidan Gilchrist-Blackwood
Network Coordinator, Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability
This letter is also available in PDF format, in English and French.
