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See here to learn more about the legislation we are calling for. 

• Where: Parliament Hill Lawn
• When: Friday, September 26, 2025, 12-1pm

For more information please contact: 

Aidan Gilchrist-Blackwood, Network Coordinator, Canadian Network for Corporate Accountability 
agilchristblackwood@cnca-rcrce.ca
438-872-0401

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The Canadian government has continued to evade questions from civil society and directly-impacted rightsholders on the status of the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE), a position it has left vacant since May 2025 and rendered toothless despite promises to the contrary. 

The government’s plans to table supply chain due diligence legislation – announced in the 2024 Fall Economic Statement, and building on previous commitments in the 2023 and 2024 budgets – have not materialized. 

As Canada restructures its global trading relationships, these measures are essential to ensure Canada’s path forward respects the human rights of workers and communities impacted by Canadian companies and their supply chains.  

In June 2025, Member of Parliament Heather McPherson submitted an order paper question for the government’s official response on both matters. 

On the future of the CORE, the government’s response indicated that a “new Ombudsperson will be appointed in due course should the government’s review warrant such an appointment.” 

On the status of supply chain due diligence legislation, the government said it “remains committed to helping end the practice of forced labour” and that “the new government is assessing its options on how to best address this important issue.” As of March 2026, the government has provided no updates despite ongoing requests for information. 

The question in full, and the government’s response, can be viewed here.

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We recommend that the government take urgently-needed steps to ensure Canadian companies respect human rights, labour rights, and the environment throughout their global operations and supply chains. The government should do so by effectively resourcing and empowering the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise to independently investigate abuses by Canadian companies, and by tabling mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation. 

Read our submissions in full: 

• Submission to the Standing Committee on Finance (August 1, 2025) 
• Submission to the Department of Finance (August 28, 2025)

The post CNCA submissions to Government of Canada’s 2025 pre-budget consultations appeared first on CNCA - RCRCE.

Workers and communities around the world have called on the Canadian government to hold our companies accountable. But Canada is dragging its feet.

In this “hinge” moment, Canada can chart a new course: rebalancing unchecked corporate power with new rules that require companies to listen to workers and communities, prevent harms before they occur, and provide long-awaited justice to people who have been harmed. A growing number of countries around the world have adopted, or are considering, legislation that does just this.

On Friday, September 26, at 12pm, please join us on Parliament Hill in Ottawa as we rally in solidarity with impacted communities around the world to change the systems that enable corporate impunity. 

We will deliver to the government over 40,000 signed action cards calling for Canada to introduce comprehensive legislation that ensures Canadian companies respect human rights and the environment globally. An interactive art installation will highlight the urgent need for action in Canada while celebrating bonds of global solidarity and years of grassroots mobilization by Canadians from coast to coast to coast. 

See here to learn more about the legislation we are calling for. 

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Simply put, this devastation “could not happen without the support of private sector actors.”

The report names many companies and sectors with Canadian links, including the sale in Canada of real estate in Israeli colonies. Corporate entities named in the report include arms manufacturers, tech firms, building and construction companies, extractive and service industries, banks, pension funds, insurers, universities, and charities. 

Sovereign wealth and pension funds are highlighted as “significant financiers” of abuse, including the Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec (CDPQ). The CDPQ invests almost $9.6 billion in companies named in the rapporteur’s report – “despite its sustainable investment policy and human rights policy.” 

Businesses have a responsibility to respect human rights. They can implement this responsibility by conducting human rights due diligence, and heightened human rights due diligence through periods of conflict. The Special Rapporteur names these responsibilities directly and notes, “Had proper human rights due diligence been undertaken, corporate entities would have long ago disengaged from Israeli occupation.”

The CNCA reiterates its calls to the Canadian government to implement human rights and environmental due diligence legislation to prevent Canadian corporations from acting with impunity. New research by the Palestinian Youth Movement, World Beyond War, and other members of the Arms Embargo Now campaign clearly shows that Canada continues to send weapons to Israel, despite Canadian government claims to the contrary. We urge the government to take seriously the UN reports of genocide and several decades of human rights abuses under occupation, and to make every effort to divest from these.

We also note with great concern that the UN Special Rapporteur has been sanctioned by the U.S. following the publication of her report. It is fundamentally important that governments protect independent investigation, human rights for all, and the ability to fairly critique the corporate sector and governments freely.

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CC: The Honourable Maninder Sidhu, Minister of International Trade 

Dear Prime Minister Mark Carney, 

On behalf of the Canadian Network for 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 for Corporate Accountability urges your government to take the following actions to ensure Canadian companies respect human rights and the environment:

1. 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. 

2. 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. 

3. 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 for Corporate Accountability 

This letter is also available in PDF format, in English and French.

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We asked: 

1. Will your party support comprehensive mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation?

2. Will you make the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) independent, provide it with the power to compel documents and testimony, and ensure the office is well-resourced so it can effectively investigate human rights abuse allegations linked to Canadian corporations operating overseas?

We received replies from five federal parties. We did not receive a response from the Liberal Party or the Conservative Party.

The Bloc Quebecois, Green Party, NDP, Christian Heritage Party, and Communist Party expressed their support for comprehensive mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence (mHREDD) legislation and for empowering the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise.

The Conservative Party’s 2025 platform commits to “stop forced and child labour with strict new minimum penalties for executives or board members of companies that exploit children and abuse workers for profit, and create a private right of action against goods made with forced and child labour that are sold in Canada.”

The Liberal Party’s 2025 platform does not contain specific commitments on measures to ensure Canadian companies respect human rights when operating abroad. 

Here are the full responses we received: 

• Bloc Quebecois – Response to 2025 federal election questionnaire [In French only]
• Green Party – Response to 2025 federal election questionnaire
• NDP – Response to 2025 federal election questionnaire
• Christian Heritage Party – Response to 2025 federal election questionnaire
• Communist Party – Response to 2025 federal election questionnaire

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The 2024 Fall Economic Statement announces the government’s intent to introduce legislation to create a new supply chain due diligence regime, requiring government entities and businesses to scrutinize their international supply chains for risks to fundamental labour rights and take action to resolve these risks. A new oversight agency will be created to ensure ongoing compliance.

The CNCA sees potential in these measures and will review the new legislation in its entirety, once tabled. We nonetheless hold firm that the scope of the legislation should cover all human rights and not be limited to labour rights only.

Aidan Gilchrist-Blackwood of the CNCA reacted:

Our network recognises the important work of grassroots activists and trade union leaders to end labour abuses. This law could make a big difference in the lives of many people. However, human rights are indivisible and interrelated. It is impossible to effectively prevent many labour violations without also protecting other human rights. The CNCA will continue to advocate for a comprehensive law aimed at preventing all human rights abuse throughout the global operations and supply chains of Canadian companies.

ENDS

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In a letter to Minister of International Trade Mary Ng, the CNCA is urging the government to:

• Ensure talks move towards formal negotiations on a legally binding treaty in 2025;
• Commit to passing mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation that holds Canadian corporations accountable for their impacts abroad; and
• Provide the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) with the necessary powers to provide meaningful remedies and prevent human rights abuses.

Taking place from December 16-20 in Geneva, this year marks the 10-year anniversary of the creation of the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) on a legally binding instrument on business and human rights. To date, talks have proceeded slowly and not secured adequate support from countries like Canada in the Global North. 

Progress toward a new treaty would go a significant way towards delivering Minister Ng’s mandate to ensure that Canadian businesses operating abroad do not contribute to human rights abuses. Canada has a particular responsibility to support these talks, given the significant number of extractive industries headquartered in this country and extensive global supply chains associated with social and environmental impacts overseas. 

Shane Moffatt, Director of the CNCA said:

“Through their activities, many large corporations are harming communities and causing environmental destruction around the world. In large part this is due to a lack of accountability for corporations based in Canada and the Global North. Instead of being part of the problem, the government has an opportunity to be part of the solution by supporting a global treaty and taking immediate action to prevent further harms by Canadian companies overseas.”

According to Beatrice Olivastri, CEO Friends of the Earth Canada:

“Canada has been missing in action for the first ten years of talks on this important Treaty while relying instead on voluntary principles for Canadian business activities affecting human and environmental rights overseas. Now that the EU is bringing in its due diligence legislation, Canada needs to engage in the Treaty and bring in our own mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation to put a halt to human and environmental damage by Canadian companies around the world.

ENDS

Notes to editors

• The CNCA’s letter to Minister Ng is available here;
• The CNCA’s submission to the 5-year review of the CORE in October is available here.
• The CNCA has drafted model mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation that would require companies to prevent all forms of human rights abuse in their operations and ensure impacted people have access to justice in Canadian courts;
• Over 50,000 Canadians have called on the federal government to pass such legislation.

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The Honourable Mary Ng, M.P.
Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development

Regarding Canada’s support for a Business and Human Rights Treaty

Dear Minister Ng,

On behalf of the Canadian Network for Corporate Accountability (CNCA), we are writing to call on your government to support progress in upcoming talks in Geneva towards an international treaty on business and human rights.

Formed in 2005, the Canadian Network for Corporate Accountability (CNCA) unites 41 human rights, environmental, labour, faith and solidarity groups, collectively representing millions of Canadians, to advocate for federal laws and regulations that will ensure Canadian corporations respect human rights and the environment when doing business around the world.

In our view, Canada in particular has an important role to play and duty to act in these talks, given the significant number of extractive industries headquartered in this country and extensive global supply chains associated with social and environmental impacts overseas.

Unlocking progress towards a new treaty would also go a significant way towards delivering on your mandate to ensure “that Canadian businesses operating abroad do not contribute to human rights abuses.” 

Human rights abuses and environmental destruction connected to corporate activity continue around the world. In large part this is due to a lack of legal liability for transnational corporations, including those based in Canada, engaging in such activity. Obstacles in access to justice and remedy continue to be a problem for individuals and communities in many countries. 

These upcoming talks represent a global acknowledgement that more concrete action is needed – including changes in our legislative systems to ensure that national and transnational corporations respect human rights and are held legally accountable if they do not. Top of the list for Canada would include passing new mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation and strengthening the powers of the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE).

Companies with responsible business practices have nothing to fear from a strengthened human rights-based regulatory framework. Indeed, many do already respect human rights and it’s only fair that others be held to the same standards. A clear and binding international human rights framework related to corporate activity creates equal standards and a level playing field, enabling corporations to compete fairly and ensuring States around the world avoid a regulatory ‘race to the bottom’. The European Union has recently moved forward with new legislation to hold corporations accountable for their impacts around the world, showing the viability of such measures.

We therefore urge you to demonstrate your strong commitment to Canada’s existing human rights obligations, and send a clear and supportive message to those affected by corporate human rights abuses and violations, by:

• Working with other States to ensure talks finally progress towards formal negotiations on a legally binding instrument starting in 2025;
• Supporting language suggestions in upcoming talks that prioritize the experiences and demands of communities affected by corporate abuse or violations, as the CNCA previously recommended in 2022; 
• Before treaty talks begin, committing to mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation that holds Canadian corporations accountable for their impacts abroad;
• Before treaty talks begin, committing to finally equip the CORE with the necessary independence, powers and resources to provide meaningful remedies and prevent further human rights abuses.

The adoption of a legally binding instrument can help stop human rights violations and protect people and our planet by putting an end to corporate impunity. Our members across the country believe this is an urgent priority to address the multiple global challenges we are facing. We would be pleased to provide you with further information and look forward to constructive dialogue on these issues.

Yours sincerely,

Shane Moffatt

Director, Canadian Network for Corporate Accountability 

cc:

• Mélanie Joly MP, Minister of Foreign Affairs 
• Steven Guilbeault MP, Minister of Environment and Climate Change
• Ryan Williams MP, Conservative Trade Critic 
• Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay MP, Bloc Québécois Trade Critic
• Heather McPherson MP, NDP Foreign Affairs and International Development Critic
• Mike Morrice MP, Green Party

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