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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 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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For over a decade, the Canadian Network for Corporate Accountability (CNCA) has advocated for an independent Ombudsperson with real powers to investigate the abuses and harms caused by Canadian companies operating abroad. Drawing on this experience, we have provided our recommendations in a 2-page briefing available here.

Canadian companies operating abroad or importing goods into Canada are associated with widespread and egregious human rights abuses, including forced labour, serious environmental damage and killings. This is contributing to a global ecological and social crisis.

Nonetheless, the CORE lacks essential powers to investigate complaints and compel witness testimony. As a result, it is unable to take meaningful action and impacted communities risk wasting their time if they file a complaint. In our submission, we call on the government to ensure the CORE is able to investigate all complaints transparently and in a timely fashion.

According to CNCA director Shane Moffatt:

“The CORE has a vital role to play in holding Canadian corporations accountable for their actions overseas. Trade Minister Mary Ng needs to ensure it has the power to fully investigate complaints. People harmed by Canadian companies deserve an Ombudsperson who can get to the bottom of human rights abuses and prevent further harms.”

“As one of the authors of the multi-stakeholder CSR Roundtable Report (2007), MiningWatch Canada joined with mining industry representatives in calling on the Government of Canada to establish an Ombudsperson. The need for this office is as great as ever, but it must finally be granted the investigatory powers the government initially committed to and be provided independence from the government.” – Catherine Coumans, Research Coordinator, MiningWatch Canada

“The CORE must have real investigative powers to address the harms caused by corporations operating abroad. Without such accountability, women—who already face systemic discrimination and violence—will continue to suffer disproportionately from exploitative practices like land grabs, forced labor, and environmental damage. Empowering CORE is essential for safeguarding human rights and advancing women’s economic and social well-being globally.” – Jean Symes, Deputy Executive Director, Inter Pares

ENDS

Note to editors: 

The CNCA’s submission to Global Affairs Canada is available here.

For more information, please contact:

Shane Moffatt, Director, Canadian Network for Corporate Accountability 

smoffatt@cnca-rcrce.ca

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This will be the topic of discussion at an upcoming symposium on Parliament hill, co-organised by the Canadian Network for Corporate Accountability and Above Ground. Attendees will include international experts, parliamentarians, civil society, business representatives and members of the media.

Taking place during the government’s review of the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise, the symposium offers a full day of panel talks and discussions in an interactive format, with opportunities for attendees to meet and speak informally between sessions.

The event is co-sponsored by Members of Parliament Sameer Zuberi (Liberal Party), Heather McPherson (New Democratic Party), Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay (Bloc Québecois) and Mike Morrice (Green Party).

International and Canadian experts in business human rights will be available to speak with the media. Simultaneous French translation will be provided.

• Where: John A. Macdonald building, Parliament hill, Ottawa.

• When: October 29th, 9am-5pm.

• Who: Members of the media are invited to attend

• How: This is event is free to register at http://bhrsymposium2024.eventbrite.ca/ 

For more information contact:

Shane Moffatt, Director, CNCA. Phone: 416.432.7145. Email: smoffatt@cnca-rcrce.ca 

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In a statement today, Mr. Obokata said that mandatory human rights due diligence laws are the way forward and that Canada should give Canada’s Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) powers to compel companies to provide evidence and cooperate.

These recommendations reinforce demands that the Canadian Network for Corporate Accountability (CNCA) has been making for years.

“We thank Special Rapporteur Obokata for his visit to Canada and for meeting with Canadian civil society groups and trade unions,” said CNCA’s Policy Director, Emily Dwyer.

Weakness of Canada’s current approach

This year, Canada adopted the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act (formerly Bill S-211), which requires firms to publish an annual report on any steps they’ve taken “to prevent and reduce the risk” of forced labour, but does not require companies to actually examine their supply chains or stop using forced labour. The CNCA has called this legislation “meaningless and potentially damaging”.

Referring to the new Act, the Special Rapporteur’s statement said, “There is a risk of this becoming a box ticking exercise where companies simply submit the same statement every year, as has been reported in other jurisdictions. Self-reporting and the lack of a monitoring mechanism mean that companies could conceal or omit relevant information to protect their reputation and profits. In addition, Bill S-211 does not require Canadian businesses to implement human rights due diligence, nor implement measures to prevent, address, and remedy abuses once identified.”

“UNSR Obokata’s comments demonstrate that Canada can’t continue to rely on voluntary measures to fulfill its international human rights obligations with respect to corporate abuse,” said Dwyer.

Due diligence legislation is “the way forward”

The Special Rapporteur noted “that the imposition of mandatory human rights due diligence, with a sufficient penalty regime for non-compliance, is the way forward,” and urged the Canadian Government to consider this “seriously and expeditiously.”

“Canada should pass a law requiring companies to prevent human rights abuses, including forced labour,” said Dwyer. “Such a law should include civil liability and ensure people harmed by Canadian business activity outside of Canada have access to remedy through Canadian courts.”

The CNCA advocates for a robust mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence law, such as the Corporate Responsibility to Protect Human Rights Act (Bill C-262), based on the CNCA’s own model legislation.

The CORE should be empowered

Mr. Obokata’s statement noted concerns about the effectiveness of the CORE, pointing out that “the first initial assessment reports of complaints brought before the Ombud were not issued until nearly 4 years after the mechanism’s creation.”

Mr. Obokata recommended that Canada’s Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) be given “the statutory powers to compel witnesses and documents [and] ensure that companies cooperate, with clear consequences for non-compliance.”

The CNCA calls on the Government of Canada to immediately fulfill its 2018 promise to give the CORE the powers needed to independently investigate allegations of human rights abuse. The government could empower the CORE immediately through an Order in Council as a stop gap measure before passing a law like Bill C-263.

Familiar calls from UN

Mr. Obokata’s comments echo repeated calls from the United Nations for Canada to facilitate access to justice and remedy for people who have been harmed by Canadian companies operating around the world.

Related:

• Submission to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, Canadian Network for Corporate Accountability & Above Ground, 31 May 2023.
• Canada: Anchor the fight against contemporary forms of slavery in human rights, a UN expert urges, United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 06 September 2023.
• End of Canada Mission Statement for the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, Tomoya Obokata, including its causes and consequences, 6 September 2023. (PDF)

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OTTAWA – Canada’s new law on forced and child labour in supply chains is bound to fail because it only requires companies to publish reports, and it risks making the problem worse by providing the appearance of real action, according to the Canadian Network for Corporate Accountability (CNCA).

In today’s vote on Bill S-211, 271 MPs voted to pass the law, and 57 voted against it, with the vote largely split along party lines – Liberal and Conservative MPs in favour, New Democrat and Bloc Québécois MPs opposed, and the two Green MPs each voting differently.

The Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act requires companies to report on what steps, if any, they have taken to prevent and reduce the risk of forced or child labour in their supply chains, but the law requires no action if companies are made aware of forced labour or child labour, and offers no assistance to victims.

“Canadian companies can continue to profit from forced labour and child labour, even when taking zero steps to stop it, or patently inadequate steps,” said the CNCA’s Policy Director, Emily Dwyer. “We’re talking about serious human rights violations including the exploitation of children, and a serious matter deserves a serious law.”

“The law doesn’t actually require companies to do anything to combat forced or child labour,” said Farida Deif, Canada Director at Human Rights Watch. “The law’s toothless reporting obligation should be replaced by meaningful requirements to protect workers and provide remedies to victims.”

“As a labour rights activist and former child worker, I’ve witnessed first-hand how Canadian companies are linked to serious violations of workers’ human rights. Canada’s new forced and child labour reporting law will be no help whatsoever to the people I work with,” said Kalpona Akter, Executive Director of the Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity. “We are calling on the Canadian government to finally respond to these issues with the seriousness they deserve by passing a law on mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence.”

“This new forced labour legislation does not meet the Minister’s mandate letter commitment to eradicate forced labour from Canadian supply chains and ensure that Canadian businesses operating abroad do not contribute to human rights abuses. Canada’s unions share the call for Canada to pass legislation that addresses these serious issues with the diligence they deserve,” said Beatrice Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress.

Furthermore, the law does nothing to assist responsible Canadian corporations and consumers. “This meaningless reporting law won’t help people in Canada avoid products made with forced or child labour and won’t help level the playing field for Canadian companies that do take action against human rights abuse,” said Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada (English-speaking section).

Before it passed, the serious flaws of Bill S-211 were detailed for Parliamentary and Senate committees, such as its failure to make companies liable for harm, provide access to remedy for victims via Canadian courts, or integrate other principles of the mandatory due diligence laws seen in other OECD countries.

Related coverage:

• MPs pass law meant to curb forced labour, as critics decry its lack of teeth, Canadian Press via CTV News, 3 May 2023

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Today in Montreal, delegates from networks representing more than 100 civil society organizations – labour, feminist, international solidarity, environmental and other allies – will commemorate the Rana Plaza tragedy, and reaffirm the solidarity of Quebeckers and Canadians with textile and fast-fashion workers in Bangladesh and around the world.

These organizations are demanding that the federal government adopt human rights and environmental due diligence legislation to prevent and act against human rights abuses by Canadian companies throughout their operations and global supply chains.

Also, in solidarity with the demands of Bangladeshi worker organizations, the networks urge garment companies and brands to respect the human rights of workers throughout their supply chains – including respect for their health and safety at work, and a living wage – and to adhere without delay to the International Accord on Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry, which has saved many lives.

PRESS CONFERENCE

• Today at 11:00 a.m., at Le Gesù, 1200 Rue de Bleury, in Montreal
• Spokespersons for the Canadian Network for Corporate Accountability (CNCA), AQOCI, the Quebec Coordination of the World March of Women (CQMMF), Centre international de solidarité ouvrière (CISO),), Development and Peace (Caritas Canada)

RALLY

• Today at noon, at Phillips Square, in Montreal
• With the participation of CNCA and CQMMF members, and other allies of workers in the fast fashion industry in Bangladesh and elsewhere
• Details of the event

POPULAR EDUCATION ACTIVITY

• Today at 1pm, at Le Gesù, 1200 Rue de Bleury
• Rally participants are invited to share and learn from each other in an educational activity.

Media Contacts

• English: Darren Shore ; Communications officer, Canadian Network for Corporate Accountability; dshore@cnca-rcrce.ca
• French: Hélène Gobeil ; Communications and Campaigns Director, Development and Peace; hgobeil@devp.org

The CNCA is a network of 40 non-profit organizations, unions and faith groups, whose combined membership includes over 3 million Canadians, that campaigns to ensure that Canadian companies and their subsidiaries respect human rights and the environment around the world.

Quotes from spokespersons:

“Canadian clothing brands participate in the systemic exploitation of millions of women by allowing poverty wages to be paid in many of their suppliers’ factories.” – Marie-Hélène Fortier, Coordinator of the Coordination du Québec de la Marche mondiale des femmes (CQMMF)

“It’s time for our Canadian companies to be held accountable. Most fashion brands source from countries like Bangladesh where millions of women work tirelessly for as little as 60 cents an hour to make our clothes, while living in tough conditions, falling into debt to survive – all while not being able to afford adequate healthcare and education that they and their families need. By not paying a living wage in their supply chain, Canadian fashion brands are keeping the women who make our clothes in poverty.” – Mwangala Matakala, Campaigner, Oxfam Canada

“Weak laws that merely require reporting will not protect the human rights of workers and women in the global garment trade, or make corporations accountable. However, if you pass due diligence laws to make sure that every company has to identify, prevent and mitigate human right risks in its whole value chain, including the company’s own purchasing practices, you can help save and improve many millions of lives.” – Kalpona Akter, Founder & Executive Director, Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity

“Bangladeshi garment worker unions are calling on Canadian companies to respect the rights of garment workers, including the right to freedom of association, to healthy, safe, and equitable working conditions, and to a living wage.” – Kalpona Akter, Founder & Executive Director, Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity

“We show our solidarity with the families of the victims of the Rana Plaza disaster and the women workers in the garment industry, who continue to work in very difficult conditions. It is high time that the countries where the head offices of major clothing brands are located force companies to respect the rights and dignity of women workers. Canada has a responsibility to act.” – Michèle Asselin, Executive Director, AQOCI

“More than ever, we need to make the textile industry a global social issue, as its consequences are toxic, as much for the environment as for humanity. It’s time to hold companies accountable and collectively demand better working conditions, profit redistribution and justice for garment workers in Bangladesh and around the world.” – Amélie Nguyen, Coordinator, Centre international de solidarité ouvrière (CISO)

“The federal government must put in place legislation requiring companies to prevent negative human rights and environmental impacts throughout their global operations and supply chains – mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation.” – Emily Dwyer, Policy Director, Canadian Network for Corporate Accountability (CNCA)

“We and other CNCA members collected tens of thousands of signatures on a petition calling for due diligence legislation for Canadian companies. This petition has been presented to over forty MPs from across Canada. The people of our country want real legislation. Will our elected officials act on it?” – Carl Hétu, Executive Director, Development and Peace

“While Canada has yet to implement due diligence legislation, companies should not fail when it comes to protecting women’s rights, workers’ rights, and other human rights either.” – Alice Chipot, Executive Director, Regroupement pour la responsabilité sociale des entreprises (RRSE)

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The reports document allegations that Nygard International, Torex Gold Resources Inc., Feronia Inc., Barrick Gold Corporation, Goldcorp Canada Ltd., and corporate customers of medical glove-makers Top Glove and Supermax contributed to a range of human rights and environmental abuses. (See all the case studies for details.)

“These reports show that serious abuses linked to Canadian companies and their subsidiaries overseas are ongoing and widespread,” said the CNCA’s Policy Director, Emily Dwyer. “We need strong laws, such as corporate due-diligence legislation that empowers victims to seek remedy, including through access to Canadian courts.”

Over the past week, these concerns were raised with the Standing Committee on International Trade, whose members are studying the harmful impacts of Canadian mining companies abroad in the wake of a string of lawsuits alleging severe harms. CNCA member-organisations Oxfam Canada, MiningWatch Canada, KAIROS Canada and the United Steelworkers (USW) attested to reports of widespread human rights and environmental abuse.

“The best way to end abuse of people and the planet by Canadian mining corporations is to fix how we regulate Canadian corporations in general,” said Catherine Coumans, Research Coordinator for MiningWatch Canada. “These case studies show what you get with a decade of voluntary measures. Ultimately, corporations need to be held accountable.”

“Canadians don’t want our companies associated with or importing goods that were made with forced or child labour, or other abuse of human rights and the environment,” said Meg Gingrich of the United Steelworkers.

“Canada has a legal and ethical duty to uphold respect for human rights everywhere,” said Silvia Vasquez-Olguin, Global Partnership Coordinator at KAIROS Canada. “We need a strong law, such as Private Members bill C-262 on mandatory corporate due-diligence, that reins in abuse by Canadian-based multinationals.”

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“Without independence and investigatory powers, the CORE won’t serve impacted communities. In fact, it has all the hallmarks of the failed offices it is supposed to be replacing. It is like giving someone a car, but telling them that the engine won’t be installed for two years,” said Emily Dwyer, Policy Director, Canadian Network for Corporate Accountability. “It is unconscionable that a full five years after promising real action to address corporate abuse that the Government of Canada has taken no steps to provide the office with the basic minimum powers needed to do its job.”

Even the Canadian government’s own experts confirm that the CORE does not currently have sufficient tools to engage in credible and effective investigations, and that the absence of the power to compel documents compromises the office’s effectiveness as the CORE will depend on the voluntary cooperation of companies. 

The CORE opened its doors to complaints in March 2021. To date, the CORE has determined that 14 complaints that it has received are admissible. 

“Because the CORE doesn’t have the basic minimum powers required to be effective, vulnerable people would waste their limited time and resources if they filed a complaint, and could face increased risks of harm. The CNCA continues to advise its partners to approach the office of the CORE with caution, if at all,” says Aidan Gilchrist-Blackwood, Network Coordinator at the CNCA. “Given that there is often nowhere else for people to go, it is understandable that the office is receiving some complaints, even though it isn’t equipped to serve the needs of impacted communities.”

“People who are harmed by Canadian businesses have been waiting far too long for an avenue toward effective remedy in Canada,” said Dwyer. “While Canada has been dragging its heels, there is growing momentum towards comprehensive corporate accountability laws in many other countries. Canada should move quickly to catch up by giving the CORE the powers needed to investigate and moving quickly to implement mandatory human rights due diligence legislation.”  

Dwyer continued: “The government must take decisive action to stop corporate abuse. That was the promise made in January 2018. That is the promise that must be kept.” 

===

Media contact: Aidan Gilchrist-Blackwood; agilchristblackwood@cnca-rcrce.ca

===

Additional background information

• In January 2018, the Government of Canada publicly announced the creation of a Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) and committed to entrusting the office with the necessary tools to conduct credible independent investigations, including the power to compel documents and summon witnesses. 
• However, in April 2019, the government backtracked on that commitment and instead appointed a special advisor to the Minister of International Trade Diversification without the needed investigatory powers and commissioned expert legal advice on how to give the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) the powers it needs to do its job, at some future date. 
• That expert legal advice – the McIsaac Report – confirms 
  • that the federal government has the legal tools to immediately give the CORE the powers it needs to do its job through the Inquiries Act or stand-alone legislation
  • that without the power to compel documents and testimony the CORE’s “effectiveness may be compromised” because it “will be dependent on the cooperation of the complainant and the entity being investigated.” In other words, the CORE would have to rely on companies under review voluntarily sharing the information needed to complete an investigation. 
• The Government of Canada concealed and ignored the findings of that report until it was leaked in February 2021. 
• In June 2021 a majority of the members of the international human rights subcommittee recommended that the CORE be given the power to compel witnesses and documents. CNCA’s submission to that study is here. 

Two private members bills, if adopted, would contribute meaningfully to the government’s commitment to ensure Canadian businesses respect human rights in their global operations. Both bills were introduced in March 2022.

• Bill C-263, An Act to establish the Office of the Commissioner for Responsible Business Conduct Abroad and to make consequential amendments to other Acts, would invest the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) with the powers to order the production of documents and compel witness testimony under oath. 
• Bill C-262, An Act respecting the corporate responsibility to prevent, address and remedy adverse impacts on human rights occurring in relation to business activities conducted abroad, would require companies to review all their business activities, identify actual and potential risks to people and the planet, take steps to mitigate the risks, and ensure remedy for those harmed. This is called human rights and environmental due diligence. 

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Bill S-211 only requires Canadian companies to report on whether they took steps to identify the use of forced labour in their supply chains. It does not require companies to eliminate their use of forced labour or to respect human rights. Without consequences for their actions, companies have no incentive to prevent human rights abuses and those harmed have no recourse to justice.

“The bill came back from the Standing Committee as ineffective as ever. Bill S-211 merely creates the appearance of action to end modern slavery without actually doing anything about it,” said Emily Dwyer, Policy Director at the Canadian Network for Corporate Accountability (CNCA). “Simply put, a law that requires you to report but does not require you to stop the harm you are causing may be easy to pass, but it is also meaningless.”

The text of the bill is now final. Bill S-211 will do nothing to address the widespread reports of serious human rights abuses and environmental damage – from forced labour, to killings, to permanent land and water contamination – linked to the activities of Canadian companies and their supply chains.

What is needed is for Canada to enact legislation that would require companies to change their behaviour, not just report on it. What is needed is a Bill that would require companies to review all business activities, identify actual and potential risks to people and the planet, take steps to mitigate and address these risks, and ensure remedy for those harmed.

“We are calling on Canada’s Labour Minister to publicly announce just that in the coming days,” said Aidan Gilchrist-Blackwood, Network Coordinator at the CNCA. “The government can fulfil its commitment to eradicating forced labour and other serious human rights abuses in Canadian supply chains by promptly introducing a comprehensive due diligence bill, like bill C-262.”

Bill S-211 does nothing to prevent Canadian companies from profiting from operations around the world that harm both people and the planet.

“MPs should vote against it when the Bill comes before the House of Commons for final reading,” said Dwyer. “If MPs want Canada to take meaningful action on forced labour, saying ‘No’ to this flawed and meaningless anti-slavery legislation is now the right thing to do.”

===

Background:

• Comparative Chart: Don’t Mistake Reporting for Accountability
• Submission Summary / Cover letter
• Full CNCA submission to the Foreign Affairs Committee study on S-211
• Letter to Prime Minister signed by over 100 academics and legal experts calling for Canada to make human rights and environmental due diligence mandatory

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