Strategy Advocates Voluntary Standards for Mining Companies

Two years after the multi-stakeholder Advisory Group to the National Roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the Extractive Sector submitted its consensus report to the Canadian government, the government response ignores the report’s central recommendations, such as making diplomatic and financial support for resource companies operating overseas contingent upon socially responsible conduct. 

In 2006, the government launched a series of national roundtables to find ways to ensure Canadian mining companies operating abroad adhere to social responsibility standards. The process was recommended by the Commons' Foreign Affairs committee because of the frequency with which the committee was hearing complaints about environmental and labour standard violations in developing countries by Canadian companies. Canadian mining, oil and gas companies have been implicated in well-documented cases of human rights violations and environmental disasters worldwide. Problems include ecological damage and health problems due to contamination of water systems and the destruction of forests, loss of livelihoods due to loss of farmland, and suffering and death due to violent civil wars fuelled by the fight to control resources like diamonds, gold and coltan.

The roundtable  included academics, civil society and the mining industry who came together to hammer out by consensus 27 recommendations for the government to implement to better monitor and respond to human rights and environmental concerns of Canadian companies' operations abroad. Core among these recommendations was a complaints mechanism, in the form of an Ombudsman and a Compliance Review Committee, which incorporated the possibility of sanctions for Canadian extractive companies that were in serious breach of agreed-upon environmental and human rights standards.  According to Stockwell Day, Minister of International Trade “most Canadian companies have set standards for social responsibility when they go into another country." So, the government will encourage companies to abide by voluntary standards and reporting measures, while continuing to provide financial and technical assistance to mining companies.

Karyn Keenan of the Halifax Initiative (www.halifaxinitiative.org) said the creation of an independent ombudsman and linking government support with proper behaviour was the key to the roundtable recommendations. Catherine Coumans of MiningWatch Canada, an advisor to the government and co-author of the final report, says “The Government of Canada has squandered the historic consensus reached by industry and civil society with respect to an effective compliance and complaints mechanism. The CSR Counselor position that the government has created instead of an Ombudsman is useless as it does not require compliance with CSR standards. It does not have a complaints procedure, and it does not include any possible form of sanction.”

Given this very disappointing response from the government, MiningWatch Canada (www.miningwatch.ca) is supporting Bill C-300, a private members bill tabled by Liberal MP John McKay in the House of Commons. Bill C-300, entitled Act respecting Corporate Accountability for the Activities of Mining, Oil or Gas in Developing Countries, closely reflects the recommendations of the Final Report to the CSR Roundtables – particularly with respect to the compliance and complaints mechanism. Information on Bill C-300 can be found at www.parl.gc.ca.  To read a copy of the government’s report visit the Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada website at www.international.gc.ca.  For information about the Development and Peace “Bling Kills” Campaign, visit www.devp.org.