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Urgent Action Alert On Corporate Accountability
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This is a critical moment in our campaign for new corporate accountability measures in Canada. We are requesting you and other KAIROS supporters to call your Members of Parliament today and urge the Harper government to fully implement 27 recommendations contained in the report from the 2006 national roundtables on corporate responsibility in the mining, oil and gas industries. The recommendations represent only the first step in promoting greater corporate responsibility and accountability – but it’s a crucial first step!
Please join us in contacting MPs before the Speech from the Throne on October 16, when the government will outline its priorities for the next session of Parliament. Please call your MP before October 10th, especially if you have a Conservative MP in your riding! Below is a sample script with four key “talking points” to help you prepare for your call.
Thank you in advance for taking action with us at this critical juncture. Collectively, our calls will send a strong signal to those in power.
For more information, please contact Ian Thomson, Program Coordinator, Corporate Social Responsibility: 1-877-403-8933 ext. 229.
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Sample Script for MP Phone Call |
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“Hello, my name is (your name). I am asking you, as my representative in Parliament, to urge the Prime Minister and Federal Cabinet to take real action on corporate social responsibility for Canadian companies operating overseas.
- As a faith-based social justice activist in the KAIROS network, I am deeply concerned about the impact of our mining, oil and gas companies on human rights and the environment. I believe that we need to hold our companies to internationally recognized standards when they go abroad.
- I want the federal government to adopt and implement all 27 consensus recommendations from the National Roundtables on Corporate Responsibility held last year – recommendations that represent an unprecedented agreement between industry and civil society.
- In particular, the federal government needs to create an extractive industries ombudsman to investigate incidents of serious human rights violations and environmental disasters in which Canadian companies are implicated.
- The roundtable recommendations represent only the first step in promoting corporate responsibility and accountability – but it’s a crucial first step! All 27 recommendations must be implemented together.
I will be listening to the Speech from the Throne on October 16 to gauge the government’s commitment to these issues. Thank you.”
To find your Member of Parliament’s phone number, you can
either call the Government of Canada’s toll-free information
line at 1-800-622-6232, or use this handy tool on the Parliamentary
website:
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Compilations/HouseOfCommons/MemberByPostalCode.aspx?Menu=HOC
Find Your Member of Parliament Using Your Postal Code
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Background |
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During last year’s campaign, KAIROS supporters collected thousands of signatures calling for new measures to hold Canadian corporations accountable when they are found to be complicit in human rights violations and environmental destruction overseas. Church leaders, KAIROS staff and other faith-based activists participated in four national roundtables on corporate responsibility in the mining, oil and gas industries hosted by the federal government in 2006. The outcome of the roundtables was a report with 27 consensus recommendations that was written and endorsed by a panel of representatives from industry, NGOs, labour, academia and socially responsible investors.
It is essential that the government implement all of the recommendations outlined in the report – including the creation of an Ombudsman to investigate reports of serious human rights violations and environmental damage from affected communities. If any of the recommendations are ignored or watered down by the government, the resulting package will be inadequate.
For more information on our position on these issues, please read
the KAIROS Policy Briefing Paper #11: http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/resources/policyBriefing11RegulatingExtractiveIndustries0705.pdf
You can access the roundtables report, including the 27 recommendations
endorsed by civil society, industry and investor representatives,
online at: http://geo.international.gc.ca/cip-pic/current_discussions/csr-roundtables-en.aspx
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