CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY

Oil flares in Ecuador

KAIROS is concerned about the growing pattern of Canadian mining, oil and gas companies whose overseas activities are having a negative impact on the environment and human rights, including the rights of Indigenous peoples. Canadian mining companies are operating worldwide and their presence is expanding.

KAIROS advocates for binding legislation to hold corporations accountable in Canada for abuses committed internationally. KAIROS participates is part of the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability which unites over 20 Canadian faith-based, human rights, environmental, labour and other civil society groups calling for greater government oversight of Canadian extractive sector activity abroad. KAIROS and our CNCA partners are calling on the Canadian government to implement the recommendations from the “National Roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility and the Canadian Extractive Sector in Developing Countries,” which would establish an ombudsman to investigate complaints and sanction companies that fail to operate in compliance with minimum social and environmental standards.

Key Resources on Corporate Accountability

Get on the list for our Corporate Social Responsibility Update. This free e-newsletter will give you the latest on CSR and shareholder action concerns for KAIROS, the Canadian churches, and global partners. Check out these archives for background information.
Fall 2007 CSR newsletter (PDF format)

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March 2007 shareholder alert (PDF format)

Links to other CSR-related sites

(KAIROS does not link to commercial groups and does not necessarily endorse external content.)

Amnesty International Canada

Bench Marks Foundation of South Africa

Canadian Business for Social Responsibility

Canadian Centre for Ethics and Corporate Policy

Canadian Network for Corporate Accountability (resource extraction-focussed)

Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility

EthicScan Canada

Forest Stewardship Council of Canada

Global Reporting Initiative

Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility

Maquila Solidarity Network

Michael Jantzi Research Associates

Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan

Regroupement pour la responsabilité sociale des entreprises (Québec)

Shareholder Association for Research and Education

Social Investment Forum (US)

Social Investment Organization

TransFair Canada (Fair trade certification body)

Transparency International Canada (corruption and CSR monitoring)

UK Social Investment Forum

United Nations Global Compact

CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY NEWS

Call to Action: Vigil for human rights and social justice in Colombia

September 20, 2011 By Nik

On Thursday September 22nd, those able to afford the minimum $1,000 ticket price will attend a gala at the Ritz-Carlton in Toronto to honour Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos as Statesman of the Year. The award from the Canadian Council for the Americas comes little more than a month after President Santos hosted Prime Minister Harper in Bogota to officially launch the Canada Colombia Free Trade Agreement. Amnesty International and Colombian human rights organizations continue to document widespread, grave human rights abuses, particularly in areas of economic interest, amidst massive levels of impunity. Join Amnesty outside the Ritz-Carlton to honour those who continue to lose … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colombia, Corporate Accountability, Feature 1, Resource Extraction, Trade & Rights Tagged With: colombia, human rights

KAIROS is deeply saddened and troubled by the recent murder of Father José Reinel Restrepo

September 19, 2011 By Nik

View the Joint Letter 'Re. the Assassination of Father José Reinel Restrepo of the municipality of Marmato, Colombia' KAIROS is deeply saddened and troubled by the recent murder of Father José Reinel Restrepo, parish priest of the municipality of Marmato in the department of Caldas, Colombia. On September 2nd, the body of Father Restrepo was found shot dead near his motorcycle. The 36-year old priest had served for two years as the parish church of Maramoto. The persons responsible for his murder have not yet been identified, nor has the motive of the attack on Father Restrepo been determined. Father Restrepo had been an outspoken opponent to the development of an … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colombia, Corporate Accountability, Feature 2, Resource Extraction, Trade & Rights Tagged With: colombia, gold mining

Fate of Tar Sands Pipelines Crucial for Climate Justice

August 12, 2011 By Nik

Please read KAIROS' Report "Fate of Tar Sands Pipelines Crucial for Climate Justice" President Barack Obama is facing a crucial decision that will define the U.S. position on climate justice. He can heed the advice from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and refuse a permit for the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline from the Alberta tar sands to refineries in Texas. Or Obama could agree with the petroleum industry lobby and approve the pipeline. With the EPA strongly opposed and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "inclined" to approve the project, the final decision will fall to Obama himself. Construction of the Keystone XL pipeline violates the principle of Free, Prior … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Climate Justice, Corporate Accountability, Feature 1, Indigenous Rights, Lubicon Cree, Resource Extraction, Sustainability, The Tar Sands

Letter to Hon. John Baird re. visit of Salvadoran Attorney General Romeo Barahona

August 11, 2011 By Nik

Dear Minister Baird: We write as Canadian organizations with long standing relationships with human rights, development, environmental and faith based organizations in El Salvador. Our organizations represent Canadians from across the country concerned about the increasing violence perpetrated against Salvadoran social and environmental activists in Cabañas, an area where a Canadian mining company, Pacific Rim, is pursuing a new gold mine... … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Corporate Accountability, Feature 2, Resource Extraction, Trade & Rights Tagged With: El Salvador, mining

Lawsuits on mining-related abuses will test limits of Canadian law

July 7, 2011 By Nik

Four groundbreaking lawsuits have been launched in Canada over the past two years by plaintiffs alleging that they or their family members suffered grave human rights violations linked to the activities of Canadian mining companies operating abroad. KAIROS is hopeful that these cases will test the limits of existing law and of the Canadian justice system. Efforts to hold Canadian resource extraction companies accountable when they commit human rights abuses or environmental damage abroad faced a major setback when Bill C-300 was narrowly defeated last October in the House of Commons. But communities affected by Canadian mining companies are not waiting around for lawmakers in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Congo (DR), Corporate Accountability, Feature 1, Resource Extraction, Sustainability

Ecumenical Conference on Mining – Final Statement

May 5, 2011 By Nik

(Conferencia Ecuménica sobre Minería >>) Gathered under a banner bearing Psalm 24’s reminder – “The Earth is God’s, and all that is in it” – about 150 people from all parts of the Earth considered the impact of Canadian mining companies on their communities and offered some signs of what must be done differently. Almost 50 of the participants came from Latin America, Asia and the Pacific and Africa. They met with Canadians and people from Europe and the United States who have a variety of roles in the face of resource extraction industries: allies who work in solidarity to change laws in Canada so that companies operating overseas might be better regulated; … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Corporate Accountability, Global Partners, Perspectives from the Global South, Resource Extraction

Ecumenical Conference on Mining

April 8, 2011 By Nik

Follow the conference on Twitter at #ecumining In early May 2011, church leaders from Canada, Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America will gather in Toronto for an ecumenical conference on mining, which is being hosted by KAIROS and several of its member institutions, in partnership with Norwegian Church Aid. They will be joined by Indigenous partners, social partners from the global South, church members and agency staff. The key purpose of the gathering is to develop alliances between church leaders from the North and South in their efforts to achieve mining justice around the world. We hope that church leaders and faith-based organizations in Canada and in the global South will … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Climate Justice, Corporate Accountability, Countries of Concern, Global Partners, Indigenous Rights, Resource Extraction, Sustainability, The Tar Sands, Trade & Rights

The Rights of the Lubicon Must be Protected

April 6, 2011 By Nik

“My grandmother and mother have a trap line of their own on which they go hunting and snaring but it is rare that they will bring any rabbits, moose, deer, prairie chickens, or even bears back home…With all these roads, semis, loud machinery, and cutting down of the forests, wildlife has been scared. This has affected our way of life, the Aboriginal Peoples of Lubicon Lake Nation. Simply because our tradition is to hunt and bring home moose meat, chicken, and rabbit for the family to feast on and to make moose and squirrel hide to sell and get money in exchange. But by not having the right to change this intrusion, it is rare that this will happen and our tradition will … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Climate Justice, Corporate Accountability, Feature 2, Indigenous Rights, Lubicon Cree, Resource Extraction, Sustainability, The Land Our Life, The Tar Sands, Trade & Rights

KAIROS Briefing Paper #26: Decisive Action Vital at Cancún Climate Talk

November 22, 2010 By Erin

Canadians have just sweltered through the hottest summer in more than 60 years. Heat and drought conditions contributed to a rash of forest fires in British Columbia, while excessive rain wiped out a fifth of the wheat crop in Manitoba and Saskatchewan... … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Briefing Papers, Climate Justice, Corporate Accountability, Global Finance, Sustainability, The Tar Sands

The Struggle for Mining Accountability Continues in the Wake of Bill C-300

October 28, 2010 By Nik

KAIROS is deeply disappointed by the defeat of Bill C-300 at its third reading in the House of Commons. The private member’s bill, which would have created new mechanisms to hold Canadian mining, oil and gas companies accountable when they are found to be complicit in human rights and environmental violations abroad, was narrowly defeated by a vote of 140 to 134. KAIROS supported the bill since its introduction by the Hon. John McKay in February 2009. Widespread support for the bill from Canadian civil society organizations like KAIROS was matched by an equally strong outpouring of support from NGOs and mining-affected communities in developing countries. KAIROS thanks everyone who … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colombia, Congo (DR), Corporate Accountability, Philippines, Resource Extraction, Trade & Rights