Show Support for Effective Human Rights Ombudsperson Office
KAIROS is greatly encouraged by the Honourable Minister of International Trade’s announcement today regarding the creation of a Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Business Enterprise.We are cautiously optimistic because it is still unclear if the Ombudsperson will be completely independent at all stages of the process. To ensure that the office is effective, the Ombudsperson must be fully independent with the power to compel documents.
Please help us!
- Write a letter to the editor expressing your support for the creation of a credible, effective and independent Ombudsperson’s office with strong investigative powers. This is essential if the Ombudsperson is to be able to prevent and redress human rights abuses by Canadian companies overseas. To help you, this is a guide to write effective letters to the editor.
- If your letter is published, send a copy to the Minister of Trade and to your Member of Parliament. You can find your MP’s e-mail or postal address by entering your postal code on the Parliament of Canada website. Of course, letters to the Minister and your MP do not require postage.
- Share your published letters to the editor with KAIROS by e-mailing Cheryl McNamara. It’s vital that we hear what’s happening and can encourage others.
Background
For years, KAIROS members across the country have called on the Canadian government to protect the dignity of human life and the sacredness of creation by creating an independent human rights Ombudsperson with the power to hold Canadian mining companies responsible for their overseas operations. They have met with, called, and written to their members of Parliament and the Minister of Trade. They do this in solidarity with and in response to KAIROS’ overseas partners who have also called for an independent Ombudsperson.
According to Carlos Zarate, a Member of Philippine Congress and Chair of its House Committee on Natural Resources, who joined the KAIROS-sponsored delegation from the Philippines last spring:
“It is very important to allow people in communities displaced by Canadian mining companies to use some mechanism in Canada to make these companies accountable. The Philippines is still a country where the so-called rule of law is only for the elite and big business. For ordinary farmers and Indigenous people the rule of law is meaningless. To make mining companies accountable it is important to create the office of an independent Ombudsperson that can investigate and file cases against big mining companies.”
Nearly a decade has passed since industry and civil society leaders recommended the Canadian government create such an office. More than 600,000 Canadians and hundreds of civil society organizations from Canada and abroad have since added their voice to the call for an Ombudsperson.
In 2015, the federal Liberal Party, New Democratic Party, Green Party and Bloc Quebecois each committed to creating a human rights Ombudsperson for the extractive sector. People and organizations around the world are calling on Canada to hold our companies to account. Do your part to make Canada Open for Justice.
Canada, as home to more than half of the world’s mining and mineral exploration companies, should be a leader in corporate accountability in the extractive sector. Canadian law has not kept pace with the globalization of the mining industry.
Until now, the Canadian government has addressed reports of extractive-sector violations with two mechanisms: the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Counsellor, and Canada’s Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s National Contact Point (OECD NCP). With both these mechanisms, participation of the extractive-sector companies was voluntary and complaints were never made public. These mechanisms have been ineffective and have not address the problems that harm communities.
An independent human rights Ombudsperson requires the power to independently investigate allegations concerning the overseas operations of Canadian companies, issue public findings on allegations of harm, and make recommendations for redress regarding corporate eligibility for government services and with respect to policy and law reform.
Thanks for writing a letter to the editor expressing your support for the creation of a credible, effective and independent Ombudsperson’s office with strong investigative powers.
For more information, contact:
Cheryl McNamara, Communications Coordinator
cmcnamara@kairoscanada.org
