Extractive Industries and Corporate Social Responsibility

Canadian extractive companies, including mining, oil and gas, have been implicated in well-documented cases of human rights violations and environmental disasters abroad. These violations by Canadian companies include toxic dumping, the destruction of protected areas, forced displacement of indigenous peoples, and threats and intimidation of local communities.

This is not a case of a few bad apples: Canadian extractive companies have been implicated in human rights abuses and environmental disasters in more than 30 countries.

Canadian tax dollars subsidize extractive industries that operate overseas. The Government offers both political assistance (e.g. embassies and trade commissioners) and financial support (e.g. Export Development Canada's support for projects through finance and political risk insurance, Canadian Pension Plan investments, tax breaks).

The Canadian Government has refused to take effective actions to ensure that publicly-supported companies comply with international human rights and environmental standards. The Government currently embraces a voluntary approach to corporate social responsibility, promoting adherence to voluntary measures, which have repeatedly failed in practice.

In addition, Canadian companies are not accountable to our judicial system when host governments are unwilling or unable to act. They are not bound by any Canadian laws requiring them to uphold to human rights and environmental standards abroad.

This campaign promotes the adherence of Canadian companies to international standards regarding human rights, with special attention to the rights of Indigenous peoples, labour rights and the environment.