Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement

In May 2019, I was proud to take on the challenge of serving as the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE). The CORE is the first Canadian Ombud with a business and human rights mandate, and the only Ombud office mandated to hold Canadian garment, mining and oil/gas companies accountable for human rights abuses that have taken place outside of Canada as a result of their operations, including their supply chains. Prior to the CORE, from 2009 to 2014, Canada monitored the conduct of mining and oil and gas companies operating outside of Canada through the Office of the Extractive Sector Corporate Social Responsibility Counsellor. This office was embedded within the department of Global Affairs Canada (GAC). The CORE operates at arm’s length from GAC and the addition of garment companies to the CORE’s mandate was catalyzed by the 2013 Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh which highlighted Canada’s exposure in the area of Human Rights in this sector. Significantly, the CORE’s mandate¹ also involves promoting the implementation of both the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs),² and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.³