Fromt MiningWatch Canada:
The Canadian government has consistently failed to create meaningful measures to regulate the activities of Canadian mining companies operating overseas. A private member’s bill, number C-300, represents the best chance for urgently needed regulation. It is currently being reviewed by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. Your letters in support of Bill C-300 are urgently needed to ensure that Canadian mining companies live up to international human rights and labour standards and environmental best practices when they operate overseas, and that government financial and political support are not provided to companies that abuse human rights and the environment.
Show your support for Bill C-300
Background:
Bill C-300 is a private member’s bill introduced by Liberal MP John McKay on February 9, 2009. Bill C-300 implements a number of key recommendations from the March 2007 Final Report of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Roundtables. The recommendations reflected the consensus of a multi-stakeholder advisory group that had representatives from industry and civil society groups including MiningWatch Canada.
If passed, Bill C-300 will:
- put in place human rights, labour, and environmental standards that Canadian extractive companies receiving government support must live up to when they operate in developing countries;
- create a complaints mechanism that will allow members of affected communities abroad, or Canadians, to file complaints against companies that are not living up to those standards;
- create a possible sanction for companies that are found to be out of compliance with the standards, in the form of loss of government financial and political support.
Write to the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development
It doesn’t matter where you live; the Committee needs to hear from people around the world as well as Canadian voters
Sample letter:
To: John McKay, MP. Liberal Party of Canada, [email protected]
cc: Kevin Sorenson, Chair, Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, [email protected]
Angela Crandall, Clerk, Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, [email protected]
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
Canada
Date:
Dear Mr. McKay,
Re: Support for Bill C-300 on Corporate Accountability
I am writing to let you know that I strongly support Bill C-300, an Act respecting Corporate Accountability for the Activities of Mining, Oil and Gas Corporations in Developing Countries.
I am appalled by regular reports that Canadian mining, oil and gas companies are involved in human rights, labour, and environmental violations around the world and by the fact that these companies often receive financial and political support from the Canadian Government. The current government’s response to these concerns is its “Building the Canadian Advantage” strategy. This voluntary approach is completely inadequate.
Bill C-300 responds to the urgent need for a stronger regulatory framework to hold Canadian mining, oil and gas companies accountable, in Canada, for human rights, labour, and environmental violations overseas. Bill C-300 has garnered support across the country and internationally. It is supported by the Canadian Network for Corporate Accountability (CNCA), an organization which includes Amnesty International Canada, the United Church of Canada, the Canadian Council for International Co-operation, Friends of the Earth, the Steelworkers Humanity Fund, the Canadian Labour Congress, KAIROS – Ecumenical Justice Initiatives, MiningWatch Canada and many other organizations. Bill C-300 has my support as well.
I urge Members of Parliament and the members of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development to support Bill C-300, recognizing that Bill C-300 reflects and responds to the recommendations that were made to the Government of Canada by the earlier Standing Committee of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 2005.
Yours truly,
(your name and address)