6 November 2025, 1:28pm EST

Liberal Budget Leaves Corporate Watchdog in Limbo, Abandons Communities Abroad

Canada Corporate Accountability Grievance Mechanisms Human Rights
Source:
MiningWatch Canada

Ottawa - The new Liberal Government’s first budget makes no mention of funding for the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) – an office that has been without an Ombudsperson since May, when it also stopped processing a backlog of human rights cases.

At least 36 complaints by communities and workers from around the world have been stranded since the interim Ombudsperson finished his term earlier this year and was not replaced. These communities report serious harms suffered as a result of operations by Canadian mining, oil and gas and garment sector multinationals. They have been actively encouraged by Global Affairs Canada and diplomats at Canadian missions overseas to file their complaints to this office. The CORE’s website continues to welcome new complaints.

This office was created in 2018 by a liberal government that recognized the need to investigate serious human rights complaints brought against Canadian multinationals operating overseas. As recently as last year, then-Trade Minister Mary Ng touted the CORE as “an important part of Canada’s strategy for responsible business conduct (RBC) abroad.”

Efforts by MiningWatch Canada and others to get straight answers from Minister Maninder Sidhu of International Trade about the future of the office have gone unanswered. Similarly, efforts by Members of Parliament to get a transparent answer to questions about the vacant office have been met with evasive written and oral responses. While these responses lack information on the future of the CORE, they reference a different agency, Canada’s National Contact Point (NCP) for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

The Ombudsperson was created with a different mandate from the NCP in regard to human rights complaints brought against Canadian multinationals. The NCP does not commission independent investigations of human rights complaints, does not make public findings about whether or not a company has breached international  standards that Canada says it upholds, and does not make recommendations for remedy for those who have been harmed – these are critical functions that the Ombudsperson has been mandated to carry out. The CORE was also created to be arm’s length from government, while the NCP is housed within the Ministry of Trade.

“Canada has to live up to the promise it has made to overseas communities who report serious human rights abuses by our multinationals and who have been encouraged to bring their allegations to the Ombudsperson” says Catherine Coumans of MiningWatch Canada, “Canada must fund the CORE and hire a new Ombudsperson, there is no other credible non-judicial route for these complaints in Canada.”   

MiningWatch Canada has prepared a brief that lays out long-standing concerns with Canada’s National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct.

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