Amnesty International, Canada's largest human rights organization, is calling on Canadians to voice support for Bill C-300, "An Act respecting Corporate Accountability for the Activities of Mining, Oil or Gas in Developing Countries".

Bill C-300 is a Private Member's Bill, tabled in the House of Commons by John McKay, Liberal M.P. for Scarborough-Guildwood. It is a response to the findings of the Advisory Group to the National Roundtable on the Extractives Sector. The Roundtable was tasked with identifying opportunities to address the growing number of environmental and social conflicts created by Canadian oil, gas and mineral companies operating in the global south.

The Advisory Group to the Roundtable was composed of civil society and industry representatives and was able to reach a consensus on its recommendations, which included:

• Clear standards with potential of sanctions for non-compliance;
• Creation of an Ombudsman to investigate complaints and report publicly on the findings of investigations;
• Tying government financial and political support to compliance with environmental and human rights standards.

Bill C-300 addresses these recommendations much better than the government's recently released response, that took almost 2 years to be released. Amnesty International's action alert including a sample letter to MPs can be found on their web site.

The text of Bill C-300 can be found on the Government of Canada web site.

The bill will be voted on in the House of Commons on April 22 (second reading). MiningWatch encourages all concerned Canadians to contact their MPs about the bill and urge them to support it.