Canada axed its corporate accountability watchdog. Critics say the replacement has no teeth
Canada eliminated its human rights ombudsperson for overseas corporate misconduct, shifting oversight of mining and garment companies to an office critics say lacks independence and investigative power.
According to a piece published Friday by Annie Burns-Pieper on Mongabay, Canada has shut down its independent watchdog for investigating alleged human rights and environmental abuses by Canadian companies operating overseas, replacing it with an office critics say has no real power.
Prime Minister Mark Carney's government eliminated the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise, or CORE, in June, calling it ineffective. The ombudsperson post had sat vacant for over a year, and CORE launched only five investigations in its lifetime, with just one resulting in recommendations to a company. Complaints, including 24 that were active when CORE closed, are now being routed to the National Contact Point, a 26-year-old office that promotes the OECD's voluntary guidelines for multinational enterprises. Since 2000, only 3 of 33 cases handled by that office have resulted in formal agreements, and it sits inside Canada's Trade Strategy Bureau, a placement critics say creates a conflict of interest given the office's mandate to also promote trade.
"What this essentially means is that it'll be business as usual," said Catherine Coumans of MiningWatch Canada. Joseph Wilde-Ramsing of the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations called the National Contact Point's track record "extremely poor," citing its inability to compel companies to produce documents or witnesses to testify. At least three complainants have refused to transfer their cases to the new office, the piece reported, and Canada is home to roughly half of the world's publicly traded mining and mineral exploration companies.
Annie Burns-Pieper, Mongabay: https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/canada-shuts-down-corporate-watchdog-critics-say-its-replacement-lacks-teeth/
This article was produced with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed by an editor before publication.
