Human Rights and the Canadian Extractive Sector in Latin America: Can Canada do more to prevent abuses and improve access to justice?

Abstract

Despite the abundance of international regulation mechanisms that have emerged since the 1990s, human rights violation scandals continue to plague mining operations, including Canadian mining projects in Latin America. Canada has adopted a policy approach to try to address the issues of corporate responsibility and respect for human rights by mining corporations. It has endorsed international voluntary compliance and reporting guidelines, and published its own corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy. The paper evaluates to what extent are existing voluntary mechanisms adequate to ensure that Canadian mining companies respect human rights in their operations abroad, and assesses what other policy or legislative tool the Government of Canada could use to ensure respect for human rights and access to justice.