Transparency International Canada submitted a letter to the Office of the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) as part of an open consultation for their proposed Operating Procedures for the Compliance and Dispute Resolution Mechanism (CDRM).
As the base for the comments submitted, TI Canada used the findings of the Accountable Mining Program. Implemented in over 20 countries, the Accountable Mining Program aims to enhance mining’s contribution to sustainable development by mitigating the corruption risks in mine permitting and licencing. Through this program, TI Canada conducted a study on the environmental assessment (EA) processes in Ontario, British Columbia and the Yukon Territory.
In summary, TI Canada made the following recommendations:
Vague definitions create transparency and accountability vulnerabilities. Therefore, a clear explanation of what a‘ flexible and transparent manner’ means in the context of these procedures is needed. Also, establishing indicators would help stakeholders and rights holders monitor the process’s transparency.
A screening process with clear benchmarks to evaluate the nature and severity of human rights impacts is necessary for enhancing the fairness, transparency and accountability of CORE in CDRM processes.
Standardizing complaint filings would help individuals and communities with limited technical capacity and resources to provide insights.
Describing the monitoring process and making the monitoring findings publicly available would motivate the parties to follow the terms of the reached agreement.
Creating a database would allow for better due diligence. Such a database could include:
the information of the finalized mediation and review processes;
subjects of unfulfilled agreement terms reached through mediation,
subjects to retaliation; and
subjects refusing participation.
Read the full submission here.