Corporate Responsibility to Protect Human Rights Act

Human Rights

mhredd

Summary Table

Obligations

Due Diligence
Reporting
Others

Normative scope

Human Rights
Environment

Value chain scope

Own operations
Subsidiaries
Direct Suppliers
Indirect Suppliers

Company scope

Large Companies
SMEs

Judicial enforcement

Civil Liability
Facilitating Access to Justice

Administrative enforcement

Monitoring
Administrative Sanctions

Obligations

Due Diligence
- Every entity must develop and implement due diligence procedures in respect of its activities, its affiliates and its business relationships, including procedures enabling the entity to:
  a) identify and assess actual and potential adverse impacts on human rights resulting from its activities as well as from its business relationships, including with suppliers or contractors;
  b) cease any activity that led to the adverse impacts and take remedial action;
  c) mitigate risks of adverse impacts; and
  d) by means of an internal alert mechanism, be notified of any potential adverse impacts on human rights.
Reporting
- Each company covered by the Act would have to make public an annual report on:
  a) the due diligence procedures that the entity has established and the effectiveness of their implementation;
  b) the entity’s business activities and business relationships, including those in connection with any of its operations, products or services, in respect of which its due diligence procedures apply;
  c) a list of the entity’s affiliates in respect of which its due diligence procedures apply;
  d) the entity’s activities in respect of which a risk of adverse impacts on human rights has been identified and the measures that the entity has taken to assess and mitigate the risk; and
  e) any other information required by regulation.
Others
- In carrying out its business activities, every entity has a duty to prevent causing any adverse impacts on human rights from occurring outside Canada as a result of its acts or omissions or those of its affiliates.

Normative scope

Human Rights
- The Act comprehensively includes a broad list of human rights identified in various international human rights instruments.
Environment
- The Act specifies that “human rights includes the right to a healthy environment.”
- Companies must also “have regard to the relationship between human rights and the environment, specifically that a healthy and sustainable environment is integral to the full enjoyment of a wide range of human rights, including the rights to life, health, sustainably produced food and safe water.”

Value chain scope

Own operations
Subsidiaries
Direct Suppliers
Indirect Suppliers

Company scope

Large Companies
- The Act applies to any company that is incorporated in Canada, has a place of business in Canada, carries out business in Canada, or has assets in Canada used in carrying out its business.
SMEs
- The Act applies to any company that is incorporated in Canada, has a place of business in Canada, carries out business in Canada, or has assets in Canada used in carrying out its business.

Judicial enforcement

Civil Liability
- A person who alleges that they have suffered loss or damage as a result of a failure by an entity to comply with its obligations to prevent adverse impacts under this Act may, in a superior court of a province, bring an action against the entity and, in the action, claim relief by way of one or more of the following:
  a) damages for any loss or damage suffered;
  b) aggravated or punitive damages;
  c) an injunction;
  d) an order for specific performance;
  e) the cost of any land remediation; and
  f) any other appropriate relief, including the costs of the action.
Facilitating Access to Justice
- A Canadian court has jurisdiction to hear and determine an action if:
  a) the entity is domiciled or ordinarily resident in the court’s jurisdiction;
  b) the entity submits to the court’s jurisdiction; or
  c) there is a real and substantial connection between the court’s jurisdiction and the facts on which the action against the entity is based.

Administrative enforcement

Monitoring
- The Act would put in motion procedures to appoint a commissioner responsible for ensuring that entities that have business activities or business relationships abroad comply with due diligence reporting.
Administrative Sanctions
- If there are reasonable grounds to believe that an entity has failed to meet its obligations under this Act, the Canadian Minister of Justice must recommend that any government support or funding that is provided to the entity be withdrawn for a specified period or until the entity is in compliance with the Act.