Status
The Canadian government has not engaged in the development of a NAP on Business and Human Rights. In 2007 the National Roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility and the Canadian Extractive Sector in Developing Countries, which had been convened by the government of Canada, concluded a year-long public consultation process on the overseas extractive sector. Akin to a baseline assessment exercise, the consultations culminated in the release of multi-stakeholder consensus policy recommendations for the Canadian government, including a recommendation to create an independent ombudsperson office with powers to investigate. Civil society organisations and human rights experts have called on the Government of Canada to implement the Roundtables recommendations and encouraged the government to step up efforts to regulate the conduct of Canadian businesses. The CSR guidelines for the extractive sector were updated in 2014
In June 2017 at the end of its country visit to Canada, the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights encouraged the government to develop a comprehensive national action plan on business and human rights. Although no development was reported yet.
In 2021, Canada published a Strategy for Responsible Business Conduct (2022-2027). Although the Strategy focuses on Canadian companies in their multinational operations in relation to the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Corporations, it also has a focus on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Furthermore, it was developed in three rounds of consultations. Firstly, with targeted consultations with businesses, CSOs and BHR experts in March 2020, followed by public consultations through the fall of 2020, then with government agencies, State-owned enterprises, local and regional governments and indigenous peoples. The result of those consultations was published here.
