21 April 2026, 1:31pm EDT

Don’t Neglect Your CORE: Canada’s Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise

Canada Corporate Accountability
Catherine Coumans

Ph.D. Research Coordinator and Asia-Pacific Program Coordinator

On Wednesday, April 15, Catherine Coumans, MiningWatch Canada's Research Coordinator, presented on behalf of the Canadian Network for Corporate Accountability to the All Party Parliamentary group on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery. In her presentation, Catherine raised serious concerns regarding the status of the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) which has been without an ombudsperson since May 2025, leaving complainants in limbo. The neglect of the CORE closes off a key non-judicial pathway for investigating human rights abuse allegations against Canadian mining companies operating overseas. 

Read her comments below.

Presentation to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery

MiningWatch Canada supports communities and Indigenous peoples who face serious human rights violations related to the activities of Canadian mining companies operating in Latin America, Africa and Asia-Pacific. We have been doing this work for 27 years. 

Among the issues we report on are: killings, maiming and sexual assaults of local community members by mine security; mass forced evictions; threats, sometimes lethal, to human and environmental rights defenders; and forced labour. 

We presented on 26 of these cases before The House of Commons’ Standing Committee on International Trade (CIIT) in regard to its 2023 study titled “environmental and human rights considerations regarding Canadian mining firms abroad.”

As a member of the Canadian Network for Corporate Accountability, MiningWatch Canada campaigned for the creation of an Ombudspersons office as one way that some of these serious human rights allegations may be dealt with in Canada, where the mining companies involved are headquartered. 

Since the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (or CORE) was installed, in 2019, many of the communities we work with globally have been advised by staff at Canadian missions overseas to bring their concerns to the Ombudsperson. Some did, and many more would today, if there were an Ombudsperson in place to handle their complaints.  

I will briefly sketch one case for you, which MiningWatch supported, to give you a sense of the harm done when the office was left without a permanent Ombudsperson in May of 2024. I will not name the company or the Indigenous complainant involved to maintain confidentiality in this case.

  • The case was filed on January first 2023 by an Indigenous human rights defender regarding a Canadian mining project in an Asian country. 
  • On May 31, 2023 the Ombudsperson informed the complainant that the case was admissible on the grounds that – quote -  “there is a reasonable basis to believe that [X company] might have abused or contributed to abuse of the right to self-determination of the [X indigenous] people.”
  • What followed was an Initial Assessment phase in which the CORE shared its complaint summary with the company and gathered further information from the complainant and from the company. There were also several meetings with the complainant.
  • In November 2023, the CORE confirmed that it had received all the necessary information and would proceed with drafting the Initial Assessment report. 
  • However, by the time that the Ombudsperson, Sheri Meyerhoffer, left the office at the end of April 2024, the Initial Assessment report had not yet been provided to the complainant.
  • For the entire year of the Interim Ombudsperson, Masud Hussain, this initial assessment report was never produced despite several meetings between the complainant and the Interim Ombudsperson.
  • The office has been without an Ombudsperson since May 2025. The staff in the office repeatedly say they cannot take any action, on any of the claims before them without an Ombudsperson.

This complainant’s case is not the only one that has been in limbo since 2024. It is our understanding that at the time Sheri Meyerhoffer left the position of Ombudsperson there were up to 8 investigations of cases underway – these are investigations that would follow completion of an initial assessment. It is unclear what has happened to these investigations. We further understand from current staff at the CORE that there are 24 active cases before the CORE that cannot progress. These are all cases of people who, we believe, brought complaints, in good faith, in the expectation that their complaints would be dealt with by the CORE. 

We further understand that at least two annual reports have been filed, one each by the Ombudsperson and the interim Ombudsperson before they left their positions. According to the Order in Council mandate of the CORE, the Minister of International Trade is supposed to table these reports “in each house of parliament.” As far as we can tell this has not happened. There has also been a five year review of the CORE, for which many of us provided comments. The conclusions of this review have also not been made public.

UN bodies have repeatedly called on Canada to provide accountability, in Canada, for the activities of our multinationals - in particular our mining companies - operating overseas. Most recently, in the final report of this year’s periodic review of Canada by the UN Human Rights Committee. 

The 2023 parliamentary report I mentioned earlier, recommended that the Government of Canada – and I quote - “explore all options for expanding the mandate of the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise.” 

The Canadian Network for Corporate Accountability asks that the Government of Canada:

  • Immediately appoint a new Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise with a strong human rights background; 
  • Empower the Office of the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise with independence and the power to compel testimony and the production of documents, as required to effectively investigate allegations of human rights abuse.

Thank you.

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