Graham Erion Comments on Canada’s New Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy for Oil, Gas, and Mining Companies – The Lawyers Weekly
January 20, 2015
The Government of Canada recently announced changes to its corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy for the extractive sector. Building on the original strategy implemented in 2009, the new CSR strategy has a strengthened dispute resolution process for human rights complaints with local communities as well as actual consequences for non-compliance, such as the withdrawal of financial, diplomatic or other support.
In an interview with The Lawyers Weekly, international risk management lawyer Graham Erion points out some of the ineffectiveness of the original CSR policy. “The federal government was keen to show that they were doing something, introduced a CSR strategy, created the office of the CSR counsellor – and it was useless,” he says. “They didn’t create any accountability, and didn’t create any incentives or disincentives for companies to participate in the dispute resolution process.”
In further comment to Advocate Daily, Graham observes that because the revisions now bring “real world implications,” oil, gas, and mining companies that may not have adhered to the old CSR strategy must now pay attention to the new guidelines.
