Although Canadian corporations face strict regulations at home, their foreign operations are a different story. Development and Peace–Caritas Canada is trying to change that with a petition calling for stronger corporate accountability laws.

D&P representatives are asking Catholics to sign the petition urging the Canadian government to hold Canadian companies accountable for human and environmental rights when operating abroad.

The Reaping Our Rights campaign focuses on awareness and gathering thousands of signatures before presenting them to Parliament Hill in April.

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While businesses operating in Canada are subject to regulations on environmental damage, labour exploitation and human rights violations, those protections don’t always extend to Canadian operations abroad. As a result, communities in developing nations often suffer the consequences.

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The petition calls for legislation requiring companies to “prevent, report and remedy all violations of human and environmental rights throughout their global operations and supply chains” and to establish “a legal right for people who have been harmed to seek justice in Canadian courts.”

Canada is home to many multinational corporations engaged in mining, oil extraction and other industries that cause severe human rights and environmental abuses, said Aidan Gilchrist-Blackwood, coordinator of the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability.

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Canada does not have a mandatory due diligence law that would require companies to respect human rights across their global operations and supply chains.

The petition is available to sign at devp.org.