"Business and Human Rights in Foreign Operations: The Stakes Just Got Bigger", 30 Jan 2017

Canadian courts took another step in further opening the country’s courts to civil claims by foreign victims of alleged human rights abuses against Canadian corporations for acts committed abroad...[I]n Garcia v. Tahoe Resources...the British Columbia Court of Appeal reversed a lower court decision that ruled Guatemala was a more appropriate forum to hear the plaintiffs’ claim...[I]t marks the third instance where a Canadian court has found that a Canadian mining company may incur liability before Canadian courts...The Court of Appeal's decision draws attention to the need for resource companies to make...efforts to mitigate tension between local communities and host governments.  Companies that rely primarily on government support for addressing local oppositions run the risk of incurring liability if they become complicit in abuses condoned or encouraged by host governments...Tahoe reinforces a trend toward greater judicial scrutiny of, and potential liability for Canadian corporations' foreign operations in the face of allegations that those operations have been used as vehicles for human rights abuses outside of Canada...