“Voluntary corporate accountability doesn’t work. Canada needs to mandate it.”, 28 October 2025

The federal government is failing to take the necessary steps to hold corporations accountable for human rights and environmental abuses, often relying instead on companies to act on mere expectations and encouragement…

In Canada, we need strong laws that require companies to prevent all human rights and environmental abuses within their operations and supply chains, and to provide a remedy when harms occur.

The previous government acknowledged that existing laws are inadequate to hold corporations fully accountable. The current government has not yet indicated any plans to address the issue. It’s time for Ottawa to do what’s required…

For example, parts of the seafood industry – which is centred on the most globally traded animal protein – are associated with significant environmental and human rights harm… despite all major retailers having voluntary sustainable seafood policies…

Worse, this issue isn’t restricted to seafood. Environmental and human rights harms continue to proliferate across a number of sectors… where voluntary policies, certifications and audits are commonplace.

The evidence is clear: voluntary measures simply don’t work. Yet the federal government continues to rely on them to prevent abuses linked to some Canadian companies.

The previous Liberal government acknowledged “more is needed” to address corporate abuse and announced last December its intention to introduce legislation creating a new supply-chain due diligence regime for fundamental labour rights. However, this legislation was not introduced before Parliament was dissolved for the April election…

More than 50,000 Canadians have called on Ottawa to adopt such legislation. Other countries, including several of Canada’s largest trading partners, have passed or are considering laws such as this…