In this letter to The Hill Times, we question Export Development Canada’s claim that it’s improving the social performance of companies it supports by “leveraging its financial relationship,” and call for legal reforms to ensure accountability.
Canada’s Export Development Act is under review. In this submission to the government, Above Ground and civil society groups from across Canada call for legal reforms to bolster the accountability and transparency of Export Development Canada.
Above Ground and sixteen other civil society groups are calling for improvements in accountability and transparency at Export Development Canada as the government reviews the agency’s governing legislation.
Canada’s export credit agency is reviewing its environmental and social risk management policies. Given the agency’s repeated support for companies facing credible allegations of human rights abuse, environmental damage or other serious harms, such a review is long overdue.
Above Ground has long questioned Export Development Canada’s assessment of environmental and human rights risks posed by its clients’ operations. Now the auditor general is warning there are “significant deficiencies” in the agency’s overall management of risk.
A Canadian deal to finance a luxury Bombardier jet for a controversial South African business family has cast a fresh spotlight on secrecy policies at the federal government’s export credit agency.
By Geoffrey York | The Globe and Mail
In this article published on the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre blog, Above Ground director Karyn Keenan discusses key steps Canada could take to become a leader in global efforts to prevent corporate abuse and ensure access to justice.
Above Ground, together with international and Colombian human rights groups, is questioning Export Development Canada (EDC) over its financing of two oil companies associated with serious human rights violations in Colombia’s strife-ridden Rubiales and Quifa oilfields.
Last November’s massive mine spill in the state of Minas Gerais was Brazil’s worst environmental disaster. Export Development Canada provided one of the mine’s joint venture owners, Brazilian multinational Vale, with hundreds of millions of dollars in financing for its global operations.
Canadians shouldn’t bankroll the next foreign mine disaster, argues Above Ground’s director in an opinion piece published today in Embassy.
Above Ground works to ensure that companies based in Canada or supported by the Canadian state respect human rights and the environment worldwide. It is a project of MakeWay, a national charity that builds partnerships and solutions to help nature and communities thrive together.
Above Ground c/o MakeWay
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Vancouver, BC V6B 1H5
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