Outcomes of a preliminary screening

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When a matter is brought to the  attention of the Office of the Extractive Sector CSR Counsellor, whether formally or informally, we will undertake a preliminary screening. The screening determines whether the Office could be an appropriate avenue for resolving the matter.

The preliminary screening happens before we initiate a more detailed examination. In cases where the Office's assessment concludes that a matter should be addressed by another organization or resource, the Office will help the stakeholder or company understand their options and may assist with a referral.

Following a screening, the Office may:

• Retain the matter for further investigation or continued monitoring
• Refer the matter to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
• Recommend the matter be referred to Canada’s National Contact Point (NCP) for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises
• Refer the matter to the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service
• Recommend the matter be referred first to local processes

In some cases, the Office may choose not to consider the matter further, nor refer the matter to another party.

Retain the matter for further examination or continued monitoring

If the Office's preliminary screening concludes that further involvement is appropriate or warranted, the Office will undertake a more detailed and in-depth examination of the situation, before proceeding with the CSR Counsellor's early intervention or the next phase of a Review and Mediation Process.  If involvement is not urgent (for example, the involved parties are already in discussions) or has not been requested, but the situation is high risk, then the Office will continue to monitor the situation until such time as the matter has been resolved by the parties themselves or it begins to escalate.

Refer the matter to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Allegations or evidence of fraud, bribery or corrupt practices involving a Canadian company will be reported to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. We will also notify the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service of the allegations. Reporting such matters follows Global Affairs Canada’s policy supporting the Corruption of Foreign public Officials Act (CFPOA).

The CFPOA criminalizes the bribery of a foreign public official and the maintaining or destruction of books and records to facilitate or hide the bribing of a foreign public official. The CFPOA also criminalizes a conspiracy or attempt to commit those offences, as well as aiding and abetting in committing those offences, an intention in common to commit those offences and counselling others to commit those offences.

Recommend the matter be referred to Canada’s National Contact Point (NCP) for the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises

Canada's NCP, established in 2000 under the OECD's Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on responsible business conduct, provides an internationally-recognized forum for parties to engage in dialogue aimed at issue resolution. Canada’s NCP is an interdepartmental committee chaired by Global Affairs Canada and thus has access to a wide range of expertise and resources across its department members and its international network of NCPs in 45 other adhering countries.

Situations that may lead the CSR Counsellor to recommend or refer parties to Canada’s NCP include:

• A complex, long standing situation that has not been resolved through other mechanisms;
• A situation pertaining to alignment with the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises;
• A situation that would benefit from the expertise, resources and network of Canada’s NCP.

In some cases, the Office may also recommend, and assist with, referral to the NCP in the country where the issues arise.

Refer the matter to the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service

Canada’s CSR Strategy for the extractive sector abroad establishes the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service abroad as a key resource for advice and guidance to help raise CSR performance of Canadian extractive sector companies. Stakeholders and companies seeking guidance on country-specific CSR challenges, or connections to local CSR expertise, will be referred to the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service.

Recommend the matter be referred first to local processes

Canada’s CSR Strategy for the extractive sector abroad outlines that the use of local processes for dispute resolution will be encouraged in the first instance. Following this, in some cases, the Office may conclude it would be more appropriate for the matter to be referred first to other processes, such as:

• company grievance mechanism (for example, a complaint hotline or union representative)
• host-country oversight agencies (for example, host-country Ministry of Labour)
• national human rights institutions
• local court systems

If the above noted avenues have already been pursued, or are not appropriate, the matter may be retained by the Office for further examination.

Matter is not retained by the Office for further consideration and a referral to another party is not made

A concern will not be retained by the Office for further examination if it is found to be:

• based on unsupported allegations/claims of misconduct or of adverse social or environmental impacts, or
• not relevant to the CSR performance standards and guidelines endorsed by the Government of Canada.

A matter may also no longer be pursued or retained by the Office if there is a lack of good faith engagement by the stakeholder who brought forward the issue (either for early intervention or a formal review and mediation process). Example of lack of good faith engagement by a stakeholder includes:

• behaviour that compromises the integrity of the dialogue or the dispute resolution processes
• breaking agreed-upon terms for maintaining confidentiality