Corporate watchdog to start human rights probes of Canadian imports from China

Ottawa's corporate-ethics watchdog is set to announce multiple investigations into whether Canadian companies are importing products made through human-rights abuses in China.

Ottawa’s corporate-ethics watchdog is set to announce multiple investigations into whether Canadian companies are importing products made through human-rights abuses in China, a move advocates have sought for years.

The Liberals appointed Sheri Meyerhoffer as the first Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise in April 2019, and advocates and MPs have since criticized the government for not launching a single investigation.

On Tuesday afternoon, Meyerhoffer will announce investigations into “the supply chains and operations of two Canadian companies” in China based on an “initial assessment of allegations of human rights abuses,” according to a press release.

Her office also plans to publish 11 other reports “in the next few weeks” on unspecified cases.

The Liberals promised to create the ombudsperson role in the 2015 campaign, replacing a post Stephen Harper’s Conservative government created in 2009 that was restricted to advising the extractive sector and monitoring its corporate policies.

They enacted the new office in 2018, dubbing it CORE and allowing it to probe garment industries as well as the oil and gas sectors. Meyerhoffer was appointed a year later, but she only started accepting complaints in 2021 and has yet to launch any investigations.

“My team and I believe it’s more important to do our work right than to do it fast,” she told a House of Commons committee on Canada-China relations last month.

The office has long faced a debate over how much power Meyerhoffer needs.