The Office of the Extractive Sector Corporate Social Responsibility Counsellor

The Office of the Extractive Sector Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Counsellor was established in 2009 as part of the Government of Canada’s CSR Strategy for the International Extractive Sector.  Broadly speaking, the Strategy is designed to help Canadian mining, oil and gas companies meet their social and environmental responsibilities when operating abroad. 

The Office of the CSR Counsellor has a mandate to review CSR practices of Canadian companies operating outside of Canada and advise stakeholders on recognized best practices. In fulfilling the review mandate, the Office will act an impartial advisor and facilitator, an honest broker that brings parties together to help address problems and disputes. This approach is based on the view that a credible, impartial and transparent process with appropriate checks-and-balances may find win/win options to resolve disputes.

A mid-summer update from Marketa Evans, Extractive Sector CSR Counsellor

Public Consultations

The public consultations on the review mechanism are complete, with workshops and meetings in Calgary, Mexico, Ottawa, Montreal, Mali, Senegal, Vancouver and Toronto.   Public reports on the workshops are available on the Office's website at http://www.international.gc.ca/csr_counsellor-conseiller_rse/.

During the course of these workshops, we have heard from stakeholders across all sectors, with several hundred participants to date. A webinar held in early July attracted a further 50 participants.   The webinar presentation and related questions and answers are also posted on our site.

Our objective is to build a useful, constructive mechanism which will act as an honest broker, fostering constructive dialogue and problem solving to resolve disputes which relate to the international operations of Canadian oil, gas and mining companies.    Our purpose is visible progress on-the-ground. Your comments and feedback have been invaluable in assisting with that objective and we will be incorporating comments and themes into our final rules of procedure document.