Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think I would refer you again to the UN guiding principles on business and human rights, which essentially say that companies have a responsibility to respect and that states also have responsibilities.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I can't say, Mr. Reid, that you're ever wrong on anything. It's true that some Canadian companies haven't paid attention to their supply chain, but it's also true that the global supply chain is such that power rests at the top, which is the companies that purchase. Those companies actually have a lot of power throughout the supply chain.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  You're correct. The CORE will work together with mandatory human rights due diligence legislation. The CORE is typically backward looking for complaints and you're right that we want to avoid issues arising in the first place. If companies were required to do a due diligence process and make sure that the impacts of their business operations don't have negative consequences, then ultimately, the CORE, even an empowered CORE, would have no business because there would be no complaints.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  As you may know—I think this committee has looked at some issues—many jurisdictions in Europe are looking at grappling with that question right now, following the United Nations guiding principles on business and human rights. Governments have to take those obligations seriously.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  There are two answers to your question. Specifically in the case of the garment sector, the CORE needs strong powers to compel documents and witnesses to untangle a supply chain like that. The other thing, though, that the Government of Canada could do, which we'd encourage you to look at, is legislation on mandatory human rights due diligence, which would require Canadian companies to undertake a due diligence process looking at their entire supply chain.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think you'll have the opportunity to ask representatives from MAC and PDAC later on tonight. I can only speculate and suspect—I mean, they're speaking up for their members, as we would speak up for our members—that at the end of the day, they don't want more oversight, to be frank about it.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you for the question. As we've heard tonight, there are many different allegations of Canadian companies not respecting human rights. If anybody spends an afternoon on the Internet googling Canadian mining companies, they'll find all kinds of allegations of harm, of environmental degradation.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you so much. The question from Mr. Sidhu is interesting. The Canadian government certainly can partner with private business in many ways to support those businesses, but the role of the CORE is not necessarily that. The role of the CORE should be to investigate complaints.