Human Rights Violations by Canadian Companies Abroad: Choc v Hudbay Minerals Inc

Canadian mining corporations operating abroad represent a challenge to the international legal system and Canadian legal system in the field of human rights. Currently, there are no legal mechanisms available to ensure that these corporations abide by international standards and voluntary codes. For this reason, some argue that Canadian courts should be more active in holding Canadian companies accountable for the human rights violations of their affiliates operating abroad. The recent Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision of Choc v Hudbay Minerals suggests that for the first time, a Canadian court is ready to play a regulatory role in preventing and remedying human rights violations committed abroad by Canadian corporations. The victims in this case are claiming direct negligence in tort by Hudbay Minerals for its subsidiary’s actions in Guatemala, which resulted in human rights abuses against members of the Q’eqchi’ Mayan Community. This paper argues in favour of direct negligence in tort as a remedy for victims of human rights violations by foreign subsidiaries of Canadian corporations