Corporate Social Responsibility in the Canadian Extractive Sector. Bill C-300: What Went Wrong?

While the mining industry provides numerous benefits to the society, it also has negative impacts on communities. This thesis will discuss various voluntary policies employed by mining companies and the developmental attempts at legislative changes to enforce mandatory regulations. The primary focus will be on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), in particular Bill C-300, which required “Corporate Accountability for the Activities of Mining, Oil or Gas Corporations in Developing Countries”. The Bill had effective key points to ensure that Canadian extractive companies followed human rights and environmental practices while operating overseas. Although the Bill was defeated, it is believed to be critical with respect to CSR. Moreover, Dodd-Frank, the 2010 United States legislation with similar provisions of CSR, will be discussed. The differences in the two will be elaborated to determine why Bill C-300 was rejected and answer whether it would have succeeded had the provisions been drafted similarly to Dodd-Frank.MAS