Canada's Accountability Void: The Signal Behind Scrapping a Corporate Watchdog

TORONTO, ON – June 19, 2026 – In a move that sends stark signals about Canada's posture on global corporate responsibility, the federal government has abolished the Office of the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE). Prime Minister Mark Carney’s administration justified the decision by labelling the office, established in 2019 to probe human rights abuse allegations against Canadian firms abroad, as simply “ineffective.”

This rationale, however, has ignited a firestorm of condemnation from labour unions, human rights organizations, and civil society, who see the move not as a pragmatic adjustment but as a dangerous retreat. The United Steelworkers (USW), a prominent voice in the campaign that led to CORE's creation, was swift to denounce the decision.

“Abolishing the CORE is an abdication of one of the few imperfect tools that we had for greater corporate accountability,” said Marty Warren, USW National Director for Canada. “Instead of fixing a flawed office, this government has chosen to walk away from its responsibility.” The union argues that the problem was never CORE's existence, but its deliberate lack of power—a critique that ironically echoes the government's own justification for its elimination.

The Anatomy of a Failure

To understand the significance of this maneuver, one must dissect the brief and troubled history of the watchdog itself. CORE was created under the previous government with a mandate to oversee the garment, mining, and oil and gas sectors—industries where Canadian capital has a massive global footprint and which are frequently linked to environmental and human rights controversies. Its purpose was to provide a non-judicial pathway for remedy, aligning with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

From its inception, however, the office was hobbled. Civil society groups and legal experts warned that without the legal authority to compel companies to produce documents or compel witnesses to testify, the ombudsperson was essentially toothless. This structural flaw proved prophetic. As the USW noted, their own complaint regarding living wages in the supply chains of Mark’s and Canadian Tire in Bangladesh was a case study in the office's impotence. The inability to force cooperation from often secretive and uncooperative corporate entities rendered its investigative powers largely theoretical.

Further signaling a lack of government commitment, the ombudsperson position itself sat vacant for over a year after the last interim head, Masud Husain, departed in May 2025. This institutional neglect left at least 36 active complaints, including serious allegations concerning Uyghur forced labour and abuses in Namibia's oil sector, languishing in bureaucratic limbo. The government's decision to euthanize the office, framed by the Prime Minister as part of broader austerity and efficiency reviews, is viewed by critics as the final act in a slow, deliberate starvation of a mechanism they claim was never given a real chance to succeed.

A Retreat on the World Stage?

The timing of CORE's abolition is particularly jarring when viewed against the global landscape. While Canada dismantles its oversight body, its key trading partners in the European Union are moving decisively in the opposite direction. France’s Duty of Vigilance Law (2017) and Germany’s Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (2023) have set a new standard, creating legally binding obligations for companies to identify, prevent, and mitigate human rights and environmental risks throughout their value chains. A broader, even more comprehensive EU directive is currently in the works.

Compared to these robust legal frameworks, Canada's approach appears retrograde. “It’s a significant step backwards,” one analyst from Human Rights Watch commented, noting that Canada is now profoundly “out of step with global trends.” The decision telegraphs a message to Canadian multinational corporations, especially the powerful extractive sector, that the domestic pressure for accountability is easing at the very moment international scrutiny is intensifying. For an economy with an outsized role in global mining, this signal could have profound consequences, creating a moral hazard where profits are pursued with less regard for ethical guardrails.

The government has attempted to counter this narrative by pointing to new legislation, announced just a day after CORE's abolition became public, aimed at strengthening the ban on importing goods made with forced labour. While a welcome step, critics are quick to point out its narrow scope. The law addresses inbound goods and a specific type of abuse, leaving a gaping hole where CORE once stood: a mechanism to address the broad spectrum of human rights impacts generated by Canadian corporate operations outbound in the global south.

The Accountability Vacuum

The ultimate cost of this decision will be borne by the workers and communities who suffer abuses linked to corporate activity. With CORE gone, their avenues for seeking justice have narrowed significantly. The remaining primary mechanism is Canada's National Contact Point (NCP) for the OECD Guidelines, a body that has existed since 2000 and relies on voluntary mediation. It, too, has been widely criticized by activists as ineffective and lacking enforcement power.

For victims of environmental damage, wage theft, or union-busting in a distant mine or factory, the prospect of launching a complex and expensive legal battle in Canadian courts is often an insurmountable barrier. CORE, for all its flaws, represented a potential access point—a state-sanctioned office to which they could bring their grievances. Its abolition sends a chilling message. As one advocate from Development and Peace – Caritas Canada lamented, it tells victims that they can no longer bring their concerns to the country where the companies that harmed them are headquartered.

This maneuver, therefore, is more than a simple line-item cut in a federal budget. It represents a strategic choice about the role Canada and its corporations will play in the world. While the government speaks the language of efficiency and fiscal prudence, a coalition of voices from labour, human rights, and civil society hears the unmistakable sound of a door being slammed shut on corporate accountability.