Canada Launches Enhanced CSR Strategy For Extractive Sector Companies Operating Abroad

On November 14, 2014, Canada's Minister of International Trade announced an enhanced corporate social responsibility ("CSR") strategy, "Doing Business the Canadian Way: A Strategy to Advance CSR in Canada's Extractive Sector Abroad" (the "CSR Strategy"), with implications for Canada's extractive sector companies with foreign operations, making, for the first time, Canada's "economic diplomacy" assistance in foreign jurisdictions conditional on the company's adherence to the new CSR Strategy.

Background

The CSR Strategy builds on the original CSR strategy introduced in 2009 (the "Initial Strategy") through the government's review of the Initial Strategy and cross-country consultations. The Initial Strategy first outlined Canada's commitment to promoting CSR, defined as the voluntary activities undertaken by a company in the mining, oil and natural gas industries, over and above legal requirements, to operate in an economically, socially and environmentally