A/HRC/54/31/Add.2 contact point, established in alignment with the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct; and the office of the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprises, launched in 2019. 70. The Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprises has a mandate to review alleged human rights abuses arising from the activities of Canadian companies operating abroad in the garment, mining or oil and gas sectors. Indigenous Peoples and others affected by a Canadian company’s operations abroad can file a complaint alleging human rights abuses. However, the Special Rapporteur was informed of some shortcomings regarding this mechanism. It is not independent from the Government of Canada, as it is situated within Global Affairs Canada and reports to the Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business, and Economic Development, and its reports are not released until they have been reviewed by the Minister. Additionally, it has been criticized for lacking the following safeguards: mechanisms to protect Indigenous Peoples who file complaints from reprisals; effective protocols to engage with Indigenous Peoples; policies to ensure gender-based analysis and cultural sensitivity procedures during investigations; powers to compel Canadian companies to produce documents or witnesses; and effective compensatory mechanisms. In this regard, the Ombudsperson can only make recommendations to the Government of Canada to impose consequences on businesses that do not respect human rights, including revocation of trade promotion and export credit financing. Furthermore, the Government does not comprehensively regulate the activities of Canadian companies operating transnationally, on the assumption that this is primarily the role of the host State. 71. For example, Canada continues to support the operation of the Line 5 pipeline, despite the opposition of directly affected Indigenous Peoples in Canada and the United States of America. The transportation of crude oil and liquid natural gas by Canadian-owned Enbridge is creating the risk of a catastrophic oil spill that could contaminate the lands and waters of Indigenous Peoples on both sides of the border. Canada is advocating for the pipeline to continue operations, following the decision of a Parliamentary Committee that did not hear testimony from the affected Indigenous Peoples. The Government invoked the 1977 transit pipeline treaty with the United States to prolong Line 5 operations, which is inconsistent with its international commitment to prevent and mitigate the effects of climate change by phasing out fossil fuels. 72. In 2020, the highest court in Canada set an important legal precedent allowing corporations to be sued in Canada for abuses committed abroad. Previously, under Canadian law, transnational corporations could only be held liable in foreign jurisdictions in which the alleged abuses occurred. In Nevsun Resources Ltd. v. Araya et al., the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that a Canadian mining company operating in Eritrea could be sued in Canada for alleged slavery abuses. The company settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed amount. Despite this advancement, Indigenous Peoples affected by overseas operations of Canadian businesses still face great challenges in accessing juridical remedies before Canadian courts. Civil society organizations have thus proposed the adoption of legislation to require Canadian companies to prevent human rights and environmental harm throughout their global operations and supply chains. 73. The responsibility to respect human rights is a global standard of expected conduct for all business enterprises wherever they operate, 50 and the State has extraterritorial obligations to take steps to prevent and redress infringements of these rights committed abroad by business entities over which it exercises control. 51 Home States must require companies to conduct human rights due diligence to ensure respect for Indigenous Peoples rights in their supply chains, and adopt and enforce regulations in relation to the human rights impacts overseas of companies domiciled in home States.52 50 51 52 14 See Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general recommendation No. 24 (2017). A/71/291, para. 115. GE.23-13374