Canada’s Enhanced Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy and the Office of the Corporate Social Responsibility Counsellor ensure continued success abroad for Canadian world-class extractive companies
March 1, 2015 – Toronto, Ontario – Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada
The Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade, today announced the appointment of Jeffrey Davidson as Canada’s new corporate social responsibility (CSR) counsellor for the extractive sector. The announcement was made on the margins of the 2015 Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) annual convention in Toronto.
The Office of the CSR Counsellor is part of Canada’s Enhanced CSR Strategy: Doing Business the Canadian Way: A Strategy to Advance Corporate Social Responsibility in Canada’s Extractive Sector Abroad, launched on November 14, 2014. The Enhanced CSR Strategy ensures that Canadian companies continue to exhibit the highest standards and best practices while operating abroad.
The Office of the CSR Counsellor was established in 2009 under Canada’s first CSR strategy. Following the review of the initial strategy and cross-country consultations, the CSR counsellor’s mandate was enhanced and refocused on preventing, identifying and resolving disputes in their early stages and on working with Canadian companies to ensure CSR guidelines are incorporated in their operating approach.
Jeffrey Davidson brings over 35 years of international experience in both the public and private sectors—in project development and management, community outreach and local social and economic development. As a knowledgeable and experienced academic and practitioner, Mr. Davidson is uniquely positioned to act as a community interface, engage with stakeholders and build long-lasting relationships so that local communities and host countries can realize the economic and social benefits of responsible resource development, in partnership with world-class, socially responsible Canadian extractive companies.
Mr. Davidson was selected after a public competition, for a mandate of three years.
Quick Facts
- Canada’s extractive sector, which includes oil, natural gas and mining, generated $171.5-billion worth of exports in 2014, an 11.8-percent increase from 2013. The sector accounted for 35 percent of the total value of Canadian domestic exports in 2014.
- Canada’s natural resource sector directly and indirectly accounts for almost one fifth of the country’s nominal GDP and 1.8 million jobs.
- With interests in more than 8,000 properties in more than 100 countries, Canadian extractive sector companies account for almost half of the world’s mining and mineral exploration activity.
- Nearly 3,200 Canadian suppliers, including engineering, environmental, legal, ?nancial and equipment companies, provide expertise and equipment to the mining subsector alone.
Quotes
“Canada’s brand is one of excellence, and we want to ensure the continued leadership and success of Canadian world-class extractive companies under our Enhanced CSR Strategy to create jobs and prosperity at home and abroad.
“I am pleased to announce the appointment of Jeffrey Davidson as Canada’s new extractive sector CSR counsellor. Mr. Davidson brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the position. I look forward to working with him to advance responsible resource development in Canada’s extractive sector abroad. “Canadian companies know that a commitment to CSR is a commitment to their own success. ”
“Canadian companies know that a commitment to CSR is a commitment to their own success.”
– Ed Fast, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
“We are very supportive of the government’s selection of Mr. Davidson. Having worked in industry, non-profit and academic settings, Jeffrey Davidson is well-known as an extremely capable and highly regarded individual. We look forward to working with him and the Office of the Extractive Sector CSR Counsellor in the new, re-focused role. ”
– Rod Thomas, President, Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada
“With the recent release of the enhanced CSR strategy and today’s appointment of Jeffrey Davidson as CSR counsellor for the extractive sector, the Government of Canada is setting high expectations of corporate responsibility performance and is helping to optimize the benefits that resource development brings to host countries and local communities. Mr. Davidson possesses the right combination of knowledge and experience, drawn from decades of relevant work experience in the public and private sectors, and in the academic realm, to advance Canada’s international dispute resolution mechanisms.”
– Pierre Gratton, President and CEO, Mining Association of Canada
Related Products
Associated Links
- Canada Welcomes Stakeholders to WEF Conference on Mineral Development and Annual Meeting of PDAC
- Canada’s Enhanced CSR Strategy: Doing Business the Canadian Way: A Strategy to Advance CSR in Canada’s Extractive Sector Abroad
- Extractive Industries: The Canadian Advantage at Home and Abroad
- Global Markets Action Plan
Contacts
Max Moncaster
Press Secretary
Office of the Honourable Ed Fast
Minister of International Trade
343-203-7332
Media Relations Office
Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada
343-203-7700
media@international.gc.ca
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SEE ALSO: “Accumulation by Dispossession” by the Global Extractive Industry: The Case of Canada
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