Legislation to implement the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement is now back before Parliament. In the briefing paper Investor Rights Trump Human Rights, CCPA analyst Scott Sinclair demonstrates how the treaty’s investment chapter pays mere lip service to corporate social responsibility, while giving Canadian mining companies and other investors powerful new rights. Rather than addressing Colombia’s human rights crisis, inserting these new investment rights into this deeply troubled context will effectively chill democratic dissent and tilt the scales further against already disadvantaged, excluded and victimised Colombians.
The CCPA’s bold vision and creative solutions help us imagine better futures for all. Its efforts to build bridges between labour, industry, and civil society and mentor young activists lay the foundation for realizing those provocative futures. I consider my support for the CCPA an investment in a better future for British Columbia.
— Polly Ng, Next Up graduate