Last year, a new client approached me with an intriguing and unusual request. Knowing that I work with companies on sustainability issues, could I help her create a “Forever Forest,” that is, set aside land as protected forest in perpetuity?
If an MSI elects to create an independent secretariat, it will need to select a city and country in which to locate its headquarters. It is not always easy for a global initiative to decide this, as there will be a multitude of factors and these will rarely point to one location.
Today I provided testimony to the Senate Banking, Trade on Commerce Committee on Bill C-86, the Budget Implementation Act. A fundamental question raised in Bill C-86 as well as the House of Commons Finance Committee Report of November 8 is, who wants or needs access to privately held corporations’ beneficial ownership information, and why?
On January 17, 2018 the Government of Canada announced the creation of a Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE). This long-awaited announcement will be welcomed by many stakeholders and there are expectations that an Ombudsperson will be able to make a real difference in resolving human rights allegations.
Canadian Finance Ministers announced on December 11 that they would take measures to improve the transparency of beneficial ownership information (see press release and backgrounder). While not much detail is available yet, this announcement marks a very important development and should be welcomed.
