Canada's Proposed Act Cutting Ties with Conflict Minerals

The new Canadian Bill C-486, conflict minerals legislation, has been gaining traction from activists and advocacy groups throughout Canada. The passage of this bill would support the growing action towards supply chain transparency and responsible sourcing of conflict minerals, similar to the Dodd Frank Act 1502 and the currently proposed European Union legislation.

The bill requires Canadian companies to “exercise due diligence in respect of the exploitation and trading of designated minerals originating in the Great Lakes Region of Africa in seeking to ensure that no armed rebel organization or criminal entity or public or private security force that is engaged in illegal activities or serious human rights abuses has benefited from any transaction involving such minerals.”

By implementing this act, companies will have to ethically source their materials and trace their supply chain production processes. Canadian advocacy groups and representatives such as, STAND Canada have been promoting the passage of Bill C-486 and conducting campaigns to raise the awareness of the conflict-free movement and Canada’s commitment to stand for human rights on an international level. Legislation such as Bill C486 shows the growing international movement for eliminating the use of conflict minerals in supply chains.

While Canada and even the European Union, lobby to implement bills to combat the sourcing of minerals from conflicted regions, publically traded companies in United States have already started on year two of conflict minerals due diligence. Tulane University sought to understand the impact of Dodd-Frank 1502- Conflict Minerals Rule, and will release results at the beginning of October. Triple Pundit’s founder, Nick Gaster, will interview Chris Bayer, head researcher of Tulane University Post-Filing Conflict Minerals Survey, about the impacts in a webinar hosted by Source Intelligence, leading Conflict Minerals compliance solution provider. In order to view this October 15th interview, readers can sign up here.