A committee of the Canadian House of Commons has just started "Hearings Across the Country"

A committee of the Canadian House of Commons has just started "Hearings Across the Country" on a June "International Policy Statement" which aims to establish clear legal norms to ensure that Canada's companies and residents are held accountable overseas.

Since Toronto's stock exchange is the world's largest single source of project ("development") finance to the global mining industry, the proposal will strike hardest both at major companies like Inco, Barrick and Ivanhoe, and hundreds of "junior" miners whose activities across the world have been raising concern, or inciting vigorous community opposition.

The Liberal federal government in October rejected the most important parts of the all-party's Statement, opting instead for "voluntary principles". This was despite an onrush of NGO and other declaratoins of support, and a major series of articles in the Ottawa Citzen, which delved into some of the worst accusations made against the industry.