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.
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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