Dear Friends and colleagues,

As we enter the spring season in Canada, it is difficult not to remember the optimistic events of the Arab Spring last year. We all watched with hope as dictatorships fell and democracies were launched – or so we thought. As we say on Twitter “not so fast”.

Today, we face the grim reality that is Syria, the halting progress which may be in Afghanistan and the unending concern with the DRC. There is clearly much work ahead for those who care about global issues.

And yet here at home in Canada, we face worrying signs as well. For the first time, we are experiencing deep concern about our own democratic health. Allegations of, and questions about electoral fraud in the last general election are filling our airwaves. If that wasn’t enough, there are also warning signs that our foreign policy might in fact becoming a mining policy ( Elizabeth Payne, Ottawa Citizen, March 7th) in which our mining and extractive industries call the shots while partnering with government aid development.

As well, the traditional North American system of capitalism is under siege for excessive greed and consumption, heightened in some cases, by unethical behaviour and lack of transparency. We are only beginning to understand that the prosperity of the last few years, has also made way for inequity, both globally and domestically. No one needs to look further than Attawapiskat to understand the breadth of the challenges.

Many of us are time starved with the necessity to balance work, family and health priorities. It’s not easy to “change the world” while dealing with problems that demand immediate attention. But thankfully, we have young people who will look at our country and our world with fresh eyes and keen minds. It is for this reason, that I designed a new course entitled “ A New International Corporate Reality : The Business of Human Rights”, which I am currently teaching to law students at UOttawa’s Faculty of Common Law. We are grappling with many issues which find themselves at the intersection of corporate expansion and social/economic rights. At the end of the course, we will attempt to draft suggestions and legislation for business leaders, legislators and NGO activists to consider and to ponder. Stay tuned!

With my best wishes for a happy and healthy spring,

Penny Collenette
www.twitter.com/@penottawa

Podcast: CIDA pays for corporate social responsibility

In September 2011, Beverley Oda, minister of international cooperation, announced pilot projects to support partnerships between mining companies Barrick Gold, IAMGOLD and Rio Tinto Alcan with NGOs such as World Vision Canada and World University Service of Canada.

While CIDA says the project will help reach out to the poor and support Canada’s corporate social responsibility, human rights advocates question the government’s…

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Divided Loyalities, The Liberal Party of Canada, 1984-2008, by Brooke Jeffrey.