On July 22, 2013, Justice Brown of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice released her decision on whether or not related lawsuits against three mining companies, Hudbay Minerals Inc. (“Hudbay”), HMI Nickel Inc. (“HMI”) and Compañía Guatemalteca de Níquel S.A. (“CGN”), would be permitted to proceed (the “Hudbay Actions”). The defendants brought preliminary motions in March of this year to strike each of the claims on the basis that they disclosed no reasonable cause of action. As discussed below, Justice Brown quite rightly dismissed all three of the defendants’ motions. This is a groundbreaking decision because it will result in the first time that an action is litigated in Canada on the question of whether a Canadian parent company (i.e. Hudbay) can be held liable for the actions of its subsidiaries abroad (i.e. CGN and HMI) and, moreover, it recognizes that such a finding is in fact possible.

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Filed in: Human Rights

Tags: corporate social responsibility, Duty of care, Foreign subsidiaries, Fullowka, Hudbay, Human rights abuses, Mining, OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Pro Bono column, rabble.ca, United Canadian Malt, United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights