"These are very serious issues that have been brought to our attention,"
"Canadian companies are expected to respect Canadian standards for human rights and environmental protection when they work outside of
The probes are the first investigations her office has launched since it was created by the Liberals in 2018.
The announcement followssustained criticism by advocates, MPs and Meyerhoffer herself that Prime Minister
In one assessment report, Meyerhoffer accuses
Her report says Nike rejected initial mediation, arguing its global parent company had already disproven allegations by the publicly funded
Meyerhoffer said Nike hasn't weeded out the possibility that it has bought components through a supplier in
"The complex nature of garment supply chains may warrant investigation," Meyerhoffer's report argues, particularly because Nike "has provided limited detail about the nature and scope" of its traceability protocols, such as how it tracks the origin of fibres used in its products.
Meyerhoffer's other report accuses
But the
Meyerhoffer's report says that after months of attempts by her office to contact someone at the
But Meyerhoffer noted this is contradicted by statements in corporate documents and press releases.
The firm "appears to have deliberately avoided participating in and co-operating with the (office's) dispute resolution process without providing any explanation," the report reads.
The two probes stem from complaints brought by a coalition of two dozen human-rights groups, which Meyerhoffer said had also been open to an outcome in which their complaints were resolved without the companies being named publicly.
The Canadian Press has reached out to both companies and the Chinese embassy in
Meyerhoffer said she plans to publish 11 more reports in the coming weeks on cases involving Uyghur people.
"This is a warning sign for the government of
The group was part of the coalition that filed the complaints.
Tohti says cotton and tomato goods from
"In
If the office finds any company responsible for forced labour, Meyerhoffer can recommend that
"The greatest power that the (office) has is to shine a light on situations involving human rights that would not otherwise come to the attention of the Canadian public or the Canadian government," she said.
The ombudsperson has also been assessing for months whether to investigate alleged violations of the right to a living wage for workers at Canadian-controlled garment factories in
The Liberals promised to create the ombudsperson role in the 2015 campaign, replacing a post
They enacted the new office in 2018, allowing it to probe garment industries as well as the mining,oil and gas sectors.
Meyerhoffer, a lawyer whose career focused on international development as well as
The office has long faced a debate over how much power Meyerhoffer needs to do more rigorous work.
Advocacy groups such as the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability have long called for the legal right to compel documents and witnesses from companies, as has an external legal review commissioned by
Meyerhoffer herself told media in
NDP foreign-affairs critic
"Impacted communities and civil society groups do not trust the (office) to represent their interests adequately without these powers," McPherson said in a statement.
"The Liberal government broke their promises. and has refused to give the office the tools to act with the urgency these complaints need, or introduce any legislation to hold companies accountable."
Meyerhoffer's office monitors the roles of any entity controlled by a Canadian firm directly or indirectly, which includes foreign suppliers and contractors who only work for a company based in
It has conducted reviews of issues abroad, such as an analysis of 10 Canadian garment companies operating outside the country. It found few tracked supply chains well enough to detect child labour, since many only monitor their systems in steps that follow the production of raw materials.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published
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