Linking Societal Injustice and Legalization: Potential of Canadian Class Actions in Addressing International Human Rights Violations Committed By Canadian Corporations Abroad
Author | Terra Duchene |
Pages | 5-35 |
5
Linking Societal Injustice and Legalization: Potential
of Canadian Class Actions in Addressing International
Human Rights Violations Committed by Canadian
Corporations Abroad
Terra Duchene
AbstrAct: Class actions are increasingly being used in some countries’
jurisdictions as a vehicle to address human rights violations committed
by corporations abroad, including violations of workers’ rights and harm
of foreign nationals. Class actions in Canada, however, provide limited
redress in such circumstances. Without such redress in Canada, it will
remain impossible to hold transnational corporations incorporated in
Canada accountable for the violation of international treaties or Cus-
tomary International Law. In the first part of this paper I outline the cur-
rent state of international human rights class actions in Canada. After
discussing two cases that provide insight into the limitations of class
actions as a mechanism for addressing human rights violations abroad,
I discuss the potential causes of those limitations: jurisdictional issues,
the corporate veil, and remedies. I argue that while human rights class
actions are particularly unattractive to class counsel because of the afore-
mentioned limitations, Canadian class actions regimes can be altered to
address this shortfall and better assist those seeking justice for human
rights violations abroad. The Canadian class actions regime and broader
legal system can better provide access to justice for people who have
experienced human rights violations abroad — through law reform that
facilitates human rights cases coming before Canadian courts, amend-
ments to current class actions legislation, and institutional changes.
This paper explores how class actions can be part of the pursuit to hold
accountable the entities committing human rights violations abroad.
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