Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand in Ottawa earlier this month.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says a federal watchdog that polices Canadian corporate conduct abroad remains “important,” and that Ottawa is trying to find a new top executive to lead the office, which has lacked a permanent head for nearly two years.
The Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) was established in 2019 under then-prime-minister Justin Trudeau to investigate allegations of human-rights abuses and environmental harms by Canadian companies operating overseas in the mining, petroleum and garment sectors.
Its first and only permanent ombudsperson finished her term in April, 2024. An interim replacement left in May, 2025, and the post has been vacant for 10 months under Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government.
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Former ombudsperson Sheri Meyerhoffer and ex-Liberal MP John McKay, who previously spearheaded legislation to combat forced labour, have both said they are worried that the Canadian government is going to let the watchdog wither and disappear.
Ms. Anand, during a conference call with journalists Wednesday, said the office is still vital after being asked whether Ottawa would fill the ombudsperson post.
“The office remains important. We are working with alacrity to fill numerous positions across the government, both externally and internally,” the minister said, adding later: “We are working on the issue that you raised in your question.”
Among its past investigations, CORE probed the alleged use of Uyghur forced labour in China.
Aidan Gilchrist-Blackwood, co-ordinator of the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability, said it’s a positive sign that Ms. Anand appears to be supportive of CORE.
But he said the government needs to give a timeline for when the new ombudsperson would be appointed and to commit to expand CORE’s investigative responsibilities.
“That 10-month delay has been unacceptable, but we are glad the commitment is being made,” he said. “Recognizing that the office is important, the government has to put its money where its mouth is and grant the office long-needed independent, investigative powers, which were committed to when the office was first created and not delivered.”
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Georgina Alonso, senior research and advocacy officer of Above Ground, a human-rights and corporate-accountability project, has said that without an ombudsperson in place, CORE is hampered from moving forward on new complaints about companies.
CORE itself declined to say how many staff are employed at the watchdog now. Kristina Jelinic, director of public affairs at CORE, said the office has 12 funded positions but declined to say how many people are working there at this time.
“Through our flexible staffing model, we ensure that we have sufficient resources at any given time to meet the operational requirements of the office as we await a decision on its future,” Ms. Jelinic said in an e-mailed statement. “As these requirements fluctuate, so too does the number of staff assigned to CORE business”
The federal government’s online employee directory lists only three employees at CORE right now.
Earlier this week, the United Nations Human Rights Committee, which includes representatives from the United States, France and Spain, criticized Ottawa for failing to fill the top job at CORE.
The UN expert panel said Monday it is troubling that the Canadian government has left the position vacant for close to a year. It called on Canada to “strengthen mechanisms to ensure that business enterprises under its jurisdiction respect human-rights standards, including when operating abroad.”