The use and abuse of investor-state dispute settlement by Canadian investors abroad
Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) cases launched by Canadian investors outside North America follow a pattern of disproportionately targeting environmental policy in developing nations. Environmental policy is the fastest growing trigger for such cases.
This report finds that since 1999, Canadian investors have initiated at least 43 ISDS claims against countries outside North America, whereas only one case has ever been brought against Canada by investors from a country other than the U.S. or Mexico.
Additional resources:
CCPA is proud to co-sponsor this terrific video from our colleagues at Corporate Europe Observatory. It chronicles grassroots resistance to efforts by Canadian mining company Gabriel Resources to build Europe’s largest open-pit gold mine in a culturally rich and environmentally sensitive region of Romania. After this unimaginably destructive project was refused by the Romanian public and courts, the Canadian investors turned to the investor-state (ISDS) dispute settlement mechanism of an obscure 1989 investment protection agreement to sue Romania for $US 4.4 billion in damages (1.8% of the value of the country’s economy).
Watch the video, Save Roşia Montană: The fight against ISDS in Romania, streaming on YouTube now.
